THE DARK

"You won't find her here"

Visiting her ex-husband James (Bean) at his new house in Wales, Adèle (Bello) starts having visions of a girl and people throwing themselves off the nearby cliffs. While walking on the beach with James, their daughter Sarah (Stuckey) disappears and they fear that she has fallen into the water. As James frantically searches the sea for her with the locals, Adèle returns to the house to find another girl called Ebrill (Stone) who says that Sarah is not dead.

After Japanese filmmakers reinvented the horror genre in the 90s, Hollywood has been quick to get on the bandwagon but does 'The Dark' have what it takes to compete with the Far East?

The success of films like 'The Ring', 'The Grudge' and 'Dark Water' in both their original Japanese releases and the Hollywood remakes, the style and content of those films were bound to be copied by Western filmmakers and 'The Dark' is a classic example. Based on the novel 'Sheep' by Simon Maginn and directed by the man behind the helm of cult, low budget werewolf movie 'Ginger Snaps', John Fawcett, your expectation maybe high for the movie but due to some clichéd acting, terrible editing and a story that is an amalgamation of everything allowed the Japanese to reinvigorate the genre in the first place, the film is a huge failure.

The overall premise for the movie isn't that bad. In 1952 a priest lost his daughter Ebrill to disease. Distraught by her loss, he becomes obsessed with Welsh mythology, especially the legend that dictates that the dead can be returned from the dark if a sacrifice is made - one of the living for one of the dead. Transforming his local parish into a cult, he talks his followers into making the ultimate sacrifice for their religion. As the parishioners throw themselves into the unforgiving seas, the priest prays that this sacrifice will bring back his precious daughter but when his prays are answered, it is not the same little girl that returns to him. Interesting but very familiar and if they would have made the film about the Priest's story it would have been but instead they make it about the family who have moved into the old house instead.

Over fifty years later Ebrill returns again and takes a life for her own, in the shape of James and Adèle's daughter Sarah. The film then transforms into a run of the mill horror/thriller with James thinking Adèle has gone mad as she becomes obsessed with the local legend, Ebrill and finding her daughter alive. There is absolutely nothing new here at all and if it wasn't for the performances from Maria Bello, Sean Bean and young actress Abigail Stone as Ebrill, the film would be appallingly bad.

It is the final act that destroys the movie however. While what proceeds might be predictable and hardly original, the finale is a complete mess. With at least four possible times when the film can actually end, the movie just seems to drag on and on making the viewer more and more confused as to the actual outcome. It should have ended at the first shocking revelation and not continued on for another ten minutes, throwing in possible ending after ending that just makes anyone watching wish that it would just end already. Also for a movie that supposed to be set in Wales, no one really has a Welsh accent. Maurice Roëves as sheep farmer Dafydd sounds like he comes from the North East of England not from the valleys.

'The Dark' is another example of Hollywood trying to cash in on a popular genre. While the performances are decent, it is the unoriginal story and the confusing and overlong ending that completely ruins what could have been a passable attempt at a Japanese style horror flick. By the end of the movie you won't be very scared of the dark.

The Grudge

The Ring

---

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

2006