Darkness (2004)
Average Rating: 2.7/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 50
Yet another predictable variation on the hoary old haunted-house movie, Darkness is an illogical, portentous mess.
Average Rating: 2/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 12
Yet another predictable variation on the hoary old haunted-house movie, Darkness is an illogical, portentous mess.
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Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 28,617
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Movie Info
Directed by Jaume Balagueró, Darkness follows father and husband Mark (Iain Glen), his wife (Lena Olin), and their two children (Anna Paquin and Stephan Enquist) on their move to an outwardly quaint country home. Though the initial housewarming party is widely celebrated by neighbors, their houseguests become steadily fewer as a series of creepy happenings indicate that the house is home to more than their family. Sure enough, the lights begin to flicker incessantly on and off, while Mark's
Cast
-
Anna Paquin
Regina -
Lena Olin
Maria -
Iain Glen
Mark -
Giancarlo Giannini
Albert Rua -
Fele Martínez
Carlos -
Fermí Reixach
Villalobos -
Stephan Enquist
Paul
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All Critics (52) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (56) | DVD (18)
As in most bad horror flicks, intimations of unspeakable evil are supposed to distract us from the yawning gaps in story logic and character motivation.
Even as the darkness closes in, there is never any real sense of dread. The slow-burning terror soon fizzles out, as does the damp squib of an ending.
Top CriticWe know that the house is haunted, because the family who's just moved in has to deal with the lights always flickering out. They should have called the movie The Fuse Box Horror.
Plot elements exist for their own sake, with little or no explanation or relationship to each other, leaving the story such a muddle that it's hard to tell if the actors are doing their jobs.
It's unoriginal, frequently incomprehensible and cheaply made, and moviegoers should avoid theaters that show this film just to eliminate the chance of walking in accidentally.
Moments hint at a metaphoric statement on child abuse, but the film proves mainly to be a commentary on poor electrical wiring.
There's the draw from the audience of potential scares and the good cast, but there's nothing ever delivered to us.
This baffling, unintentionally sidesplitting horror show has opened just in time to qualify as the worst film of the year.
...ultimately comes off as nothing less than a total disaster.
All of this, of course, would be forgivable if it added up to a scary movie or made even a lick of sense (chunks appear to have been cut out of a longer cut of the film), but Balaguero manages to disappoint on every possible front.
Back to horror school for you, Señor Balagueró.
A plodding, portentous horror thriller in which a spooky child figures prominently and people speak in hushed tones about sinister doings.
There's still a lot of European feel to Darkness, which can sometimes be off-putting to American audiences.
Too many plot and character lapses for comfort, even in the traditionally logic-flouting horror genre.
Back to horror school for you, Señor Balagueró.
It's unfortunate that the film is called Darkness because this means it will soon be relegated to the Wal Mart bargain bin next to 2003's stinker Darkness Falls.
A good case of style over substance.
The film is dark, and a bit slowly paced in parts, but it's worth watching.
There's nothing very frightening about this shallow, stupid spookfest.
There's enough that's familiar about Darkness... to keep you watching, and there are some genuinely scary bits.
Darkness is finally where it ought to have been in the first place, on video.
Mostly, it's about things going bump in the night that are never explained. Or when they are explained, they make no sense.
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November 1, 2005:
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The acting and script are so awful it makes me nauseous. The entire plot was horribly executed as well. It was such a boring movie.
I would also like the punch in the face whoever did the film editing. Some parts were trying to be suspenseful, but the film editing was so awful it seemed like the movie was having a seizure. In one part where the lights go off, the camera is focused on the father's bleeding hand, then it switches upstairs to the boy's room, then rushes outside and focuses on some swings in the rain (wtf??? so random), then goes back to the father's hand, then goes upstairs, then goes downstairs where the mother is trying to turn on the lights....it's like the movie has freakin ADD. This movie needs some medication.
The potential was there, but everything else was not.