Label: Eureka Entertainment
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 121 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan, Michael Rooker, Royal Dano
Directed by George A. Romero (Day of the Dead) and adapted from the Stephen King (Maximum Overdrive) novel The Dark Half (1993) opens with a young kid named Thaddeus Beaumont suffering from intense migraines and blackouts, each attack strangely being preceded by the sounds of sparrows. His parents take him into be checked out and he's diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoes an surgery to remove it. During the procedure the doctors discover a weird anomaly, it seems that the tumor is actually a malformed fetal twin that the boy's body has absorbed into itself!
The film moves along several decades and the young boy has grown into the adult Beaumont (Timothy Hutton, Turk 182), a published author and college writing professor, penning a series of highfalutin novels that sell like shit, but he makes a decent living with a secret side gig as a trashy thriller writer under the pseudonym "George Stark". His career as a trashy crime writer is a well-kept secret, but that's all about to change when an unscrupulous blackmailer (Robert Joy, Land of the Dead) arrives threatening to expose the Stark pseudonym to the public. The author decides to get ahead of the blackmailer by revealing the secret himself in a magazine article complete with a series of photos of him burying the corpse of alter-ego author "George Stark".
However, once the article is published people around him start showing up dead, beginning with the photographer who took the photos for the article, followed by his agent, editor and even the blackmailer. Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Michael Rooker, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) who is investigating the murders soon sets his sights on the author, with all evidence seemingly pointing his direction, except he has a fairly tight alibi during one of the murders. Meanwhile the author begins to think that his literary alter-ego has somehow been made flesh, and is none-too-happy about being laid to rest. He's not wrong, George Stark has materialized in the flesh, also played by Hutton in a deliciously pulpy sort of way, a greasy-haired rockabilly looking weirdo who favors a straight-razor.
This is not a film that ranks very high for me among the filmography of director George A. Romero or author Stephen King, but it is a film that I do enjoy a bit, it's an interesting rumination on Stephen King's own alter-ego Richard Bachman, a pen name he wrote a handful of books under, which I found sort of fascinating, balancing a duality, while also examining the struggle of art versus commerce, it has some great ideas floating around even if I think they're not explored or executed to a degree that was wholly satisfying.
There's also cool supernatural elements to it that I enjoyed, particularly the idea that if Beaumont stops writing as his alter-ego the newly made flesh version of that alter-ego begins to rot, which is motive for his killings, he's after the people who literally threaten his very existence.
It's not a perfect film my any stretch of the imagination but I dig the ideas found here and I think Timothy Hutton is fantastic in the dual-role, though if you watch the extras on this disc you will learn that very few people seemed to enjoy his method style of acting on the film while making it, but I dig the end results of his labors, even when it goes a bit off the rails.
There's also cool supernatural elements to it that I enjoyed, particularly the idea that if Beaumont stops writing as his alter-ego the newly made flesh version of that alter-ego begins to rot, which is motive for his killings, he's after the people who literally threaten his very existence.
It's not a perfect film my any stretch of the imagination but I dig the ideas found here and I think Timothy Hutton is fantastic in the dual-role, though if you watch the extras on this disc you will learn that very few people seemed to enjoy his method style of acting on the film while making it, but I dig the end results of his labors, even when it goes a bit off the rails.
Audio/Video: The Dark Half (1993) arrives on Region B-locked Blu-ray from Eureka
Entertainment in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is the same dated HD master that was used by Scream Factory for their 2014 Blu-ray, so don't expect an A/V upgrade. The image definitely looks like it's coming from an older master, grain is not resolved all that finely, colors are a bit muted, and the darker scenes are heavy with grain. Overall it just looks dated, lacking the depth and clarity that a new 2K or 4K scan would have brought to the proceedings, but it's serviceable, just not ideal, and definitely not an upgrade over the existing Scream factory release.
Audio on the disc come by way of English LPCM 2.0 and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English subtitles. Both tracks are clean and free of distortion, with the dialogue and effects being well-balanced, the score from Christopher Young (Drag Me To Hell) sounding great.
Eureka have done something here I really appreciate, they've licensed all the previously existing extras from the Scream Factory release including the Red shirt Pictures produced 'The Sparrows Are Flying Again!', a 37-min making-of retrospective with the late George A. Romero, special make-up FX creators Everett Burrell and John Vulich, visual FX supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, actor Robert Joy, editor Pasquale Buba. It's a great trip down memory lane with the gang, notably missing is Hutton, but fear not, pretty much everyone has something to say about his acting method and on-set behavior!
We also get the excellent audio commentary with George A. Romero, who gives a very candid account of the film, the studio troubles, and the period between the making of this film and Bruiser. There is also 7-min of deleted scenes, and a bunch of archival
behind-the-scenes extras that include storyboards, EPK interviews and a special FX featurette, and the archival stuff is buttoned-up with the theatrical trailer and TV spot for the film.
We also get the excellent audio commentary with George A. Romero, who gives a very candid account of the film, the studio troubles, and the period between the making of this film and Bruiser. There is also 7-min of deleted scenes, and a bunch of archival
behind-the-scenes extras that include storyboards, EPK interviews and a special FX featurette, and the archival stuff is buttoned-up with the theatrical trailer and TV spot for the film.
Onto the new stuff we get a 40-min episode of the UK television show 'Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show' with director George A. Romero from 1989, it's kind of a completest-only sort of think in my opinion, but it was cool, not exactly essential but the host seemed passionate about his love of Romero. For the purpose of this review I was only sent a "check disc" from Eureka without any packaging extras - first world problems I know - but the retail copies includes a sleeve of reversible artwork, collector's
booklet with new writing on the film from Simon Ward, and a limited edition slipcover for the film.
booklet with new writing on the film from Simon Ward, and a limited edition slipcover for the film.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero
- Episode of 'Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show' with director George A. Romero (1989) (40 min)
- The Sparrows Are Flying Again! The Making of ‘The Dark Half’ Retrospective with George A. Romero, special make-up FX creators Everett Burrell and John Vulich, visual FX supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, actor Robert Joy, editor Pasquale Buba & more! (36 min)
- Deleted Scenes (8 min)
- TV spot (1 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Reversible sleeve
- Limited Edition Collector’s booklet with writing on the film by Simon Ward
- Limited Edition O-card Slipcase
- Audio commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero
- Episode of 'Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show' with director George A. Romero (1989) (40 min)
- The Sparrows Are Flying Again! The Making of ‘The Dark Half’ Retrospective with George A. Romero, special make-up FX creators Everett Burrell and John Vulich, visual FX supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, actor Robert Joy, editor Pasquale Buba & more! (36 min)
- Deleted Scenes (8 min)
- Special Effects Featurette (16 min).
On the Set Featurette (9 min).
- Storyboards (2 min)
- Original EPK (7 min)
- Interviews (7 min)
- Original Storyboards (2 min)- TV spot (1 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Reversible sleeve
- Limited Edition Collector’s booklet with writing on the film by Simon Ward
- Limited Edition O-card Slipcase
The Dark Half (1993) is notable because it's a team-up between a pair of horror titans, George A. Romero and Stephen King, and also in that it's a bit under appreciated in my opinion, but doesn't quite live up to the themes and ideas it floats. That said, it is an interesting, if not completely successful, thriller with a cool supernatural element that still brings a smile to my face, with a good bit of gruesome bird-carnage at the end that would have made Hitchcock giddy.
