From the Dark

I came across Niamh Algar a few weeks ago when I saw her in The Virtues so decided to check out her back catalogue.

This is the tenth film)series I have seen her in and one if my favourites with her being more feminine and vulnerable here but enjoyed her ballsy roles in Pure, Deceit and The Bisexual.

There is not much in the way of script here but the film with its small cast is much better than Niamh's later horror efforts in Without Name and Censor.

The cameraman seems to be besotted with her rear, taking shots of her from behind seemingly at every opportunity.

I know the film is set at night but it is very dark and difficult to see what is happening at times.

I am not a big horror fan but there were a few occasions that I did feel squeamish here so the director did his job well.

A great low budget film which has taken Niamh onto greater things but she does seem to have gone of the rails a bit with her performances in Wrath Of Man and Raised By Wolves but I am sure they will prove to be great vehicles for her future.

I know many have given this a low mark but I did really like it and would watch it again.

I am off for a bit of comedy now to see Niamh in The Last Right. A little less tense me thinks.

Haven't we seen this film before? FROM THE DARK has almost exactly the same set-up as the overrated IN FEAR, in which a young and bickering couple get lost in the Irish countryside and come up against something or somebody nasty. Thankfully, FROM THE DARK has supernatural elements and is thus interesting because of that, and better than IN FEAR, although it's still not a good film.

The problem with these lo-fi movies is that anybody can make them, they're that cheap. Grab a video camera and go out for a drive in your car - you've got a film. Thus, I think the script and direction have to be really special to make films like this work, and they're not that special here. FROM THE DARK feels like it wants to be a found footage type film, with lots of shaky-cam work all the while, but what it is is dull.

The script is the culprit here, failing to garner interest by keeping the foe in the shadows for 90% of the running time, and muddling the scenes when it is in the foreground. The opening scene, which brought to mind BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, was the best part for me. For most of the time we're stuck with annoying and/or whiny characters that the actors can do nothing with. The last third of the film feels particularly repetitive and uninteresting, a low stakes game where the viewer doesn't really care what happens.

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.

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.

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...