Darkness Falls (2003)

A vengeful spirit has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years earlier. Her only opposition is the only child, now grown up, who has survived her before.

Director:

Jonathan Liebesman

Writers:

Joe Harris (story), John Fasano (screenplay),

Stars:

Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chaney Kley	...	Kyle Walsh
Emma Caulfield	...	Caitlin Greene
Lee Cormie	...	Michael Greene
Grant Piro	...	Larry Fleishman
Sullivan Stapleton	...	Officer Matt Henry
Steve Mouzakis	...	Dr. Peter Murphy
Peter Curtin	...	Dr. Travis
Kestie Morassi	...	Nurse Lauren
Jenny Lovell	...	Nurse Alexandra
John Stanton	...	Captain Thomas Henry
Angus Sampson	...	Raymond 'Ray' Winchester (as Angus Murray Lincoln Sampson)
Charlotte Rees	...	Marie Winchester
Joshua Anderson	...	Young Kyle Walsh
Emily Browning	...	Young Caitlin Greene
Rebecca McCauley	...	Margaret Walsh (Kyle's Mom)

Storyline

In the 1800's there was a woman that little children would take their old teeth (ones they had recently lost) to in exchange for a gold coin. A few years later, tragedy struck her, first a fire in her house which caused her to not be able to go into any type of light, and then she was hanged. There's a story that goes around the town of Darkness Falls about her, and she's called the Tooth Fairy. The story goes that she can't go in the light, and if you wake up and see her, she'll kill you. The usual saying is "Don't Peek." Well, there is a boy named Kyle who gets a warning from his friend Caitlin to not peek. Well, he wakes up on the night when the Tooth Fairy is supposed to come and get his last tooth and sees her. It all leads to more tragedy and the movie jumps to 12 years later. Now grown up, Caitlin calls Kyle because her little brother Michael is going through the same things he did as a boy, and wants his help. Kyle goes back to Darkness Falls to face his past, and the woman in...

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Plot Keywords:

tooth | tooth fairy | boy | light | darkness | 

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Taglines:

Evil rises.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for terror and horror images, and brief language

Details

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 January 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Don't Peek

Filming Locations:

Ballarat Street, Yarraville, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$163,375 (Australia) (5 September 2003)

Gross:

$519,725 (Australia) (5 September 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Distant Corners Entertainment Group Inc., Blue Star Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 96 min (Special Extended Blu-Ray Edition)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film went through five titles ("The Tooth Fairy", "Don't Peek", "Fear of the Dark", "The Tooth Fairy: The Ghost of Matilda Dixon" and "The Tooth Fairy: Every Legend Has Its Dark Side") before it became Darkness Falls.

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Goofs

There is a power blackout during the storm and we see all the lights go out over the town and yet, inexplicably, the elevator works in the hospital. If there was an emergency generator working in the hospital, the lights would have been on.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: It is said that over 150 years ago, in the town of Darkness Falls, Matilda Dixon was adored by all the children. Whenever they would lose a tooth they would bring it to her in exchange for a gold coin, earning her the name, the Toothfairy. But fate was not kind to Matilda. One night fire tore through her home leaving her face horribly scarred. Matilda's burned flesh was so sensitive to light she could only go out at night, always wearing a porcelain mask so no one could ever look ...

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Crazy Credits

The Revolution Studios logo is tinted brown to tie into the Matilda Dixon backstory opening scene.

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Connections

Version of Tooth Fairy (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Hand of Emptiness"
Written and Performed by Brian Tichy
Courtesy of Mastersource

User Reviews

better than the previous year's similarly themed entry (6.5/10)

Darkness Falls follows a somewhat similar plot line as the previous year's entry in the genre,They,with a few differences.One,Darkness Falls has a fairly well fleshed out back story.Two,the acting is generally fairly good.three,the monster has a reason for being,a motivation for its actions.also,the monster has a weakness,which can be exploited.the core storyline is descent for this genre.the movie is better paced and much better edited.the monster itself is however,not so great.the look of the creature isn't the problem.the problem are its movements,which do not look authentic in some scenes.now,the characters themselves--very little in the form of character development.pretty much your stock horror characters.none too bright and reacting in ways which real people(hopefully)would not.yet,strangely likable somehow.you kind of take pity on them.suspense--there were some tense moments.there was a fair amount of action.however,at times the film became chaotic--lots of sounds and sights all at once,including the music.the purpose,to pretend to entertain the viewer,well hiding the movie's shortcomings.in essence disguising the fact that the movie isn't achieving its intended purpose.in this case,frightening the viewer or at least heightening his or her anxiety.and now the ending.it does nicely resolve things.no cheap setup for a sequel here.i think it's a better movie than They.is it a good movie?yes.it has some tense moments with a few decent action sequences and a decent,straightforward ending without the usual unexpected(but really expected))twist.for me,Darkness Falls is a 6.5/10