Darkness – Unrated
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C
There are a few standbys that have become thinned out,
even though you would hope they would have held up in the long term. Rock Music has been eroding since the 1980s,
and once New Wave died, Grunge was a final reprieve. Star Trek had become more and more a walking zombie until
its recent demise. Then there are
haunted house thrillers. They have the
least to say of them all, something that was constantly a problem with Jaume
Balaguero’s 2002 film simply entitled Darkness, the director’s ill-fated
English language debut film.
Coming off of the better, popular The Nameless,
Balaguero succumbed to the lure of doing a slick Hollywood production and it is
more appealing when the cast includes the likes of Lena Olin, Anna Paquin and
Giancarlo Giannini. Iain Glen is the
head of a supposedly happy family who gets to move into a very nice house. It is beautiful, old, has plenty of space
and is very appealing. When it turns
out to be haunted and “accidents” keep happening, instead of fleeing
immediately, they stay and things get worse.
If we buy they could stay for a while, then other parts of
the Balaguero/Fernando De Felipe screenplay is shockingly formulaic, more
shocking than anything in the actual film.
Instead, it is an excuse for Paquin to show how good she can be being
scared and reminds us how underused Olin is.
To make things worse, the story is divided into separate sections of
white print/jet black placards that should only be used if they work. Instead of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
(1980) or better horror house stories of the past, it shows that it is as
desperate as the Amityville Horror remake, which is sad considering this
is supposed to be a more original work.
The conclusion is so lame, that only Jan De Bont’s The
Haunting (1999) for shear senselessness.
Though not as plastic theme-park-looking, Darkness is a tired
thriller with no thrills that is an amazing waste of time, only saved by a cast
that cannot overcome a terrible script.
The film’s release was delayed theatrically for two years. We can see why.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 scope image is not
bad, but has the also-tired cliché of desaturated colors with unmemorable
framing by cinematographer Xavi Giménez.
For a thriller, this is surprisingly flat and dull. What happened? The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix tries to cover up the films shortcomings
with excessive surround information. It
is just too gimmicky. Extras are few,
including several previews for other Miramax titles, including two for this,
and a very brief behind the scenes look at the film that is enough to make you
skip this film if this review does not.
- Nicholas Sheffo
