Filipe Neto
This is another excuse for a movie with haunted houses, a theme more than recurring in horror. So common that the emptiness of new ideas creates movies like this. The whole story is set in my neighboring country, Spain (effective, the film is Spanish such as his director/writer, Jaume Balagueró) and revolves around an American family who went to live there. Unfortunately, the family story and the relationships between the characters are never interested in the plot, which focuses only on the house. But even this brings no novelty, merely reconstructing the usual formulas of horror that every horror lover has seen countless times and countless ways. Thus, the film becomes predictable and uninteresting. I even guessed how it would end. Even so, it manages to create a sufficiently tense environment to provoke some scares. I simply hoped for something more. Lena Olin and Giancarlo Giannini were the actors that I liked the most, as their performance was regular, lacking behind them better material and a more competent director. The rest cast did not call my attention for the positive.
view_and_review
I know this movie came out in 2003 so it may be exempt from this complaint but I'm lodging this complaint anyway. Please stop with the child-drawing-creepy/ominous-picture cliché. It wasn't terribly essential to the plot but it did play a role.It took some time for the true nature of "Darkness" to materialize and it wasn't that impressive. From the beginning the characters were just too odd, primarily the daughter Regina (Anna Paquin). Either she was whispering or speaking in an expressionless monotone fashion which just didn't seem normal. Later other family members exhibited socially awkward moods and behaviors. I suppose it all could have been attributed to the "Darkness" but I don't think so.The climax of the movie involved extremely strange behavior and a shaky cam; both of which I didn't understand. Even if I were to say that the home they lived in had a psychological effect upon them that still doesn't explain why the camera was shaking--or was it supposed to be an earthquake? For whatever reason shaking the camera has come to signify fear and distress. What happened to screaming and running to a suspenseful musical score? Sigh.
trepessa
I saw this movie when it came out in the theaters in the United States and it was eerie then. I just watched it again. This movie is very clever and unique. It is nothing like Lovecraft and why someone brought that up I don't know. I understand it was toned down for American distribution. I found the subtle entry of the ghosts to be scary but I wouldn't consider the movie exactly a horror movie. It was more of an occult, supernatural thriller. The fact that the father is back into the house where a brutal ritual took place and he was part of it takes the focus to the dad being the antagonist of the film. That is revealed subtly near the end. Anna very ably does her part to uncover what is going on in the house but trusts the wrong person until realization sets in due to her father dying of a serious illness that affects his behavior and mood. Each time I have watched this I have been thoroughly entertained. I find no fault in it and those who like subtle slow build up supernatural thrillers will like this movie. It isn't like any other movie I have watched of its type and I have watched numerous. Why it is being panned is a puzzle to me.
alex-369-867786
All I can say is I'm glad I watched this for free on iPlayer, as the rain prevented me from going out in the garden and doing something productive, like picking up dog faeces, for example. This is labelled as a horror film, and it has all the requisite ingredients: haunted house, dysfunctional family, satanic rituals etc. But the only truly creepy thing about this film was the way the camera lingered a little-too hungrily on a barely-adolescent Anna Paquin who, throughout most of the film was dressed either in a swimming costume, or a t-shirt at least 2 sizes too small for her. I am surprised I made it to the end of this film before turning to something more interesting like scrubbing the bathroom floor, but I like to give things a chance. I'm afraid I was sorely disappointed. You'll probably like this film if you're easily scared by cheap jump shots, the occasional loud noise, and you suspend disbelief enough to ignore the plot holes, shocking acting, and the unpleasant semi-pederast themes.
AD
