Lumière noire

Shiri Appleby is the cutest little embodiment of evil turned good girl demon-kicking Buffy clone, Elle. But I'm getting ahead of myself, you see Lilith was the first woman made by god as a companion to Adam. But she got all uppity evil feminist so god banished her from Eden. A clandestine order known as The Fath captures her but doesn't kill her, so now with amnesia (which is not really explained that well) Lilith (now Elle) is free to become the aforementioned Buffy-clone who has to battle with a mad scientist who got an injection of Lilith's blood.

If the previous paragraph sounded hideously convoluted, that's because it is. The movie is also dull, generic, and for a film with a plot steeped in theology it doesn't seem to know a lick about it. This bargain basement lousy-CGIed movie was apparently a failed series pilot. All I can say to the fact that it didn't get picked up is a resounding Amen.

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Commentary by Writer/Director Bill Platt and Co-writer Chris Regina; and Stills gallery; video effects samples: before & after (it also has an "also available" selection that you would THINK would lead you to some trailers, but nope on DVD covers for other films, which is a stupid idea)

DVD-ROM extras: Final shooting script and Deleted scenes transcript both in PDF format

From the beginning of the world, the evil first woman, Lilith (Shiri Appleby), was expelled from Paradise, becoming an immortal powerful being. A secret society, The Faith, was created to chase and destroy Lilith, who loses her memory after a battle. In the present days, when the ambitious and wicked Anders Raeborne (David Hewlett) uses an experiment trying to become immortal, he transforms himself in the evil Demonic, a powerful dark demon that transmits a red plague with his bite and tongue. The traumatized Faith's chief agent William Shaw (Richard Burgi) is assigned by their leader Prefect (Ross Manarchy) to bring the recollection and train Lilith to face and destroy Demoniac and bring his head to The Faith to develop an antidote.

"Darklight" seems to be a pilot of a television series, and it is much underrated in IMDb. The characters recall the mutants in "X-Men", and the appearance of Lilith, played by the gorgeous Shiri Appleby, slightly resembles Mystic. The beginning of this film is a little confused, but sooner it becomes engaging, with a good story and special effects for a TV movie. There is a mistake in the sequence when Lilith is thrown by Demonic onto a car, since the car blows a fraction of second before she reaches its roof. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Darklight, o Poder da Escuridão" ("Darklight, the Power of the Darkness")

I really dug this movie because it delved into the birth of a female superhero which is something you don't often see. Shiri Appleby was great in the role of Lilith. The idea of raising the story of Lilith from the annuls of history and legend and remaking her into a superhero intrigued me.

I was not overly familiar with the legend of Lilith, but it captivated me. This hero has depth and a meaning. Great supporting cast as well, especially David Hewlett and Richard Burgi who bring a quiet intensity to their roles. Look out for this director in the future as the direction and writing are both intricate and detailed. I also thought the action fight sequences were great despite probably not having very much money. (It was SCI FI Channel, after all.) Above all, this film was fun. Highly recommend!!!

A secret society called the Faith is battling evil. Lilith is Adam's first wife who considered herself an equal. She was banished from Eden and turned into a demon by God. Anders Raeborne injects himself with Darklight and turns into a near-indestructible demon. Elle (Shiri Appleby) is a woman with no memories attacked by the demon. William Shaw (Richard Burgi) recruits her revealing that she is actually Lilith under the control of the Faith. He trains her to use her demonic powers for good while trying to deal with her evil past.

As a concept, I really like trying to make the Biblical Lilith into a dark superhero. There is great potential but this is a fail. This was a Sci-Fi TV movie. I don't know if it was meant to be a TV pilot and it certainly fails as that in many aspects. As a simple TV movie, it doesn't really work either. There is way too much background to stuff into the start. The CGI and the special effects are fair for a TV movie. Shiri Appleby is a little stiff considering what her character has to play with. The movie doesn't have good flow. It feels like first-time writer/director Bill Platt was trying to run through a list of plot points. This doesn't work.

This obvious pilot for an unproduced TV series features young Canadian actress Shiri Appleby as an amnesiac with some pretty incredible powers that must be put to use when a man-turned-flying demon is let loose on the world. The CGI is par for a TV job, and Appleby is OK as an amnesiac but hard to swallow as a superheroine. Familiar TV face Richard Burgi is along for the ride as Appleby's mentor, but he can do nothing to elevate this dreck above the mediocre level. We see way too much of the cartoonish flying demon right from the start, a bad sign. Also, the scenes where Burgi is training Appleby for battle are actually laughable. They are a bad copy of similar scenes in several other movies, most notably REMO WILLIAMS.