A Good Marriage Review | Road Rash Reviews

4 stars of top notch psychological thriller from Stephen King.

Based on a short story of the same name taken from the book “Full Dark, No Stars” by the master of storytelling and tension building Stephen King (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) and directed by Peter Askin (Company Man, Certainty), A Good Marriage is a chilling tale of betrayal and deception on a grand scale.

Darcy Anderson (Joan Allen – The Bourne Supremacy, Death Race) has just finished celebrating 25 happy years of marriage with her fantastic husband Bob (Anthony LaPaglia – Without A Trace, Empire Records) with whom she has been living an uneventful but very satisfying life. Her lovely children Petra (Kristen Connolly – Houdini, The Cabin In The Woods) and Donnie (Theo Stockman – Home, And So It Goes) have thrown them a lavish party in celebration of their love for one another and all seems well with the world.

As always, Bob the accountant sets off to work and also to attend a coin convention. Fascinated if not obsessed with finding his rare coin, Bob is a regular at coin sales all over the country. But everything is about to change.

While looking in the garage for batteries. Darcy happens across a box under the counter. Annoyed to find that it contains both a bondage magazine and some of her magazines that she wanted to keep, she pulls it out to retrieve them. In doing so, she disturbs a secret compartment in the wall, inside is a box made for Bob by their children, containing identity cards.

Upon inspection, Darcy realises that the identification belongs to Marjorie Duvall, the latest victim of the serial killer nicknamed “Beadie”. Putting two and two together and making five, she panics and when her husband calls, she arouses his suspicion with her nerves. Just to make life even more complicated, she is also being followed by a shadowy figure driving a car (Stephen Lang – Avatar, Gettysburg), whose intentions are unknown.

Darcy must find a way to negotiate the minefield that her life has become, ensure the safety of herself and her children and come to terms with the fact that the man with whom she enjoyed “A Good Marriage” is a serial killer and has been for many years without her knowledge.

A Good Marriage is a very well written film and bears Stephen King’s trademark intense observation of people and relationships and how the dynamics can change given certain circumstances. It is very chilling both in idea and atmosphere, with excellent acting performances from all concerned.

“I fled him down the nights and down the days, I fled him down the arches of the years. I fled him down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind. And in the midst of tears, I hid from him and under running laughter.”