Dark Half, The

Stephen King is in for quite a year, not counting whatever dozen books he may see published. No less than four of his novels will see the light of celluloid this year:

— "Needful Things" will hit theater screens this summer.

— "The Tommyknockers" will air as a television miniseries May 9-10.

— "The Stand" (currently shooting here in Utah) will play as a TV miniseries in the fall.

— And finally, the long-on-the-shelf "The Dark Half" opens in theaters across the country this weekend. (Long on the shelf because of Orion Pictures' bankruptcy, not through any fault of the film.)

And the good news is that though it is one of King's least original stories, "The Dark Half" is one of his better movies. (Though, to some, that may be faint praise.)

Scripted and directed by horrormeister (and King's pal) George A. Romero (the "Night of the Living Dead" films, "Creepshow"), "The Dark Half" is sort of a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" variation, in which, initially, the "Hyde" character may or may not be a separate person. (It also incorporates an "inside" nod to King's former pseudonymn, Richard Bach-man.)

The film opens with young Thad Beaumont writing stories feverishly but finding himself beset by strange headaches. Doctors discover that he has a bizarre brain tumor, made up of the remains of an unformed twin settled into his brain tissue. And while Thad is in surgery, the hospital is strangely attacked by hundreds of sparrows.

Years later, Thad (now played by Timothy Hutton) is a university English professor, though he seems to live a most comfortable life with his wife (Amy Madigan) and their baby twins.

It isn't long before Thad is confronted by a strange young man (Robert Joy) who attempts blackmail. It seems Thad has been writing sleazy best-selling novels, using the pseudonymn of an even sleazier creation named George Stark. But before his blackmailer reveals this secret, Thad decides to go public himself, and figuratively buries Stark.

This doesn't make his "Dark Half" very happy, and soon Stark is killing people with a straight razor, leaving Thad's fingerprints in blood at the scenes of the crimes.