Darkness

Year: 2005 Rating: NR Overall Evaluation: 3.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 2.0 / 10 3.0 / 10 3.0 / 10 3.5 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Originally rated PG-13 for "disturbing images, intense terror sequences, thematic elements and language." I saw the 2005 unrated and uncut release which would definitely have rated an "R" for the additional gore and profanity. Most of the gore is flashy and over with quickly, but not really necessary other than to add to the freakiness. Lots of cussing which was gratuitous and might have been more forgivable had it been for the purpose of making the characters more interesting or believable (which it did not). No nudity but many dressing / locker room / post-shower shots. Zero sexuality, which is unusual for a horror movie these days.

Story

The standard genre marks, with a few minor twists, are all over this haunted house story. A typical family moves into a spooky old house in the middle of nowhere. They are, of course, unaware of the evil perpetrated there that has to do with the killing of some children there 40 years earlier. The twist is that the evil that began there was not finished, and now it seeks to be completed. As the story unfolds the father of the family begins to go crazy, the mother is in denial, the son is becoming withdrawn, and the daughter is the only one who can tell that something unnatural is going on.

[SPOILER WARNING!]

It turns out that the father was the only kid who escaped the ritual from 40 years ago and his blood is required to complete the ritual. His father was the originator of the ritual and let him go because he did not love him - a required ingredient for the ritual to take place. Thus, the family is back in the house and evil spirits (different from the children somehow) are colluding to complete the sacrifices. He eventually gets killed, the ritual is completed, and the evil darkness is born and kills the whole family.
The End.

Suppositions

Granting for genre's sake the existence of ghosts, and the "evil spirits" (that have no purpose whatsoever except as fright fodder), there are still big problems with this movie. It may be due to bad editing, but the story really drags on into nowhere and is rife with with plot holes and boring characters. The backstory is never sufficiently explained - why did the villain do what he did? No reason is put forth, nor can one be easily imagined given the circumstances. Evil for evil's sake? No, even fallen humans act toward an end that they at least believe to be good for them. And why are the children (who were the victims) now evil ghosts? No explanation there either. Overall a poor portrayal of reality.

Significance

The message the movie sends is that love is easily manipulated by evil and won't do you any good because evil is too wise for us lowly humans to beat. Not a shred of deliverance is offered or taken - nor is the evil even fought. The "hero" simply steps into a depressing acquiescence to darkness. In reality darkness is nothing really, it is only an absence of light. And the smallest light cannot be overcome by it. Imagine what will happen when the infinite light is made manifest!