The Dark Half
Encyclopedia
The Dark Half is a horror
novel
by Stephen King
, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly
listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy
's Clear and Present Danger
. It was adapted into a feature film
of the same name in 1993.
Stephen King wrote several books under a pseudonym
, Richard Bachman
, during the seventies and eighties. Most of the Bachman novels were darker and more cynical in nature, featuring a far more visceral sense of horror than the psychological, gothic style common to many of King's most famous works. When King was discovered to be Bachman, he wrote The Dark Half in response to his outing.
. Thad's own books – cerebral literary fiction – are not very successful. However, under the pen name
"George Stark", he writes highly successful crime novels about a violent killer named Alexis Machine. When Thad's authorship of Stark's novels becomes public knowledge, Thad and his wife, Elizabeth, decide to stage a mock funeral for his alter ego during a People
magazine photo shoot. His epitaph at the local cemetery says it all: "Not A Very Nice Guy".
Stark, however, emerges as a physical entity and goes on a killing spree, gruesomely murdering everyone he perceives responsible for his "death" – Thad's editor, agent, and the People photographer, among others. Thad, meanwhile, is plagued by surreal nightmares. Stark's murders are investigated by Alan Pangborn
, the sheriff of the neighboring town of Castle Rock
, who finds Thad's voice and fingerprints at the crime scenes. This evidence, and Thad's unwillingness to answer his questions, causes Pangborn to believe that Thad – despite having alibi
s – is responsible for the murders.
Thad eventually discovers that he and Stark share a mental bond, and begins to find notes from Stark written in his own handwriting. The notes tell Thad what activity Stark has been engaging in. Observing his son and daughter, Thad notes that twins share a unique bond. They can feel each other's pain and at times appear to read the other's mind. Using this as a keystone to his own situation, he begins to discover the even deeper meaning behind himself and Stark.
Pangborn eventually learns that Thad had a twin. The unborn brother was absorbed into Thad in utero
and later removed from his skull when the author was a child. He had suffered from severe headaches and it was originally thought to be a tumor
causing them. The doctor who removed it found the following inside: part of a nostril, some fingernails, some teeth, and a malformed human eye. This leads to questions about the true nature of Stark, whether he is a malevolent spirit or Thad manifesting a multiple personality. Thad eventually vanquishes Stark, but the book ends on an unhappy note with Thad's wife having serious doubts about the future of their relationship: she is appalled that Thad not only created Stark (if unintentionally), but that a part of him liked Stark.
that Thad committed suicide
. This ties up the novel's ambiguous ending regarding Thad's relationship with Liz.
Stark is also mentioned in the "Notes" section of King's collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes under the story "The Fifth Quarter". It states only "Bachman again. Or maybe George Stark."
, by George A. Romero
in 1990, and was released in 1993. It was filmed in part at Washington and Jefferson College and other locations in southwestern Pennsylvania
. It starred Timothy Hutton
as Thad/Stark, Michael Rooker
as Alan Pangborn
, and featured Julie Harris
as an eccentric colleague of Thad's who provides some vital information about the supernatural.
The computer game The Dark Half, based on the novel, was designed by Symtus and published by Capstone
in 1992. Another game titled The Dark Half: Endsville was announced at E3 in 1997, but the game was apparently not released.
An unusual feature of the novel was the appearance of characters Rawlie and Billie DeLesseps, who had previously appeared only in a rarely printed short story which is far better known on film, "The Crate
". Thad's co-worker Rawlie was the main character in the Creepshow
segment, and in The Dark Half, they are described to look exactly like actors Hal Holbrook
and Adrienne Barbeau
, the actors who portrayed the characters in that segment. Oddly, the events of The Dark Halfs late 1980s setting clearly postdate the events in "The Crate"'s late 1970s setting.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
's Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger is a novel by Tom Clancy, written in 1989, and is a canonical part of the Jack Ryan universe. In the novel, Jack Ryan is thrown into the position of CIA Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by his colleagues who are conducting a covert war...
. It was adapted into a feature film
The Dark Half (film)
The Dark Half is a 1993 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film was directed by George A. Romero and stars Timothy Hutton as Thad Beaumont and George Stark, Amy Madigan as Liz Beaumont, Michael Rooker as Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Royal Dano in his final...
of the same name in 1993.
Stephen King wrote several books under a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, Richard Bachman
Richard Bachman
Richard Bachman is a pseudonym used by horror fiction author Stephen King.-Origin:At the beginning of Stephen King's career, the general view among publishers was such that an author was limited to a book every year, since publishing more would not be acceptable to the public...
, during the seventies and eighties. Most of the Bachman novels were darker and more cynical in nature, featuring a far more visceral sense of horror than the psychological, gothic style common to many of King's most famous works. When King was discovered to be Bachman, he wrote The Dark Half in response to his outing.
Plot summary
Thad Beaumont is an author and recovering alcoholic who lives in the town of Ludlow, MaineLudlow, Maine
Ludlow is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 402 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 22.0 square miles , of which, 22.0 square miles of it is land and 0.05% is water...
. Thad's own books – cerebral literary fiction – are not very successful. However, under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"George Stark", he writes highly successful crime novels about a violent killer named Alexis Machine. When Thad's authorship of Stark's novels becomes public knowledge, Thad and his wife, Elizabeth, decide to stage a mock funeral for his alter ego during a People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine photo shoot. His epitaph at the local cemetery says it all: "Not A Very Nice Guy".
Stark, however, emerges as a physical entity and goes on a killing spree, gruesomely murdering everyone he perceives responsible for his "death" – Thad's editor, agent, and the People photographer, among others. Thad, meanwhile, is plagued by surreal nightmares. Stark's murders are investigated by Alan Pangborn
Alan Pangborn
Alan Pangborn is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the Sheriff of the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, assisted by deputies Norris Ridgewick, John LaPointe, Andy Clutterbuck, and Seaton Thomas.-Background:...
, the sheriff of the neighboring town of Castle Rock
Castle Rock (Stephen King)
Castle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King’s fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories...
, who finds Thad's voice and fingerprints at the crime scenes. This evidence, and Thad's unwillingness to answer his questions, causes Pangborn to believe that Thad – despite having alibi
Alibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
s – is responsible for the murders.
Thad eventually discovers that he and Stark share a mental bond, and begins to find notes from Stark written in his own handwriting. The notes tell Thad what activity Stark has been engaging in. Observing his son and daughter, Thad notes that twins share a unique bond. They can feel each other's pain and at times appear to read the other's mind. Using this as a keystone to his own situation, he begins to discover the even deeper meaning behind himself and Stark.
Pangborn eventually learns that Thad had a twin. The unborn brother was absorbed into Thad in utero
In utero
In utero is a Latin term literally meaning "in the womb". In biology, the phrase describes the state of an embryo or fetus. In legal contexts, the phrase is used to refer to unborn children. Under common law, unborn children are still considered to exist for property transfer purposes.-See also:*...
and later removed from his skull when the author was a child. He had suffered from severe headaches and it was originally thought to be a tumor
Teratoma
A teratoma is an encapsulated tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of all three germ layers. There are rare occasions when not all three germ layers are identifiable...
causing them. The doctor who removed it found the following inside: part of a nostril, some fingernails, some teeth, and a malformed human eye. This leads to questions about the true nature of Stark, whether he is a malevolent spirit or Thad manifesting a multiple personality. Thad eventually vanquishes Stark, but the book ends on an unhappy note with Thad's wife having serious doubts about the future of their relationship: she is appalled that Thad not only created Stark (if unintentionally), but that a part of him liked Stark.
After the events of The Dark Half
Sheriff Alan Pangborn goes on to appear two times more in the Castle Rock series. It is revealed that ever since the events of The Dark Half, he is plagued by nightmares and the memory of Thad Beaumont. We are also told of the subsequent death of Pangborn's wife and son, and his own depression, in Needful Things. It is revealed in Bag of BonesBag of Bones
Bag of Bones is a 1998 novel by Stephen King. It focuses on an author who suffers severe writer's block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife...
that Thad committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. This ties up the novel's ambiguous ending regarding Thad's relationship with Liz.
Stark is also mentioned in the "Notes" section of King's collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes under the story "The Fifth Quarter". It states only "Bachman again. Or maybe George Stark."
Adaptations
The novel was adapted as a film, The Dark HalfThe Dark Half (film)
The Dark Half is a 1993 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film was directed by George A. Romero and stars Timothy Hutton as Thad Beaumont and George Stark, Amy Madigan as Liz Beaumont, Michael Rooker as Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Royal Dano in his final...
, by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
in 1990, and was released in 1993. It was filmed in part at Washington and Jefferson College and other locations in southwestern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. It starred Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
as Thad/Stark, Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
as Alan Pangborn
Alan Pangborn
Alan Pangborn is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the Sheriff of the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, assisted by deputies Norris Ridgewick, John LaPointe, Andy Clutterbuck, and Seaton Thomas.-Background:...
, and featured Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
as an eccentric colleague of Thad's who provides some vital information about the supernatural.
The computer game The Dark Half, based on the novel, was designed by Symtus and published by Capstone
Capstone Software
Capstone Software was a subsidiary of IntraCorp, a Miami, Florida-based computer and video game company. Founded in 1984, Capstone created first-person games such as Corridor 7: Alien Invasion, William Shatner's TekWar and Witchaven, and is also known for releasing games based on movie/TV...
in 1992. Another game titled The Dark Half: Endsville was announced at E3 in 1997, but the game was apparently not released.
An unusual feature of the novel was the appearance of characters Rawlie and Billie DeLesseps, who had previously appeared only in a rarely printed short story which is far better known on film, "The Crate
The Crate
"The Crate" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the July 1979 issue of Gallery. In 1982, the story was adapted as a segment in the movie Creepshow, and included in comic-book form in the Creepshow graphic novella....
". Thad's co-worker Rawlie was the main character in the Creepshow
Creepshow
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, E.G...
segment, and in The Dark Half, they are described to look exactly like actors Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
and Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
, the actors who portrayed the characters in that segment. Oddly, the events of The Dark Halfs late 1980s setting clearly postdate the events in "The Crate"'s late 1970s setting.