The Darkness

When I saw the darkness, I felt like I needed to take out a ghost movie checklist and start listing everything I had seen before. Weird or Special needs child who communicates with the spirits? Check. Annoying, angry teenager that adds nothing to the plot? Check. Father with fidelity problems that doesn't believe in the spirits at first? Check. Mother with alcohol problems that seems crazy to everyone else? Check. The Darkness follows a strict character and story design and doesn't try to add anything unique or interesting. The movie is also terribly fast paced and tries to throw way too much in one sitting that everything just seems squished together and has no emotional impact. There are no real scares or thrills, only non-impactful jump scares that fall flat. The sad thing is that we have very good acting talent in this film, but the writing, directing, and editing is done so badly that the acting looks terrible.

So this kid with Autism is more accessible to the preternatural and disturbs evil native American spirits that decide to disturb him and his family back.

It Reminds me of Stir of Echoes, which also star Keven Bacon, but is nowhere near as good as that movie. in comparison, Stir of Echoes looks like The Exorcist when standing right next to The Darkness.

The story had potential. Some evil native American spirits get their resting place disturbed, by some white folks (shocker), so in return, these spirits decide to unlock these guys inner most demons (mom's an alcoholic, the daughter is bulimic) to split up the family and drive them all crazy.

It was a brilliant idea, but it was done so corny. Even seasoned actor Keven Bacon looked cheesy delivering simple lines and trying to be serious as he reacted to the ghost.

It was a very sad display of what could have been gold. I don't know what went wrong, but I know this: Don't wast your time.

I really don't know why people are writing comments slating this film.

It is not a 'hardcore; horror that is likely to make you seek therapy for the rest of your life, but it is not dull or unwatchable either.

The production is good, the acting is good, and it is the kind of film you can watch when you just fancy a 'movie night' with friends or family.

The story is engaging enough to make it interesting.

All these pseudo-intellectual ramblings criticising the film are just that - pseudo-intellectual.

It is probably not the best film you will watch in your life but is it also very far from the worst.

I thought the movie was 'okay', edging toward bad only because I'm a horror movie buff and I'm a bit jaded. Been watching horror/suspense/thrillers for over *cough* 40 years.

However, it's a decent movie if you look at it from the point of view of a younger person, like a child or teen.

The movie doesn't have very much gore at all. But, it does have 'blood' in one scene that I can recall and it's 'blood spots' not 'blood pools'. The kind you might get if you poked your finger with a needle.

I'm really surprised that the movie did so poorly considering the number of stars in it. Ming-na Wen, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Morrison, Paul Reiser? Comeon! lol

Anyway, the movie had a lot of potential but, for me, didn't quite do it. I would've given this movie a 7 as a teen or young adult. As an older and jaded adult, I'm tougher on horror because my expectations are high.

Also, I didn't fall asleep while watching like I did with The Conjuring.

The Darkness is, in my opinion, a pretty obvious Poltergeist knock off, with an American Indian mythology twist.

This film follows much the same formula made famous by Poltergeist. It makes a few distinctions, by drawing on American Indian mythology but beyond that, its business as usual.

That said, this film is in no way as creepy or frightening, as Poltergeist. The demons, look more like a bunch of bad extras from a cultural festival. Their evil is not really all that evil either. They feel more like bad tenants or squatters, who have personal hygiene issues. Hand washing in particular, is not their thing.

That said, in fairness this is not a bad film. Its moderately entertaining and it has a good cast, including Kevin Bacon, who I have a lot of time for. His performance helps lift this film and is complimented by a capable cast who generally share good chemistry.The family dynamic, in particular, is very believable in a middle aged, kind of yuppie-ish way.

I give The Darkness a six out of ten. Its not exceptional but it is still quite watchable.