Horror
Film Index
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Darkness, 2002. Directed by Jaume Balaguero.
Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Giancarlo Giannini, Iain Glen.
Synopsis: Regina and her family have moved to a remote country house in Spain. As her family settles into the house, strange occurrences begin to happen. Her younger brother begins to show signs of abuse and is obsessed with the way the darkness under his bed consumes his colored pencils. Her father is recovering from a "condition" and begins to show agression towards his family, all the while spending time exploring the darker nooks and cranies of the house. Her mother is indifferent to the strange things happening in the house. Are her fathers's "episodes" the result of what happened to him in his childhood--an abduction that has never been completely explained? Is her father abusing her brother, or are his bruises being cause by the ghosts that seem to be haunting the house? And who is the strange man watching the house from across the street? There is an eclipse of the sun approaching. The last time there was an eclipse, Regina's father underwent his ordeal... I suspect that diminished expectations are to blame for
this, so bear with me. I had a great time at the Miram-ax version of Darkness.
I had more fun at this movie than I had any right to have, because even
as I watched it, I knew that I shouldn't be enjoying it. I should have
been outraged at the blatant thievery going on in the movie--it takes
a lot from The Shining and The Amityville Horror and The
Ring and Rosemary's Baby and The Sixth Sense, et
alia, after all. But I wasn't. In fact, I have this sneaking suspicion
that the borrowings one finds in this movie are all intended as an elaborate
ruse. It sets up a long series of deliberately transparent cliches only
to subvert them entirely during the last twenty minutes of the movie.
Writer/Director Balaguero seems to be aware of the fact that the audience
for horror movies has been programmed to expect certain things when specific
stock elements are assembled in front of them, so he sets these elements
into place only to rampage off in an entirely different direction at the
end of the film. |