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Written by Nick Seacroft
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01 04 2005 |
Directed by Jaume Balagueró (USA/Spain)
Coming late to UK cinema screens (the movie premiered in Spain in 2003), DARKNESS is an interesting, if not entirely satisfying, horror thriller. In a truly unsettling pre-credits sequence the tone is set with the testimony of a boy who escaped from a house where several children were being held captive. We then jump forward 40 years to find the family of Spanish-born American Mark (Iain Glen) and his family (including THE PIANO's Anna Paquin) having moved back to Spain. Following a sudden thunderstorm that cuts short the housewarming party, the mood gradually grows more sinister as shapes are glimpsed in the darkened corners and a secret room is discovered by Mark, who seems to know more than he should about the house.While watching, two movies spring to mind - firstly THE SHINING (subtitling scenes by the day of the week, two sinister girls appearing in the corridors, mother and son seeking refuge in a bathroom from angry husband/father); Then the dark of the wooden corridors, punctuated only by high windows, recalls the claustrophobic atmosphere of Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA, which also features an American girl troubled by occult activities in Europe. There are a lot of good ideas here and several spine-chilling moments, but overall you can't help but feel that it does not live up to its potential. Some scenes, particularly in the grandfather's flat, seem to have been over-edited, missing some vital moments. Perhaps the opening sequence is just too intense and disconcerting, meaning that the rest of the movie can't deliver anything to top it. Still, it held my interest enough to not be distracted by the chavs chattering at the back of the cinema, and the brave ending to the movie will make it linger on you mind longer than the average Hollywood effort. Seen at Showcase, Winnersh, Reading, March 2005 |
