Darkness

I had heard bad things from the few people I know who had seen this film. I was still curious though, I think Anna Paquin is a somewhat underestimated actress who is rarely given what you could call a leading roll. Other than that, I knew nothing that the back of the DVD case couldn't tell me. Anyways.

I really enjoyed this film. It was well made, it was tastefully done and yes I found it to be scarier than just about anything else I've seen lately. Plus it features a pretty good turn by Fele Martínez who also starred in 'Abre los ojos', the film Cameron Crowe dubbed in English and called Vanilla Sky.

Maria (Lena Olin) and Mark Rua (Iain Glen) with their children Regina (Anna Paquin) and Paul move into an isolated house in Spain. Mark is troubled and has a complicated relationship with his father Albert Rua (Giancarlo Giannini).

Director Jaume Balagueró seems to have a grasp on moody horror visuals. The movie mostly works, if somewhat a slow bore, until the last act. It's a mistake to separate Anna Paquin from the family but sending her back to the house may be a bigger mistake. The movie needs to plant the seeds of this premise a lot better and a lot sooner. The opening tells us nothing other than a 40 years difference. By that alone, we have to assume either Mark or Maria's involvement. There could be so much more done with this premise. It needs to introduce the darkness sooner. They should start killing right away. The story needs work.

The movie centers about a family living outskirts Barcelona and the terrible events that happen to the daughter (Anna Paquin) and the rest of family : father (Iain Glenn) , mother (Lena Olin) and grandfather (Giancarlo Giannini).

The motion picture gets a certain likeness to films as ¨Amytiville¨ saga and the recent ¨The others¨ and ¨The sixth sense¨ , the director Jaume Balaguero takes parts each other films . In the movie there is terror , suspense , drama and from the beginning until ending the horror and tension is endless . The picture plot is pretty twisted and the final has an extraordinary surprise .

Interpretation by Anna Paquin as scared adolescent is average , she's very young and lack her experience , better play her grandfather and parents : Giancarlo Giannini , Lena Olin and Iain Glenn , both of whom are riveting . The film is produced by Julio Fernandez of Fantastic Factory , corporation with deal of hits in terror genre.

Balaguero direction is outstanding , Xavi Gimenez cinematography with lights and shades originates a frightening and scary atmosphere and Carlos Cases music creates true fear . Director Jaume Balagueró (Rec , Rec 2 .., Fragiles , The nameless , Tight sleep) uses uneasy knowledge for both horror and supernatural genre .

The flick will appeal to ghostly atmosphere enthusiasts and horror genre fans . Rating : 6,5/10 good

Well, it is difficult for me to judge this movie. As a die-hard fan of dark moody films, like The Others, The Ring, Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Series, The Crow, etc. I set really high standards. I expect every scene to have a meaning - if something flickers in the background it has to come forward at some time, if there is a lot of references to something then it means it has to have a deeper meaning sooner or later, etc... but, alas, this movie tried to seem to be more than it was. It's enticing, thrilling and delightfully creepy in the beginning - but later it starts to get more and more repetitive and, frankly speaking, boring. How many times can one character ask another how they got some weird bruises and not get any answer at all? How many times can weird shadows appear in dark rooms, without even trying to mean anything?

In other words, if you're not a "horror connoisseur", and just enjoy a good scare that does not necessarily have to be a piece of art, and don't mind a banal plothole-ridden outcome, then you're going to like this movie a lot. But if you expect innovation, pieces perfectly fitting one another at the end, subtle innuendoes that converge in a final surprising climax - then, sorry, you're looking on the wrong shelf. 5/10.

In terms of its storyline, "Darkness" is pretty much like every other haunted house movie ever made. We start off with the usual unsuspecting family of four who find themselves knee deep in ghouls and ghosts the moment they move into their new residence (the family is American and the home is in Spain in this outing). Of course, anyone in his right mind would hightail it out the door two seconds after setting foot in the house - but not this group! They want to hang around to see what "happens." It is Oscar-winner Anna Paquin, as the moody but perceptive teenaged daughter of the clan, who gets to have her name above the title here - a dubious distinction at best, I'm sorry to say.

"Darkness" has just about all the standard accoutrement's one would expect to find in a film on this subject. In addition to the perpetual thunderstorm taking place outside and the electricity that keeps going out on cue, we also have the self-activating toys, the strange voices on the telephone, the ghostly images on photographs, the father who becomes exponentially more psychotic in every scene in which he appears, and the mysterious old man with the limp who shows up out of nowhere and seems to hold the key to everything. Seasoned veterans will be able to predict just about every hackneyed setup and cliché a full hour before it officially arrives on screen. For instance, we just know, without room for quibble, that the minute the mother brings home a box of colored pencils for her delighted little boy to play with, the tyke will start drawing strange and disturbing pictures to help push the plot points along. It's practically de rigueur when it comes to films in this vein. (However, I must say, in all fairness, that the movie does NOT include the cat-jumping-out-at-the-audience scene, which is pretty much standard issue for every horror flick these days. The filmmakers DO earn some bonus points for that).

Paquin makes for a feisty heroine, and it isn't really her fault that her character always seems to be ten giant steps behind the audience in figuring it all out. And as to the "What the *&$%?" ending - well, it's either so brilliant that it is beyond the ken of mere mortal man to figure out, or it's one of the biggest final curtain stumbles in horror movie history. I have my own personal notion as to which of those two it really is, but I'll let you figure that one out for yourself. After all, I have to leave you with SOMETHING interesting to do while you're watching this film.