The Darkness

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.

After watching The Darkness I'd have to place it in the family entertainment bracket as opposed to horror, it lacks any kind of threat at all, it makes The Hole loook like a horror. I really loved the idea, a nice clever twist on the usual formula, and nice to see an autiaaut kid centre stage. The idea was good,but the realisation was a disappointment to say the least, the scares were lazy, unoriginal, but worst of all, it lacked any tension of any kind. It wasn't bad, it's what I'd class a back room film, it was on while I did other things. Well acted, but this is Kevin Bacon, he deserves better then this. 5/10

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.

Hey Everyone,

If you are a horror movie fan like myself, you can probably pass on seeing this one. You knew when there would be a "scare" and the ending was pretty cliché. I do feel that the character development in this movie was wonderful! They actually allowed you to get to know the characters as the story unraveled. However, none of those family dynamics really played into the scares. In my eyes if you are giving me background on a character, or getting to know the characters weaknesses, they should somehow effect the overall story line.

I'm giving this movie a 4 out of 10 because the movie did keep me intrigued through out, and definitely more of a pre-teen horror movie. I wish the writers or director would have put in more scares and jumps. I would consider this more of a thriller than an actual horror movie. I'm interested in reading what other horror seekers feel about this one!

With some talent in the cast, a cool cover, that it did look fairly eerie and that boasted one of the best concepts for any film seen recently by me, 'The Darkness' potential was pretty big. Also appreciate the horror genre and have liked films in similar vein, so watched 'The Darkness' oddly enough with the genuine want and intent to like it.

It does pain me to say it, and it is going to sound repetitive being a common thing found in recent viewings and mentioned, but 'The Darkness' managed to be a big disappointment for me and from the sounds of it many others. Big potential, executed in a way that while not terrible rarely rose above mediocrity overall. There are moments and good things, but they were too far and between and not enough for a film that did little with such a good idea. It may annoy people with me saying this a lot recently, but it is hard to not say anything when wastes of good ideas and talent is a bugbear of mine and something that has featured rather too heavily in my recent film viewings.

Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell are reasonable leads and David Mazouz is more than up to their level. So the acting is better than average on the whole and somehow manages to rise above the material that was not worthy of them.

'The Darkness' does have an atmospherically spooky look, an eerie music score and a few unsettling moments.

Unfortunately, the creepiness and suspense not just doesn't come consistently, there is nowhere near enough of either. There is an over-reliance on scares, mainly of the jumpy kind, but few come off effectively. Again a few unsettling moments, but too much of them are easily foreseeable and derivative.

Furthermore, too much is over-explained, there is far too much exposition (much of it clumsy and rambling) and too much is given away too soon. The characters aren't very interesting, not to mention very clichéd that it makes the distinct lack of originality even more obvious, making everything really predictable. The script is lazy and underwritten, with too much reliance on the scares, which are not strong enough to come over successfully, the ending is a very "that's it?" one and the intrusive and obvious sound effects telegraph the outcome of the scares early on in the build-ups.

In summary, not terrible but mediocre and a waste of potential. 4/10 Bethany Cox