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That movie is The Dark Half, Romero’s adaptation of the King novel from 1989. The story is not just one of King’s darkest, but it’s also one of his most personal. The Dark Half revolves around an author who uses a fictional pen name for a large part of his career, and then decides to metaphorically “bury” that persona in order to move forward with his own name on his books. That entity somehow becomes real after the burial, rising from the grave and going on a killing spree.
Of course, this is directly inspired by King’s own career. He wrote under the name Richard Bachman for nearly two decades, and The Dark Half was inspired by his outing as the man behind the name.
The Dark Half was released back in 1993 and only made around $10 million at the box office, failing to even recoup its production costs. But it has slowly made more fans over time, and that will likely continue with its newest development in the world of streaming. Romero’s adaptation of The Dark Half is now available to watch for free on Tubi, giving every fan of King’s the opportunity to check it out at no cost.
Timothy Hutton pulls double duty in The Dark Half as Thad Beaumont and the evil writing entity he created, George Stark. The cast also includes Amy Madigan, Michael Rooker, and Royal Dano.
While on Tubi, fans of King’s will also want to check out the film Maximum Overdrive, which marks the author’s first and only time directing a movie.
