Occhi nel buio

The movie is very unusual, and the images were very striking. I couldn't help but think of The Reflecting Skin while watching this movie, as it too is full of odd imagery, and what, at least to me, appear to be delusions by the main character.

Things returning to "normal" suddenly at the end got me, but this film is so dark that it HAS to get better somehow.

On the first day of his school holidays, young Lucas (Ben Keyworth) accompanies his blind mother Miriam (Fanny Ardant) to the West London clinic where she teaches a knitting class. At the clinic, talk is of the vicious razor attack on one of the regular visitors by person unknown. Lucas's mother introduces her son to her pretty blind friend Rose (Clare Holman), with whom he forms an infatuation. The lad accompanies Rose to the studio of photographer Tony (Paul McGann), where she is to have her picture taken with her blind fiancé Jim (Jeremy Flynn).

Lucas wanders off and sneaks into a house, where he plays with matches and half-inches a telescope; through the bedroom window, he witnesses a second brutal razor attack on another blind woman. The chief superintendent in charge of the case is Lucas' father Frank (James Fox). Does his son hold the key to the identity of the slasher? Is the creepy window cleaner at the clinic (Struan Rodger) responsible for the attacks? Could it be Tony the photographer, who puts lipstick on graveyard statues? Or is leering locksmith Tom Miller (David Thewlis) behind the crimes?

Keeping schtum about what he has seen, Lucas continues his stroll through the neighbourhood, stopping at the local cemetery to visit his secret hideout in a mausoleum and to feed his canine pal Toby, after which he explores a railway tunnel. At the nearby station, a third victim feels the cold steel of a cut-throat razor. That night, Lucas sneaks out of bed to visit the graveyard where he spies on his neighbours with his telescope; there, he disturbs Tom Miller, who is also doing a spot of peeping. Lucas is chased by Miller, but escapes when Toby comes to the rescue.

Lucas continues to spy on the locals, peering through a window at shutterbug Tony, who has convinced Rose to pose topless for him. As the lad watches, Tony approaches Rose with a razor and starts to cut her legs; Lucas rushes to her rescue, stabbing the photographer in the eye with one of his mother's knitting needles. At which point the film pulls an about-face, yanking the rug from under the viewer's feet...

The movie cuts to Lucas in his bedroom. He is wearing glasses with thick lenses due to a condition that could lead to a total loss of sight unless he undergoes an operation (which could also leave him blind if it is not a success). His mother is no longer unable to see, and she is pregnant. Rose is now his sister, who is about to get married to Tony, and she can also see. His father is a florist.

Everything we have seen up until this point has been through the failing eyes of an 'unreliable narrator': a frightened, confused young boy facing a very uncertain future. The razor maniac terrorising the blind doesn't exist, and is most likely a manifestation of the boy's fear of going under the surgeon's knife. All of the menacing characters - Tony, Tom and the window cleaner - are, in reality, very friendly.

As his operation draws nearer, Lucas continues to slide deeper into an imaginary world where he is surrounded by the blind, and the only way to protect himself is with his trusty knitting needle. When a scared Lucas sees Toby at the window, he imagines the dog as a snarling rabid beast and stabs it in the head with his needle, and when his mother arrives home from hospital, Toby's fragile mental state puts the life of his new baby sister in danger.

Blurring the lines between reality and the imaginary, Afraid Of The Dark is an intelligent, challenging watch that keeps the viewer on their toes. The mid-film switcheroo seems to be a sticking point for some, but I loved the way the story suddenly changed without resorting to clumsy exposition: it's a brave move that has to be applauded. The second half of the film is a tense character study of very troubled boy, and Keyworth is superb in his role - utterly chilling as he covers up the crime of killing Toby, and then sets his sights on baby Tess. The film's finalé sees the infant being rescued before Lucas can do her any harm, followed by the operation on the boy's eyes, which is declared a success. Post-operation, Lucas appears to be back to normal, his fears having evaporated, but when he is giving sister Tess a cuddle at the end, it's hard not to think that the worst is yet to come...

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for the cameos from Hilary Mason and Catriona MacColl, both of whom had previously played blind characters in cult horror films: Mason in Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973) and MacColl in Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981).

Psychological horror stories often rely on clichéd images and stories to evoke terror from the audience. A notable exception is the film "Afraid of the Dark" which stars Ben Keyworth as an 11 year old boy who struggles with morbid fears of going blind, as well as fears of a stalker in the streets of London who preys on the blind. This moody thriller has a convoluted story and abstract pace that make it difficult to decipher, but the movie is worth the effort due to it's subtle horror that is mesmerizing! This one ferments in the psyche long after viewing. Keyworth is joined by a strong cast including Fanny Ardent, and James Fox, but Keyworth is the true strength of the film. His intense demeanor is riveting!

If your experience of blindness in movies is limited to A Patch of Blue, The Miracle Worker or Scent of a Woman, you'll find this one very disorienting. It starts with the boy seeing all sorts of strange goings-on--blind people getting aggressed in the streets of London, even murdered by a razor-wielding maniac. Then half way through we see the 'blind' people are sighted and the boy has severe vision problems. There's an undeniable power to some of the images (Clare Holman doing a nude photo session with a creepy photographer will stick in my mind for a while) but the script is too digressive for the story to cohere.

Mark Peploe wrote Profession: Reporter for Antonioni and three films for Bertolucci; his talent has been recognized for decades. With a bit more discipline, this could have been a classic.

I do agree with several of the reviews, in that the story is choppy, and the perspective of the boy, played by Ben Kwyworth, is often disjointed and patchy.

However, there are a few intriguing scenes, and interesting cinematography. What does the world look like to a blind person? What does it feel like? I imagine that was a point the director was attempting to get across.

Yes, the scene with the golden retriever, Toby was awful. But can a blind person imagine that, the dog jumping through the window was possibly a menace? If he were indeed blind, this could be possible.

The wedding scenes were annoying and not really essential to the film. A few strange scenes where the boy is friendly with the young bride Rose, and he sees how she is patronized, as the ice cream man stares down her dress and tells her to eat all her ice cream as it will fill her out (She, being blind, is unaware her blouse is partially open).

This is not a bad film, if you are patient. Do not expect action and American explosions and violence 8/10.