Darkness (2002)

A teenage girl moves into a remote countryside house with her family, only to discover that their gloomy new home has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy the family.

Director:

Jaume Balagueró

Writers:

Jaume Balagueró, Fernando de Felipe,

Stars:

Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Paquin	...	Regina
Lena Olin	...	Maria
Iain Glen	...	Mark
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Albert Rua
Fele Martínez	...	Carlos
Stephan Enquist	...	Paul
Fermí Reixach	...	Villalobos (as Fermi Reixach)
Francesc Pagès	...	Driver Traffic Jam
Craig Stevenson	...	Electrician
Paula Fernández	...	Girl 1
Gemma Lozano	...	Girl 2
Xavier Allepuz	...	Boy 1
Joseph Roberts	...	Boy 2
Marc Ferrando	...	Boy 3
Josh Gaeta	...	Boy 4

Storyline

There's something in this house... Something ancient and dark that remains still, hidden and silent. It can only wait, having been concealed in the shadows for years. In fact, its milieu is darkness. Only in it can it show itself and move. It even takes its name: DARKNESS. It's lived here since someone tried to call it, more than forty years ago. Because this house hides a secret, a terrible past, an inconceivably evil act... Seven children, faceless people, a circle that must be completed. And blood, lots of blood...

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Plot Keywords:

house | darkness | blood | children | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

Some secrets should never come to light

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for terror/violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [us] Official Facebook

Country:

USA Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Dark

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$10,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£102,154 (UK) (18 March 2005)

Gross:

£102,154 (UK) (18 March 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castelao Producciones, Dimension Films, Filmax International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 88 min (PG-13)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Miramax/Dimension had paid $4 million for the rights to distribute the movie in North America and some other territories, but then shelved it for more than two years. The company gave the film a US theatrical release at Christmas 2004 after heavy editing to secure a PG-13 rating.

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Goofs

Twenty-three minutes into the movie, Regina comes down the stairs and sees that her dad has found a secret room under the stairs. Her father comes out holding a picture apparently very interested. Regina asks her father, "What's that?" looking at the space under the stairs. We then see a still frame where just barely, you can see Regina's father still in the space looking at the picture even though he had just stepped out of that area.

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Quotes

Paul: I don't like the dark here, it keeps eating my pencils.

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Connections

References The Shining (1980)

User Reviews

Creepy atmosphere, but not much else

A family movies into a house in what is apparently the Spanish countryside. The dad starts to go crazy, the young son has welts all over his body, and the daughter (Anna Paquin) tries to figure out what is going on in their new home.

I don't feel I have the right to judge this movie because I saw the edited version that was theatrically released in the US in December 2004, not the original version. But I will say that this version is a mediocre and bizarre film that made little sense. The acting is surprisingly below average. It doesn't help that some of the dialogue is incredibly awful, which could possibly be attributed to language barriers between the filmmakers and the cast. Iain Glen laughably overacts as the dad-gone-berserk. Lena Olin is unusually awful as the mother in denial. Anna Paquin plays her character with such random lascivious looks on her face, that seem very out of context. Adding to the lewdness is the fact that in her scenes the camera often started at her crotch and then panned up. These scenes weren't like the kind in a typical sleazy horror movie. It seemed like they were done with some mysterious underlying purpose that the director never follows through with.

The film does have a unique atmosphere and some otherwise beautiful camera-work, and a few decent scares. But it could have been so much more. Still, it is better than Darkness Falls. My Rating: 5/10.