A Good Marriage: Why Does Darcy Live In The Amityville House?

I'm sure there are spoilers here.  If you don't want spoilers, don't read reviews.

Approaching a movie with absolutely zero expectation can be a good  thing.  I have not read many other reviews of the movie because I spotted early on that it was getting a lot of negative press, and I didn't want to pick up on others complaints.  I want the whining to be my own.

The script, written by King, certainly has  the marks of a literary undertaking. Nice, tight, opening narration that is truly haunting.

I thought the main characters, Joan Allen as Darcy and Anthony LaPaglia as Bob played well against one another.  Early scenes make the "good marriage" almost a little -- too good.  But that's petty.

The scene where Darcy discovers the truth  is, indeed -- horrifying.  Music, tone, visuals, acting -- it all works.  The realization begins with the discovery of naughty magazines. . . but there's more for her to turn up.  Interesting, the scene's setting is exactly how I imagined it when I read the novel.  Of course, all that's really presented is the work bench.

When the full realization of what's going on settles on Darcy, the viewer feels her horror.  What I like about the  movie is that it plays with the theme much more than the book does.  What if an unsuspecting wife found out her husband was a terrible serial killer?  Here's what's fun about the movie: He knows she knows.  Of course, that's also what doesn't work!  Because a serial killer who has their nasty secret discovered isn't really too friendly about the situation.

There are moments you think, "How does Stephen King get inside a serial killers head."  The scary thing is, I don't think it's that hard.  Fleeting thoughts others have and (hopefully) push aside, writers more willingly embrace.  And then, when Bob the serial killer's secret is exposed and he thinks he can move on with  life with someone knowing his secret -- I think maybe King fell out of the serial killers head.  Our friend Mr. Bob doesn't seem bright enough to be a serial killer in the second half of the movie.  Not that they give an IQ exam when applying.

What seems unreal to me is just how quickly Bob fesses up.  Usually if a guy gets caught doing something -- especially something really bad -- he tries to worm his way out.  He doesn't go, "Hey, you were in my stash, and now you know I'm that bad guy.  But hey, we can still be cool, right?"  I don't think that's how it would work.  Do you?  And, to make it more unbelievable, it's not she who confronts him, leaving him speechless and confused with no explanation.  But he knows she knows before there is a confrontation. This gives him time to think things through and offer an excuse. Instead, he chooses confession.

Darcy doesn't plan and act fast enough.  This is not the Darcy we know from the novel; this is a very different woman.  She misses so many good opportunities.  She could stab him while he sleeps.  She could drop the car on him while he's working under it.  Why does she not movie faster?  She wanted to spare her children the pain.  And she needed time to plan.

A lot of the movie is flashes going through Darcy's head.  The newscaster talks to her; scenes are played out -- but in her imagination.  It gives the viewer pause when this is done more than once; is this really happening, or is the writer playing with me again?  It lessens suspense.  When something truly scary happens, the viewer is numb; is the camera going to pan out in a moment and we're just playing games in Darcy's head again?

There's a plot hole in A Good Marriage that King himself has addressed when discussing a stories plot.  "Why doesn't she just call the police?"  yeah. . . why?  I think the short answer is that she is afraid people will think she's in on it; that at the least she knew, and at the worst, she participated in the murders.  In fact, Bob uses exactly this logic on her.  So, instead, she carries out a murder of  her own.

Now consider -- in a house that could possibly soon be crawling with investigators, she commits murder.  Her not getting caught at that point is not a matter of how skillful  she is as a murder, but how skillful He is as a serial killer.  Any single clue he left behind at any crime scene could lead a massive police force into her home to investigate, and ultimately expose not only him, but her.  She cleans up the blood; forgetting police use a thing called luminol.  What she is counting on is that the police will  never follow Bob's trail home.  But doing away with him doesn't remove the clues he's left behind. Know what would be easier?  Calling the police.

When Darcy does act, it is great because the viewer doesn't know when it's going to come.  BAM!  How long will she wait?  How many opportunities will she pass up?

There is one case that I know of where a serial killer was outed by a family member; that's unabomber.

So there's a lot of whining here for me to conclude with this -- I liked it.  Yep, I did. I liked the book,  and I like the movie.  It's certainly not my favorite Stephen King movie, but is a good film.

There are three scenes I really enjoyed:
1. Darcy's discovery of naughty Bob.  Moving from the anger of finding a bad magazine to the real horror of who she is married to is powerfully portrayed.
2. The moment she acts.  The fight scene actually reminds me of Misery.
3. Her confession.  This part  I think works much better than the book.  The retired cop reveals how difficult it is going to be for her to put up with people talking about the "good ole days."  She will have to keep close to her heart the fact that Bob was actually a very naughty boy.

Favorite lines:
"I enjoy the hunt."
"I'm powerless over my nature."
"I'll just do it once, get it out of my head."
"All good things come to those who wait."
"Here I am Bobby, on top -- just the way you like it."
"Two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead."
"The only thing I have to do is pay my taxes.  It's not for me to punish you."
"You did the right thing."

What if. . .
Know what would have been a messed up Twilight Zone ending -- if she killed him and then after his funeral, the killing's began again. (No, I don't really want the story to make that turn.)

What I would have really liked -- if Darcy had been able to make him suffer just a little more.

Out of curiosity,

does Darcy's house

Look like this house?

Did Darcy ever  think, "Hey, maybe I'm living in the Amityville house with a serial killer."  no.  Okay.

Here's a note about the House I found interesting: 

This old off-white home, slightly creepy in its emptiness and subtle dilapidation, and yet a real potential gem with that backyard idyllic farm, caught the eye of location scouts. . . 

The house belongs to Historic Hudson Valley (you can tell because it enjoys the same new stretch of farm fencing) which wasn’t using it for anything lately. It used to house offices but has since become too deteriorated. So it’s a win for them to get the house fixed up and a win for the village, said Giaccio. (patch.com)

UPDATED: Dennis Rader's Daughter Has A Bone To Pick With Stephen King

photo credit: kansascity.com/news

I hesitate to post this tonight.  I think Kerri Rader really is a victim of her father's evil, and has shown amazing courage and faith in moving forward.  However, the story is directly related to Stephen King. I find her faith inspiring, and her comments about King misguided.  So, if you comment, be kind.  Don't nuke this lady.

Resposted, with update.

kansascity.com posted a sympathetic article about Kerri Rader Rawson, the daughter of  the Wichita, Kansas serial killer known as BTK.  Seems she has a bone to pick with Stephen King.  Apparently she just figured out that King's 2010 novella, "A Good Marriage" was based partly on Dennis Rader.

Instead of taking interest in the character study,  Rawson's moral compass spins on King and declares that he is exploiting the victims her father terrorized.  Apparently she is their spokesman.  Of course, she goes on to state that she and her family feel personally exploited.  In fact, she goes so far as to say that  she and her family are the "11th victim."  Of course, they are victims.  But it's not Stephen King who is victimizing them.

The movie, and story, discuss  the fact that people can live together in family while hiding terrible, sometimes horrific,  secrets  from one another.  Kinda like. . . DENNIS RADER!

The article notes that  until she figured out that her father was the source material for A Good Marriage, King was her favorite writer.  Again -- the story was released in 2010.  So  did she read the novella and not go, "hey, this seems familiar."  Or, did she not read the book?

Here is the meat of Rawson's complaints:

1. She thinks it'll give her father "a fat head." 
But honestly, I don't think Stephen King will be  responsible if Dennis Rader's ego gets out of control!

2. She is offended King will make money off the story.
Now, understand,  this is a fictional novel.  It's not a novelization of  Rader's life; King was simply interested in the fact that Rader's family was unaware of his evil activity.

This is from the article:

She said King will make money, as she said he always does, only this time from the grief of all the victim families. “How many millions does he already have?” she said.

It seems she thinks attacking Stephen King will give voice to her fathers victims.

The bottom-line is, King is not making money off her fathers story; he's making money from a novel her wrote.  The novel contained observations from real life -- which is how books are written.  Can you imagine banks being mad at John Steinbeck for The Grapes of Wrath?

Understand, King did not recreate  the entire family in his novel.  In the book, the couple are older and the entire family dynamic is quite different.

3. She suggests that reading Stephen King might have "influenced" some of the bad things her  father did.
That's vague, so get the full quote: "She said her father was also a huge King fan – she worries that King’s books might have influenced some of the bad things her father did in some of his later murders."  Apparently there was something in the "later" murders she feels came from the work of King.

Later in the article she confesses that she has no  idea what drove her father to do  what he did.  Her emotions are obviously still a whirlwind.

Why not leave the family out of it?

BTK's daughter acknowledges that King has a right to tell a story,but asks why he had to tell what the inspiration was. Why not leave the family out of it?  Well, the answer is two fold.

First, I'm not aware of King ever personally outing the family. He didn't give their names or say much about BTK's real family.  She's the one who got her photo on the cover of a story linked to BTK, not Stephen King.  It's in the article about Rawson that her husbands name is given, the number of years she's been married, her occupation, her former occupation, and the number of children she has, how long her brother was in the Navy, how many degrees she has;  Stephen King didn't give that information; she did.

In other words, she is revealing more of her personal details in her attack on King than King did in his book.  King used an IDEA -- she's actually the one who made it personal.

Second, King revealed the source of the story because he was asked what the inspiration for the novella was.  He answered a question.  He probably never  thought, "Gee, if I answer this question, I might offend BTK's family."

What is good about the article:

Rawson reveals some real kindness on the part of police, who helped the family "get through" the terror of what the head of  the family did.  She says that detectives on the BTK task force were "very kind" to her and the family.   “They helped us get through it, talked to us with a lot of kindness. I am sure they kept a lot of media crap away from us afterward. And there was a lot of that.”
She’s grateful to Landwehr for two other reasons.

I suspect she is right when she says that she probably suffers  from PTSD as a result of her father's actions the media's hounding.

Stephen King makes her case

Maybe she should read the novella.  The article points out that the family, and in particular Rader's wife Paula, knew all along what he was doing.  Which is the very heart of King's novella!  What if a spouse who had no idea their beloved was committing murder discovered the true character of the one they love?  Well, in King's novel, a very strong wife is able to take care of some serious business.  If the family really sees themselves that deeply in the story, they should  feel  complimented.

Rawson says, “The hardest thing: Once you find out this horrible stuff about someone you loved and live with, you had to really work through it."  Which is very much  what A Good Marriage is about.  What do you do with the information you have?  In A Good Marriage,  the evil is discovered and dealt with in a way much different than reality.  It's not the FBI who cracks the case, it's the wife.

I Feel For this Lady:

While Rawson's attack  on King is irritating, I feel real empathy with her.  She's wishing she had a way to defend those her father hurt;  and this is, she thinks, a way to protect them.  She admits to having "bad days" (I'll bet) and that it's tough to keep moving forward as a mom.  I respect her courage to tell her children the truth and work with them in dealing with it.

I also respect her  courage  to tell her story to 200 women in her church.   That takes guts.  As part of the talk to the women, she revealed that she had not forgiven her father.  However, that Christmas (after sharing her story), she said that on the way home from a movie, she found the power to forgive her  father.  "God gave me that forgiveness," she acknowledged.  I'll tell you, I believe that with all my heart.  Because we are  unable  to forgive  really big wounds in life without the power of God. “God gave me that forgiveness,” she said. “My faith is my rock under me.”  After choosing to forgive him, she then wrote a six page letter to Rader, explaining that  though she forgives him, she does not understand why he did what he did.

The article includes a letter to "to Stephen King, the media from Dennis Rader’s daughter.”  The part I like out of the letter, "My mom is the strongest & bravest woman I know." I think King's novel actually compliments this sentiment.

The letter reveals a person still tortured by the evil in the past; and some of those wounds will  be with her all of her life until the final day when tears are wiped away by the Creator.

UPDATE:

(Wednesday, October 1)

Stephen King posted this well worded response at his message board:

I don't think Mr. Rader's daughter has to worry about her father getting a big head; there's nothing glamorous about the portrayal of Bob Anderson in A GOOD MARRIAGE. He's depicted as a banal little man, and none of the murders are shown. As for making millions from the project…not going to happen. AGM is a very small, independently financed feature that is opening in less than two dozen venues. How it does as a video on demand feature film (VOD) is hard to predict, but we don't expect huge returns. The story isn't really about the killer husband at all, but about a brave and determined woman. And while I understand Ms. Rawson's distress, the BTK crimes have already been chronicled in no less than 4 feature films, and there may be more in the future. I grant there is a morbid interest in such crimes and such criminals--there have been at least a hundred films about Jack the Ripper, who claimed far fewer victims--but there's also a need to understand why they happen. That drive to understand is the basis of art, and that's what I strove for in A GOOD MARRIAGE. I maintain that the theme of both the novella and the movie--how some men are able to keep secrets from even their closest loved ones--is valid and deserves exploration.

 - Stephen King

King Talks About A GOOD MARRIAGE

A Good Marriage lands a 5/10 From JoBlo

Lilja's Library pointed King fans to the first review of A Good Marriage, posted at joblo.com.  How'd it do?   Chris Bumbray gave it a five out of ten.

"Sadly," Bumray writes, "King's connection is really the only thing that distinguishes the movie from your run of the mill low budget thriller."

That's disappointing.  I had high hopes for this movie.  So, what will I do?  Ignore Bumray until I see the movie for myself.  As Bumray notes, "if you're a Stephen King completist you'll want to see this regardless. . . " YEP!

King Is A Halloween Grinch

www.cbsnews.com/news/



some quotes:

• "I'm sort of the Halloween Grinch.  It's just like, you get this scary reputation, and you're sort of like the Santa Claus of Halloween."
• "I started to think, I wonder how many of us are sleeping with strangers and what we really know about the people that we think we're close to."
• "I sometimes say to people, there are people who have complexes and fantasies and they go to a psychiatrist and they pay $50, $70 an hour," King said. "I do the same thing, and people pay me."
• (One of my favorite stories) "I was in the grocery store down in Florida, and I came around the corner of the aisle, and there was this elderly woman who was pushing her cart," he said. "And she looked at me and she said, 'I know who you are. You write those scary things, and that may be OK for some people. I respect you, but I don't read things like that.' And I said, 'Well, ma'am, I wrote "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand by Me,"' and she said, 'No, you didn't.'" And the woman just walked right past him.
• "Guys like me, guys who are actors, writers, sculptors, painters, we live by our wits - comedians. I think that what really scares me is, you know, starting to strip my gears a little bit - Alzheimer's, dementia, things like that. I hate the idea of that."
• (About why Tabby bought the car that  hit him) "The reason she bought it was she was afraid somebody would put it for sale on eBay, so she had it put in a car crusher."

A Good Marriage trailer

This looks AWESOME!

It appears there will be a lot more than the book offered.  Which, in this case, is a good thing.

The scene where she discovers the evidence is very much the way I imagined it.  I think-- just based on this trailer -- they captured the heart of the novel.

Is A Good Marriage Set To Scare?

Clark Collis Entertainment Weekly article proclaims, "'We went in fearlessly': Stephen King on adapting 'A Good Marriage' for film."

Based on a short novel in King's collection, Full Dark,  No Stars; A Good Marriage is one of my favorites.  Probably because it discusses something truly horrifying!  What if you discovered someone you love is actually a serial killer?

A Good Marriage stars Joan Allen, Anthony LaPaglia, Stephen Lang, and House of Cards actress Kristen Connolly.  Most important, the screenplay was written by none other than Stephen King.

King explained why he wanted to writ the script: “I’ve seen enough movies adapted from my work to know that the things that work the best are the things that aren’t too long and aren’t too short."

Revealing he was  never on set (so don't expect a cameo), King promised not to take the story in the "wrong direction." King said the script was about the length  of Shawshank Redemption.  Actually,  the  novel moved pretty quickly until the end, when the detective tried  to figure out what really happened.

This is from my book, "Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters":

Another tough woman appears in the short story, A Good Marriage, in which Darcy Anderson lays a clever trap of her own to knock off her serial killer husband. How does she kill a man who has made a habit of killing  women? And how does she accomplish it without getting caught herself? It is interesting to watch the change in Darcy. She goes from being a “normal” 1950s-ish housewife, to a woman ready to send her beloved husband to the pit.

Even  better, King notes that he likes it because the story is from a woman's point of view.

Stephen King Movies In Production

image credit: fanpop.com/clubs/stephen-kings-it

Den Of Geekhas posted all of the King movies and TV shows in development!  The information below are from Den Of Geek -- but the full article is at their website.

These include:

11/22/63
J.J. Abram's Bad Robot production company has acquired the rights to adapt this novel into a TV show. Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) was working on the script, but he dropped out over disagreements on the direction the show should take. Bummer.

Ayana
NBC wants to turn this into a TV show. Chris Sparling (Buried) is writing the pilot. Ben Haber (Across the Universe) is set to produce, while Jordan Kerner (Less Than Zero) will executive produce. No director or cast have been announced at this time.

Big Driver
Lifetime recently announced it would adapt King's novella of the same name, starring Mario Bello (Prime Suspect), rock legend Joan Jett, and Olympia Dukakis (Sinatra). Richard Christian Matheson (Masters of Horror) is penning the adaptation and Mikael Salomon (Drew Peterson: Untouchable) is directing.

The Breathing Method

For now, Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) is producing a feature film, but has yet to set it up at Universal. Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) is set to direct.  Of course, now that Derrickson has been chosen to direct Doctor Strange, this film will most likely go on the back burner...

Cell

Eli Roth (Hostel) talked about adapting this novel into a feature film a few years back, but that didn't happen. Instead, it's currently in production eyeing a 2015 release. It stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, and Owen Teague. The film will be directed by Todd "Kip" Williams (Paranormal Activity 2), with King and Adam Alleca (Last House on the Left remake) writing the screenplay.

Children of the Corn

Although there have been nine films already, Warner Bros. wants to make another. Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw 2) will reportedly direct with Jon Bokenkamp (The Blacklist) writing the script.

Creepshow 4

The rumor is Warner Bros. is interested in making another sequel or a possible remake. It would be interesting to see them tap someone like Ti West (V/H/S) to direct.

The Dark Tower

Now it looks like Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) might play the role of Roland along with Idris Elba (Pacific Rim) in an unspecified role. Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) has also met with Howard about a part. Writer Akiva Goldsman and producer Brian Grazen, both of A Beautiful Mind fame, are also attached to move this adaptation along.  . . . Now it's rumored that Media Rights Capital will produce the film. Who knows anymore.

Firestarter

Universal and the Dino De Laurentiis Co. will produce a new adaptation of Firestarter. Mark L. Smith (Vacancy) will write the screenplay. The idea is to give the film more edge than the original in an attempt to create a potential franchise. We wouldn't mind a Stephen King movie franchise about a secret organization that investigates the paranormal and does evil shit with it.

Gerald's Game

Mike Flanagan (Oculus) is at the helm of this adaptation, co-writing the script with Jeff Howard (Oculus). Intrepid Pictures will produce. The film will release sometime in 2015.

A Good Marriage

Peter Askin (Trumbo) will direct a screenplay written by King himself. Joan Allen (The Contender), Kristen Connolly (House of Cards), and Stephen Lang (Avatar) star. The film is planned for an October release.

Grand Central

The TV show comes from the former Dead Zone writing team Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn, and is in development at ABC for a potential summer straight-to-series order. 

IT

Being split into two parts (I'm guessing so that the film makers can tell both the children and adult stories as accurately as possible), Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) will direct. Fukunaga will also co-write with Chase Palmer (Neo-Noir) and David Kajganich (The Invasion). The film will be produced by New Line Cinema.

Joyland

Tate Taylor (Winter's Bone) is directing and adapting the screenplay. Wyolah Films is producing. Aiming for a 2015 release, the film is still in pre-production.

Lisey's Story

Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) is attached to write and direct the feature film, which is slated for a 2015 release.

The Long Walk

Frank Darabont, super frequent King collaborator, has secured the rights and is planning a low-budget film. This has the potential to be a home run. Fun fact: this was the first novel King ever wrote, but he failed to publish until many years later.

Mercy

Frances O'Connor (Mr Selfridge), Mark Duplass (The Mindy Project), Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story), Joel Courtney (Super 8), and Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead) are set to star. Peter Cornwell (The Haunting in Connecticut) will direct from a screenplay by King. The film is slated for later this year.

The Overlook Hotel

Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead) is making this prequel for Warner Bros. and Mythology Entertainment. 

Pet Sematary

David Kajganich (The Invasion) wrote the first draft of a screenplay before Paramount turned writing duties to Matthew Greenberg (1408). Producers Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (Transformers) and Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity) are on board to guide the project.

Rose Madder

Naomi Sheridan (In America) is working on the screenplay. 

The Shop

Charlie McGee will be back, once again running from an even more powerful Shop. Luckily, she'll have a guy named Henry Talbot, a former Shop employee, to guide her through her life as a fugitive. The project is written by Robbie Thompson (Supernatural) and produced by James Middleton (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Jaime Paglia (Eureka) and Thompson.

The Stand

Josh Boone is directing and writing this one, too. Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars), who has already worked with Boone, is rumored to be in the cast. The film would be a 3-hour movie adaptation -- plenty of room, but it probably won't be as expansive as the 1994 TV series. 

The Talisman

This adaptation has been in development hell for quite some time. Steven Spielberg was attached to produce a TV series at some point, but that fell through back in 2006. Frank Marshall (Raiders of the Lost Ark) is now trying to turn this novel into a feature film. 

The Ten O'Clock People

The film adaptation should be interesting. Tom Holland (Fright Night) is directing and writing the screenplay. Jay Baruchel (This Is The End) and Julie Browen star. Kathy Bates (Misery) and King himself are also rumored to appear. This film is slated for a 2015 release.

The full article is at: denofgeek

A Good Marriage Films In Sleepy Hollow

Something does seem right about this. . . right?  Stephen King -- Sleepy Hollow!

Work is being done on a dutch colonial house in Sleepy Hollow for the film version of A Good Marriage. I might also point out that house look a lot like Amityville to me.

With Carrie, Joyland, The Shining and Under The Dome getting so much attention, it seems A God Marriage might fly under the radar.  I thought the story was great!  Will the movie be true to the book?  Well, it will at least be true to the author, since King wrote the adaptation and will be on site for part of the filming.

More HERE.

A Good Marriage to be A Good Movie

I spotted this  first  at my favorite Stephen King website, Lilja's Library.

From Screen Daily:

Atlas International has added Stephen King adaptation A Good Marriage to its Cannes slate. 

Peter Askin will direct the psychological thriller based on a short story from King’s book Full Dark - No Stars, winner of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Collection. Will Battersby produces. 

A Good Marriage follows a woman who discovers her husband’s dark secret hiding in their garage. The New York shoot is set to get underway in late summer for a summer 2013 release. 

“Everyone at Atlas is very excited to be part of this project and honored by its new association with Stephen King, a true master if there ever was.“ says Philipp Menz, CEO of Atlas International.” 

The project is out to cast.

This is exciting news.  I loved this novel!  I think it was brilliant.    It was kind of a Dolores Claiborne with a twist.  Not at all the same stuff, but a story of a woman getting sweet revenge.