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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Secret Window
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 50 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Horror | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
David Koepp
Stephen King (novella Four Past Midnight: Secret Window, Secret Garden)
Directed by: David Koepp
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 12, 2004
DVD: June 22, 2004
Running Time: 106 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence/terror, sexual content and language
Starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, Timothy Hutton, Len Cariou, and Gillian Ferrabee
Mort Rainey is a best selling author whose imagination thrills his reader to the core. But one of his stories holds a secret that comes to life. A secret that even he can't imagine. (Sony Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Ghost Town Panic Room Stir of Echoes
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Depp gives a smart, subtle performance, and Turturro is terrific as a foe who's both exactly what he seems and exactly the opposite. Koepp's makes his (literally) corny tricks seemfresh and surprising.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's a taught, entertaining motion picture that serves its purpose.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
A potent psychological thriller bolstered by strong performances and an offbeat sense of humor. What renders it an unsettling cut above many thrillers is the casting of Johnny Depp in the lead.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The story is more entertaining as it rolls along than it is when it gets to the finish line. But at least King uses his imagination right up to the end, and spares us the obligatory violent showdown that a lesser storyteller would have settled for.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Even if a certain glibness in the plotting deflates its impact somewhat at the finish, it remains an eerie, playful thriller and an all-around entertaining time at the movies.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
The resourceful actor (Depp) invigorates Secret Window with a playful personality and wryly humorous aplomb not front-and-center in the script, making the psycho-suspenser more compelling than it might otherwise have been.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
"The only thing that matters is the ending," says Rainey toward the end of the movie. He's talking about the writers' craft. Koepp, despite the best efforts of his cast, sends this comment soaring into the ether of irony.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Secret Window leaves you unsatisfied and frustrated. Depp's performance both makes the film and undercuts it. He's a poet caught in a machine.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
A poet is not a pirate (except in his dreams), and, minus the gold in his teeth and kohl over his eyes and trinkets in his tresses, Depp is handicapped here -- for all his deft brushwork, he can only do so much with a flat character on a small canvas.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Koepp, an often ingenious writer, should have followed King's example and covered his tracks better. If he had, Secret Window might have been as good as "Stir of Echoes," and not simply a mini "Misery" and a not-quite "Shining."
Read Full Review >New York Post Megan Lehmann
The film is ultimately a one-man show -- and when that man is the singularly crafty Depp, it's hard to look away.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The movie telegraphs its intentions too early and relies too much on a single actor, Johnny Depp, to achieve its emotional force.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Doesn't keep any secrets but an open one: that Johnny Depp is on a roll, and actor's block is definitely not his problem.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
This Window ultimately feels like one most of us have climbed through before.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The picture isn't nearly enough on any level: not scary, not suspenseful, not complex, not atmospheric.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
It's a slight story to begin with, and the movie teeters on camp with its jokey filler material -- the typical King stuff including colorful locals, small puns and asides and a faint whiff of the supernatural.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
Unsteadily pitched between horror and comedy, Secret Window turns out to be neither terribly scary nor especially funny.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
Secret Window's premise is certainly new, even if King appears to be plagiarizing themes from himself.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Instead of taking us someplace we fear to go, Secret Window leads us to a place we've already been -- we know it so well, we could write the book on it ourselves.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Secret Window has an ending that lets one of our most reliably interesting actors pull out all the stops. But getting there from a good beginning followed by a slow, repetitive middle is a test of resourcefulness for him and a test of patience for us.
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
In the end Secret Window asks too much, demands allegiance when only incredulity can be mustered.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The film never kicks in as a character study or a star vehicle.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Secret Window is almost worth seeing for his characteristically assured performance alone, but Koepp sabotages Depp and his surroundings with an ending so atrocious, it callously betrays everything that came before it.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The movie's "shock" payoff still feels like a cheap trick.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
This is fun for a while, but the ending is so ridiculous, and obvious, as to sully all the small joys that come before it.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
"The only thing that matters is the ending," Mort declares in the closing seconds, just as the director is serving up a colossal (and literally corny) stinker. But for Depp, it's yet another daunting mission accomplished with wit and ingenuity.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The tricky plot has an interesting payoff, but it's a slow and bumpy ride getting there, and Koepp fares better with special effects than with generating either suspense or interest in the characters.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
You can boost mediocrity a little, but you cannot raise it from the dead.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The ultimate test of one's tolerance for King's self-aggrandizing postulations about writer's block, obsessive fans and the potentially frightening manifestations of the writer's id...It's just plain lousy.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
This movie is a suspense thriller whose only suspense comes from an audience wondering if the picture will hit its promised 97-minute running time.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
The film itself is an effective enough metaphor for out-of-control bullshit that frankly, Koepp aside, was part and parcel of Kings novella from page 1.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Kevin Carr
The worst sin of omission in Secret Window is the removal of the fact that Rainey had actually plagiarized in the past. In the story, this is critical because it is the source of Raineys guilt - and arguably the reason for his success.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 50 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jay H. gave it a6:
The film starts out great, but as it progresses it loses steam. It becomes predictable and I found the ending a let down. Still, it has it's moments and Johnny Depp is great as always.
Kevin B. gave it a9:
It has been a very long time where a "scarey" movie, actually scared me. So many movies out there like the grudge and ghost ship...give me a break! the only scarey part of the horror movies of today is that people waste their money to go see it. This movie truly surprised me. I heard so many bad things about it and i just happened to see it on tv without knowing what it was until it was too late(i was interested in it by then) What makes this so bad in peoples eyes today is because most people are full of crap when it comes to scarey movies. "like, omg! the ring was so TOTALLY scarey" these are the people who dont understand what makes a good movie
James gave it a0:
This movie sucks! It wasn't scary, the acting was bad, and it was a crap storyline!
Matt S. gave it a10:
How can you not like this film? I have scanned through a few of the reviews and they are all like, a bit of the plot is missed out which doesn't explain this... and whatever, but can't you just watch a film and not care about how it works, just enjoy it? I found this one of the most disturbing but also one of the best films I have seen in a long time. I didn't have to concentrate on it to understand it, the cinemotography is good, and the acting is just excellent, especially from Johnny Depp.
Dan C. gave it a5:
Not very satisfying. Johnny Depp is good in the lead role, but the whole enterprise seemed flat to me. Turturro was effectively menacing, but I didn't think the director maintained the tension. The ending seemed anti-climactic to say the least.
Mike H. gave it a 2:
Another Rod Serling Copy cat type plot. Rod Serling was the master! Many writers want to be a Twilight Zone creator! Not very original.
Kelsey C. gave it a 10:
This movie is the best movie since Radio. Johnny Depp had an outstanding preformence. I loved every second of it. Every time you sit down to watch it, it gets better and better. It will keep you guessing until the end....and you will still be wrong...
