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Darkness
Release Date: December 25,
2004
Studio: Dimension Films
Director: Jaume Balagueró
Screenwriter: Jaume Balagueró
Starring: Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen, Giancarlo Giannini,
Fele Martinez, Stephan Enquist, Fermi Reixach
Genre: Horror, Mystery
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing images, intense terror sequences,
thematic elements and language)
Official Website:
Miramax.com/Darkness
DVD/VHS:
DVD (Unrated) |
DVD (PG-13)
Plot Summary: Regina (Anna Paquin), her
younger brother Paul, and parents Mark (Iain Glen) and Maria (Lena Olin), have
just moved into a beautiful, old house in the country. They came in search of
quiet and tranquility, but instead they unearthed a horrifying secret that has
been deeply buried for many years.Their home quickly becomes anything but
welcoming and comfortable ; itseems to have a life of its own...especially after
dark. As Regina begins to investigate her mysterious surroundings, she uncovers
the truth about her family’s new address. Decades ago, it was the site of a
ritual gone awry --one that would have spread evil to the ends of the world.
Seven children were to be sacrificed, but one got away. Now, the force that has
been brewing for so many years is aiming for a final sacrifice to complete its
reckoning and travel beyond the walls of their home. No one is safe, and every
time the lights go out, something terrifying comes out of the darkness. The
family's only chance for survival is to stop something that they can't even see.
Reviewed by Peter
Veugelaers © 2005
- Television is not that bad, ah?
From the beginning of this year there have been a slew of
horrors released before blockbuster season, the Darkness might be the
bleakest, strangest and grimmest, released in the USA last Christmas, which is
really apt timing.
The movie was picked up by Dimension Films in 2002 and
shelved for two years. Directed by Spaniard Jaume Balaguero and co-written by
him it tells the dysfunctional story of a family relocating to a house in the
country which holds a brooding secret yet this is no surprise when all
indicators are heading predictably towards a showdown with this latent skeleton
in the family closet.
At the outset the only son of disturbed father Mark (Iain
Glen) hears a radio message while in his father’s car: an eclipse is coming and
metaphorically speaking, but you won’t really care. Next Mark collapses into a
seizure as he has Huntington’s disease. This foreshadowing is plainly obvious
for what is to come.
Daughter Regina (Anna Paquin) and wife Maria (Lena Olin) are
frightened by Mark’s erratic behaviour; Regina and her photographer friend are
enlightened by a mysterious old man about the demonic possession of the house.
In a small role, Fermi Reixach as the old man has a deeply resonant voice and
along with a genuine spooky moment adds some panache.
The first forty-five minutes is creakingly slow and
stiltedly talky and includes Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini, as the family
doctor and grandfather, uttering “nothing will happen” predicting the sheepish
pace. But he’s wrong, and we know he is. Darkness fails to nail either
its dramatic shape, which is hindered by clichés, or convincing frighteners but
what it does is creepily and unpleasantly evokes terror, with accompanying
emblazoned lighting effects, without any other noticeable reason for being,
emotionally distancing the viewer.
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