Beneath the Darkness

After watching their best friend get murdered, a group of teens struggle to expose a local mortician (Dennis Quaid) as the vicious killer and keep from becoming his next victims.

I see this film has a pretty low rating and has some rather scathing reviews. Frankly, I thought it was alright -- much better than a lot of the films I see. Dennis Quaid is always a joy, and the overall concept was entertaining.

If I had to make any complaint, it is that the mother character is just really, really poorly acted. I do not know her character's name, or I would specifically call out that actress. She is outdone by kids half her age, and that is just insulting.

Is this the overlooked horror film of 2011? Heck no. Is it comparable to "The Shining"? Not even in the same league. But I also do not think it is as bad as made out to be by some of those who have said it is like watching paint dry.

I looked at the IMDb rating, thought I would give this movie a go.

What a waste of time! It is like watching paint dry or waiting for grass to grow. A complete waste of 90 or so minutes.

How anyone would dare to compare this pile of junk to Jack Nicholson in the Shining beggars belief.

This movie is not fit to lick the boots of that movie.

The characters are 2 dimensional, who thought this garbage up? Do yourselves a favour - go and watch The Shining, this isn't worth a dime, it was actually painful to try and sit through the movie. It certainly isn't horror, and it is barely a movie.

A horror/thriller starring Dennis Quaid looked a decent prospect on paper however from the start it was pretty clear this would be no masterpiece. It reminded me quite a bit of Disturbia but this was nowhere near as good or well acted as that film.

Dennis Quaid is a decent actor but unfortunately this is not one of his best efforts and I found him way over the top and unbelievable in this role. The supporting cast are no more than adequate at best.

There are a few tense moments but the plot jumps all over the place and so these moments are not enough to sustain interest throughout the film.

This film may appeal to younger teenagers but older viewers will have seen this all before and done far better. Overall this is a disappointing and distinctly unmemorable film.

Four high school kids come into some bother when they cross paths with the local Mortician/whack-job. When one of them gets murdered it's up to the others to prove the morticians guilt.

The movie follows a lot of the classic thriller trappings and pitfalls. No one believes the kids story despite the obvious weirdness of the mortician character played brilliantly by Dennis Quaid with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Useless cops neglecting to follow up any evidence and of course the kids parents not listening to anything they say. Despite all this it still manages to entertain. There are some very funny cheesy lines in there some quite tense moments too.

There are some pointless parts like the main teens back story which never really amounts to anything and the fact we never get to see the teachers reaction to one of the bits of story that is eventually revealed (one that if you're paying attention you'll know before any of the characters in the movie do). These small problems aren't really enough to ruin the movie. There are some great moments in there too. Like when you find out what the kids had seen going on through the window as well as Some of the morticians one-liners.

The main cast do a pretty good job, everyone is very capable. Obviously Dennis Quaid stands out. Finally embracing a role that revels in madness. I always thought that a lot of his characters had a kind of wild edge to them and it was great for me in this movie to see him let that edge take over.

The movie looks great and professionally filmed. Sound design is spot on. Technically you can't fault it.

Strangely there seems to be a lot of hate for Beneath the darkness but If you're willingly to let it, this movie can be an enjoyable ride.

As also mentioned from other reviewers there are similarities between Mr. Brooks and this film. If Mr. Brooks is a Crime/Drama/Mystery film, this film cannot be a horror film, because Mr. Brooks has definitely harder scenes as this one. I don't know if the makers of this movie claim that they filmed a horror movie. If yes then it is a really poor horror film and you will be disappointed as a horror movie fan. But if you watch it as a Crime/Thriller it is watchable and not a waste of time. It depends on what your expectation is. In marketing the product must be declared correctly: if you declare horror in a product, horror must be in the product.

In the music business there is a genre named easy-listening, translated into the movie business I would say this film is a "easy-watching" film: not bad and not really good.