Now I’ve done my math on this.
Anna Paquin (of “X-Men” Rogue fame) was born in 1982 and this movie was filmed in 2002. So we’re cool. Right? No one’s going to jail…but I can’t shake the mild pedo aftertaste that this movie seems reliant on…her in the girl’s changing rooms or in the bath or whatever. Never naked, of course, but I mean Christ! Do we have to linger on her little puppies as she runs down the stairs? Answer: yes.
When a family moves to Europe to get away from their dad’s mental illness, you can tell it’s gonna be a nice smooth journey (note: they probably shouldn’t have brought the father with them), but “Darkness” never seems to get off the ground.
The basic timing is flawed. Little dead kids appearing in your room seconds after the door slams closed has potential. However, the reveal is done so dispassionately that you sort of think maybe the kids were meant to be there or something.
Possibly I was in a funny mood when I watched it, but the editing really seemed to have a real comical value:
Cut to father taking pick axe into living room- cut to daughter- cut back to living room with a big massive hole in the centre- cut to ambulance outside the house carting away the father.
Genius.
Look out for the father speaking to an electrician early in the movie. In another episode the dead kids call Anna for a laugh, hang up, then when the phone goes again immediately after, she answers “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?” and it’s her mother calling from the hospital. In real life she’d explain to her mum that dead kids had just called- cut to ambulance outside the house carting her away.
It sort of redeems itself in the last third when it starts explaining why all of this is happening, and takes a somewhat HP Lovecraftesque turn for the better. Nevertheless, the hour before it packed in so many accidental laughs that I felt a bit of a hypocrite trying to regain the fear.
Not a great movie by any means, but an ok way to spend an hour and a half of your life- even if it is for the belly laughs.
Official Review
Some secrets should never come to light!
After moving to Spain as part of their fathers recovery from mental illness a family witness strange events unravel within their new house days before an eclipse. With the eclipse fast approaching it becomes clear that a dark, evil presence within the house has unfinished business from forty years previous.
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This post is tagged child sacrifice, dead kids, electrician, mental illness, neck stab, needle, secrets
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