Darkness Falls (2003)

Director:

Jonathan Liebesman

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

24 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Every Legend Has Its Dark Side.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Port Fairy | Ghost | Lighthouse | Spiral Staircase | Tooth Fairy

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

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)

Also Known As:

Don't Peek (USA) (working title)
The Ghost of Matilda Dixon (USA) (working title)
The Tooth Fairy: The Ghost of Matilda Dixon (USA) (working title)
Tooth Fairy (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15PG (original rating) | Ireland:15 (video rating) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

The sound of Matilda Dixon's wailing throughout the film is really the sound of an elderly woman's groaning in bed. The sound was both sped up in the parts where Matilda screams, and slowed down in the places where she gurgles and breathes heavily.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of the film, young Kyle has two small (unexplained) scratches on the upper part of his left cheek which appear to be about an inch and a half at most. The next morning, a close-up of Kyle shows two very large (approx. 4"-5") slashes on the upper and lower portion of his cheek, as well as what may be a third across his left collar bone. In the preceding and subsequent shots, Kyle is seen with the original small scratches.

Quotes:

Caitlin: I can't believe you came.
Kyle: That makes two of us.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Down to the Bone: Anatomy of a Prequel (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Look Out Below

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