From the Dark

From the Dark does not adopt a new premise nor does it have a big budget and yet its still a darn good Irish scare fest.

The key characters are played with likable ease by Niamah Algar and Stephen Cromwell. Their natural genuineness in the opening scenes and the amusingly familiar predicament they find themselves in, heightens the sense of dread when things take a terrifying turn for the worse.

The setting is a suitably remote farmhouse miles from anywhere and anyone, where the couple are stalked by a creepy creature inadvertently exhumed by the farmhouses owner. The creature itself never quite comes into focus but what you do see and what is hinted at,actually makes the creature, for me at least, far more frightening.

All of these elements come together to give this film a pervading atmosphere of desperate isolation and an ever building sense of dread, in the form of something unspeakable lurking in the dark.

All in all a solid horror with a subtle and cleverly managed ending. A well deserved eight out of ten from me.

This movie looked great and the beginning setup was fairly standard but done well. The initial dialogue between the main characters wasn't cringeworthy... though it's pretty much the only dialogue in the entire movie. So there's that. There is great atmosphere throughout and the monster is creepy in it's vagueness and mystery. More of a phantom than a raving beast. Unfortunately, beyond those elements the story is just silly. The heroine is level-headed and stoic the whole time, she never panics or breaks down... and yet she keeps doing the most inane things and ignoring opportunities to fight back and keep herself alive. I know that's kind of normal for horror films, but this one goes to a new level of dumb as characters do stupid things solely because the plot demands they not figure this stuff out. For one thing, they never seriously looks for a weapon. They're on a farm and there must be all sorts of sharp pointy implements around... but except for one moment, where she stabs the creature in the foot, she goes about completely unarmed. Also, it's quickly made obvious that the creature avoids the light. The house is full of papers and rags and stuff they could set on fire... and they've got a lighter... but not until far into the movie does she ever try making anything like a torch to keep the thing away or use as a weapon... and even that's only done halfway. Once she gets the tractor she could easily have set the entire house on fire... creating a huge amount of light to cover her escape... and yeah, that tractor would have gone fast enough to get away in... but somehow that whole element is dropped as well. There are several times where she's sitting with a decent light source and could just wait for sunrise... but no, she keeps screwing with that obvious plan in favor of things that end up putting her in the darkness and into danger, again. It's just frustrating... aggravating even... especially when everything else about the movie is so well done. Really, it seems like the whole situation was not well thought out at all and it ruins a movie that otherwise could have been a whole lot more fun to watch.

I am a huge fan of the horror genre.I look at other peoples reviews and it seems to me some people expect too much from movies they like realism which is fine but its horror folks it is suppose to be fiction. This movie is a survival horror it uses the typical survival formula but the director and production crew do great job building tension with the soundtrack and some clever camera work. The actors do a decent job in there roles.I watch movies to be entertainment if I want to watch realism I will watch a documentary it is after all a horror movie and a pretty decent one for me.Everyone has opinions that is the great thing about the movie world I just feel people sometimes expect a little too much.

Leprechaun: Origins; Deep in the Darkness; Animal; Nostrum!

From the Dark is a good movie if you keep in mind its budget, the fact that had only 3 actors plus a monster and the surroundings. If you put all of it together adding the so typical plot, the not so always great decisions taking throughout the movie and the way it ended, well, I graded it a 6 simply because I still think it did better than most.

I will recommend it for a horror fan, surely enough it is a good add-on to one's collection, I can declare myself overall satisfied with this production, then again, had very low hopes for it, so I just pressed play and let the time passed. I think most of you will say it is around a 4-5, but I for one have seen many horrors, a lot of indies and low budgets so in comparison to what I got to see lately, From The Dark stands taller than the rest.

Don't miss it, if you like horrors, it will bring you a little to the more old period. Monsters in the dark, afraid of light, and our heroes in need of daylight to survive!

Cheers!

FROM THE DARK is an excellent low-budget creeper from Ireland. After opening with a hideous resurrection and a vicious attack, we are introduced to Sarah and Mark (Niamh Algar and Stephen Cromwell), who are just passing through the vast, mostly uninhabited countryside. Unfortunately, their car gets hopelessly stuck in the mud. The couple end up at a farmhouse where the farmer isn't quite... himself.

This movie builds tension slowly with some sudden jolts along the way. There's also a novel approach to the subject matter, adding to the sense of danger. Recommended for those looking for something a bit fresh in a well-worn sub-genre...