Based on a story by Stephen King. Normally those words will yield one of two results. A very good movie (Shawshank Redemption, The Stand, The Green Mile) or some absolutely god awful movies. There never seem to be a middle ground.

This one luckily falls in the good category. While nowhere near the league set by The Green Mile or Shawshank Redemption, it's still a very good psychological thriller that deals with a man's descent in to madness after the murder of his wife.

The writing is superb and manages to convince most of the usual cliches that you some times find in these kinds of movies. While it's true it does take a couple of liberties here and there with the source material, it still manages to be mostly true to the original story.

The acting does justice to the story too. The casting of Christian Slater as Dolan is a very smart move. Who better to play a smarmy, egotistical murderer than the star of Heathers himself? I was a little worried about the casting of Wes Bentley but I need not have worried. He gives a very assured performance and is utterly convincing as the widowed husband descending in to madness and obsession.

The only reason I've gone for three stars instead of four was the poor performance by Greg Bryk. Anytime he was on the screen I just wanted him to leave again.

The special features won't set the world alight but the behind the scenes and the B-Roll included here do give an interesting albeit short look at how the movie was made.

I'd recommend this pretty highly as one of the better Stephen King adaptations.