Darkness Falls | | Cast : | Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield | | Director : | Jonathan Liebesman | | Studio : | Columbia Tri/Star - Preorder | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 24, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | August 03, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 13, 2005 | | Summary | Toothless | Content
 | "Darkness Falls" is that most disappointing of bad movies: an ambitious failure that retains a shell of what could have been a truly terrifying film.
There is a nasty, padding, shadow-haunted things-that-go-bump-in-the-night horror tale at the core of "Darkness Falls", and it puts in an appearance in the movie's taut first 15 minutes (and occasionally leers thereafter): in those minutes, "Darkness Falls" is able to terrify---but sadly, it's all downhill from there.
That's a shame, because "Darkness Falls" could easily have been a classic. The heart of "Darkness Falls" is a dark fable, presented in the chilly opening credits with a series of shifting, melting daguerreotypes. The Tooth Fairy of legend is the screeching revenant of long-dead Matilda Dixon. Years before in the movie's eponymous town, Dixon had been a kindly old woman who loved to bake cookies for the town children, and who left them candies and coins for their baby teeth.
After a fire leaves her face severely burned and disfigured, she takes to leaving her goodies for the children at night, creeping around the sleeping town in a porcelain mask. When two children disappear, the townsfolk seize Dixon and hang her; only later is it discovered the old woman was innocent. In return, Dixon's revenant curses the town, and vows to kill any unlucky tyke who peeks while she's taking a baby tooth left beneath a pillow.
Protagonist Kyle, as a child, peeks and sees the Tooth Fairy,who in the movie's terrifying opening sequence kills his mother. Fast forward 20 years, and Kyle is still fleeing the Tooth Fairy, forced to live in a reclusive existence in a room where staggered lights dispel the shadows.
Kyle is called back to "Darkness Falls" by childhood sweetheart Caitlin (played blandly by first-time actress Emma Caulfield),whose little brother is suffering from the same night terrors that plagued Kyle as a child. Surprise!---the little boy is being stalked by the Tooth Fairy, and the rest of the film is a dispiriting, boring, heavy-action chase movie, which utterly ruins the promise of the film.
The acting is equally uninspired: Chaney Kley (who plays Kyle), despite a name designed for horror flicks, sleepwalks through his role, and Emma Caulfield is just there. Lee Cormie and the talented young Emily Browning (who played the diabolic child in "Ghost Ship") do fine jobs as terrified kids, but they don't have much to work with here. The only plum acting comes from the Tooth Fairy (played by first-timer Antony Burrows), but the kudos really go to Stan Winston studios, which has taken pains to create another fine creature.
And really, Stan Winston's creature makes this otherwise generic yawner shine, at least for a few minutes. The Tooth Fairy is a genuinely terrifying apparation: the legend of the decrepit, murderous crone is spooky enough on its own, but that's nothing compared to the darkened, shadowy thing that slithers sideways along walls, flutters along darkened ceilings and in the tops of trees, and croaks and wheezes as it crawls up over its victim. The porcelain mask is another nice touch, particularly as its shining blandness underscores the wildness of the feral eyes flashing beneath.
There are flashes, tiny nuggets, of a truly evil horror film that packs some incredibly scary punches for a PG-13 movie. The legend of Dixon is very creepy, and the opening credits, from the stentorian narration to the amber-lit woodcuts to the peeling picture of Matilda Dixon, suggests something monstrous and horrible.
Sadly, the movie doesn't live up to the startling special effects or dreamy cinematography. The best horror films are painted on a palette of silence, and that which is barely seen----or just glimpsed---is far more terrifying than a monster that strides into the light.
Sadly, after its opening sequences, there isn't a quiet or dreadful moment in "Darkness Falls": it has more chases and gunfights than "Bad Boys" or "The Rock". For an action movie, this would be par for the course, but it destroys the finely tuned atmosphere a horror film needs to work.
Finally, why weren't the alternate sequences and extra footage included, particularly the horrific image of the tooth fairy floating over a horrified nurse? There is a claustrophobic, deadly game of peek-a-boo that recalls the legend of the Medusa, and that, had it been included, would certainly have made this movie far more effective (and boosted it up to three stars).
The omission of these scenes tilts the balance of "Darkness Falls" to action, not horror, and that certainly doesn't help the movie, which could have been a nail-biting classic but ends up toothless.
JSG
|
| Rating | | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | GREAT, SUSPENSEFUL | Content
| The movie was very suspenseful, scary but not gross, I've watched it numerous times since I purchased. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | Basic Horror Outing. | Content
| Despite the interesting concept, this film has phonny special effects and is not scary, no matter how hard it tries to be. A ghost goes around killing every body in pursiut of a young boy who has the help of a man who survived the ghost's previous killing spree. Although it can be a little creepy some times, it just is plain silly and contians little gore. Tries to expliot the fear of the dark, but just doen't cut it. Watch The Ring instead. Five minutes into that I was creeped out pretty bad. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Content
| I thought this movie was great. I love the idea! A toothfairy killing people if you look at her!!!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | Darkness Fails | Content
| I once met Emma Caulfield at a Buffy/Angel convention and she was a walking stiff, no personality, barely smiled, ate a huge piece of chocolate cake without looking up once. She acts in this movie just as she did at the convention...lifeless and dull. The story could have been so good, but fell into that rigamorale that terrible horror movies sometimes step in. A story goes bad either because a)the cast sucks b) the effects suck c) the writing sucks or D) the bad guy is ridiculous. In this case it was all of the above. Everytime I saw the Tooth fairy i wanted to bust out singing phantom of the opera. |
|
