If you like horror movies with lots of blood and a boogeyman that you can put a face on, then Darkness is not for you. The crux of the movie is based in Demonology, nameless evil and the inevitability of the past. That is the differance is what puts so many people off, I for one am a big fan of the pychological horror genre. This is definately a movie that should be watched in the dark and with very little else going on in the house. It is hampered at parts by over dramatic acting and some convuluted ideas, but most of it points towards the abstraction of what evil is and how it manifests itself (ie the fathers madness. The cinematography is excellent and the use of light and darkness puts this head and shoulders above the current crop of high priced horror stories, and just puts movies like ring 2, saw, and darkness falls to shame.
If you liked Angel Heart, Fallen, or the all time most disturbing Eraserhead, then you will like darkness
awful from start to finish
this movie was awful a big waste of time an money don't buy this dvd
It's about time someone understands FEAR....
Fear is an individual thing as far as what scares the soul in us to such a degree that it will continue to haunt us long after we witness it, or in this case, the movie. It seems that from reading the reviews here that the notion of 'fear' is so diverse that we can basically place them into two groups. First we have the new wave horror thriller type movies that the current generation of youngsters seems to relate to and rave about like Soul Survivors or Urban Legends where the fear is forced upon you for the purpose of creating excitement to the paying viewers. The filming angles is an obvious giveaway, like the victims hope you get scared as well. Thus the terror just doesn't seem real at all but since these kids have grown accustomed to the type of horror where blood gore and half nude sexy girls is the requirement on the menu to wet your pallet, then it is good enough. Second is the type of terror that knows how to tap within our fears where there are no boundaries as it grows until the climax is ultimately reach but it will continue on. Your body and mind will feel that blood chilling and un-nerving fear, that you will not be able to go to sleep without worrying what might happen next long after witnessing it. Thus the nightmares begins. This is horror in that old school tradition where our fear are genuine, pure and simple.
Genuine horror is something that youngsters have find difficult to grasp because they are incapable to understand the true nature of fear. They are expecting to be force fed with an onslaught of chills and excitement to satisfy their brainwash pallets so they won't feel rip off for spending money to see it. Fear has a price that money can't touch. We have boat loads of bad movies in the name of horror. If viewers don't get what they expect, then they will complain that it was not scary enough or at all, or it don't make sense...yada yada blah. They just don't get it.
With that said, this movie did scare me and it stayed with me long after. Great atmospherics feel due to the outstanding cinematography. Jaume Balagueno knows what he is doing because he understands inner fear and applies it, without Hollywood telling him what to do or else. The quiet star in this movie, Anna Paguin, was spectacular as she tries to discover the underlining dark secrets from the past. Underrated as an actress, she showcase her true expressions here that will have you believing...very authentic. Her looks is made for horror movies but as the victim unfortunately. The latest Amityville Horror remake with overdone CGI was disappointing to say the least...they can learn a thing or two from Darkness.
I do recommend Darkness if you are a true fan of horror who can appreciate what fear is and is not. It will creep the daylights out of you when you least expected and stir your mind influx......not forced upon just to see you jump. Keep in mind, this is not a great horror movie but it is one of the better ones that i haven't seen in a long time and has the making to become a classic. The 'Spotlight Reviews' above, more or less, understand what i am talking about. If you really want to see top notch horror of the supernatural at its finest, then check out Rosemary's Baby which i also wrote a review here. It will put you in a state of fear for a long while after you see it because it will change you. In fact, you might think twice before viewing it because not everyone can handle the evil terror that awaits. Just set up your home theater 5 way speaker system to a nice setting, turn out the lights and be prepared. Your journey into the world of fear is about to begin.
Despite an abundance of gaping plot holes, White Noise serves up enough spooky atmosphere to make it worth a look-see for fans of supernatural thrillers. Even when hampered with a shoddy, clumsily written screenplay, Michael Keaton brings professional conviction to his role as a grieving widower who is introduced to the mysterious (and according to paranormal researchers, highly documented) existence of EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon, which allows the dead to communicate (one-way only, it seems) from the great beyond, through images and voices recordable on a variety of electronic media such as VCRs, computers, etc. Seeking contact with his recently deceased wife, Keaton finds dire warnings of evil in the afterlife, with connections (all too convenient) to killings and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael Keaton - Deborah Kara Unger - Ian McNeice Director(s): Geoffrey Sax DVD Release Date: Released the 17 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Since movies began, thrillers have depended on a door just slightly ajar, with a narrow slit of darkness that promises to hold your worst fears. In the first five minutes of Boogeyman, a young boy's father is violently sucked into a closet, scarring the boy so badly that he grows up to be blank-faced Barry Watson (7th Heaven), who plays Tim, an editor at a newspaper or a magazine or something. Tim, to impress his girlfriend's parents, wears a coat and tie but doesn't shave his sexy stubble. A premonition of his mother's death drives him back to his childhood home so he can exorcise his phobias. From there...well, there's lots of atmospheric cinematography, regular jolts of loud music, and many quick edits. What actually happens is pretty obscure and, really, not worth... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Barry Watson - Emily Deschanel - Lucy Lawless Director(s): Stephen T. Kay DVD Release Date: Released the 31 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's not the scary hit that The Ring was in 2002, but The Grudge makes a similarly convincing case for American remakes of popular Japanese horror films. Barely a year passed between the release of Takashi Shimizu's creepy ghost story Ju-On: The Grudge and the production of this American remake, set in Tokyo and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in her first post-Buffy horror film. About the only significant difference between the two films is the importing of a mostly-American cast (including Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall and Grace Zabriskie), but The Grudge was reconfigured (by screenwriter Stephen Susco) to allow Shimizu to refine and improve the spookiest highlights of his earlier version, which enjoyed previous incarnations as a short film and two... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michelle Gellar - Jason Behr - Clea DuVall Director(s): Takashi Shimizu DVD Release Date: Released the 01 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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When you consider its unfortunate production history, Cursed turned out surprisingly well as a werewolf thriller that horror buffs will appreciate. It's hardly the disaster critics made it out to be, but extensive rewriting, reshooting, recasting, and lengthy delays in production and release (including the elimination of R-rated gore to earn a PG-13 rating) clearly took their toll. The result is a fun but flawed monster-show that begins when a young talk-show producer (Christina Ricci) and her teenaged brother (Jesse Eisenberg) are bitten by a werewolf, setting the stage for a horror-in-Hollywood scenario that reunites director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson, creators of the Scream franchise. What could have been a classic horror comedy is instead a fairly... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jesse Eisenberg - Christina Ricci Director(s): Wes Craven DVD Release Date: Released the 21 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With a plot that might've been lifted from The X-Files, nothing is quite what it seems in The Forgotten, a psychological conspiracy thriller with Julianne Moore doing fine work as a grieving mother whose nine-year-old son was killed in a plane crash. At least, that's what she's been led to believe, but when even her husband (Anthony Edwards) tries to convince her that she's delusional and never had a child, things start to get very spooky indeed. Dominic West (from HBO's superb series The Wire) plays a similarly traumatized father, and when they witness some very strange events--and a mysterious man (Linus Roache) who might be indestructible--this glorified B-movie potboiler directed by Joseph Ruben (best known for Dreamscape and The Stepfather)... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julianne Moore - Dominic West Director(s): Joseph Ruben DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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