
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993                   TAG: 9304240309
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DESMOND RYAN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DIRECTOR ALMOST MAKES `DARK HALF' BELIEVABLE

Since the roster of movies that have been culled from Stephen King's ongoing avalanche of fiction includes such world-class clunkers as "The Car" and "Maximum Overdrive," it may be damning with faint praise to call "The Dark Half" one of the better efforts from our leading horror conglomerate.

And once again, the reason is not the upscale cast and production values, but the man in charge. Like Rob Reiner ("Misery," "Stand by Me") and Brian De Palma ("Carrie"), George Romero brings some genuine talent to this overcrowded movie kingdom. As both the writer and director of "The Dark Half," Romero musters a sardonic irony in the earlier sequences of a promising story before lapsing reflexively into the routine gestures and situations of the genre.

There are several questions of identity raised, but not satisfactorily explored in "The Dark Half." The central one hinges on that ancient schism between the good and bad sides in all of us.

Thad Beaumont (Tim Hutton) is the sort of author who gets decent reviews but pitiful royalties, and supports himself by teaching creative writing at the local university. But he also earns big money by churning out violent hard-boiled fiction under the pen-name George Stark. The profitable secret is threatened by a blackmailer.

King's premise has the makings of a fine black comedy, but it is played mostly straight in "The Dark Half."

Beaumont's sedate life with his wife, Liz (Amy Madigan stuck in a thankless throwaway), is soon in turmoil. People he knows professionally and personally start meeting gruesome deaths, and the physical evidence argues that he is the murderer - even though his alibis seem airtight.

Romero works hard at persuading the audience to believe it, and Hutton's brooding diffidence is an asset in his work as Thad. When he is busy playing his psycho pseudonym George, discovering how the other half lives and kills, it's a different story.

\ The Dark Half: Showing at Valley View Mall 6. Rated R for violence. 84 minutes.

by CNB