One of the few indignities never suffered by Lord Archer was a writer turning up on his doorstep and accusing Jeff of nicking one of his stories.

Fortune isn't so kind to bestselling author Mort Rainey (Depp) when psychotic stranger John Shooter (Turturro) shows up at his lakeside cabin.

It's the last thing Rainey needs - he's fighting a creativity-sapping bout of writer's block partly brought on by a bitter divorce from his wife Amy (Bello).

Shooter - who resembles a nattier-dressed backwoodsman from Deliverance - insists that Rainey admits his guilt and hints at what might happen if he doesn't.

Rattled but ultimately dismissive, Rainey is only forced to take his accuser seriously when his dog is found with a screwdriver rammed into his skull.

With the stakes raised, the writer finds himself enmeshed in a surreally twisted turn of events that even he couldn't have envisaged in his wildest imagination.

Based on a Stephen King novella, director David Koepp - the scriptwriter for Panic Room and Spider-Man - fashions an eerily compelling psychological thriller.

Depp is tremendous as the scribbler possibly at the mercy of paranoid delusions in the lonely cabin with the arrival of the bizarre farmer claiming plagiarism.

There's also a rich support cast, including a local cop pre-occupied with needlepoint embroidery and Depp's enforcer friend played by Dutton.

Humour is never far from the surface with Depp wryly singing Talking Heads' lyrics as he watches his "beautiful wife" with her new lover at what was once their "beautiful house."

The only thing that is likely to divide opinion is the final twist - a marked change of pace and dramatic direction which sits at odds with the preceding narrative.

Nevertheless, there's plenty to enjoy in a thriller that never kow-tows to Hollywood formula and provides some genuine chills.

Tim Evans