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:

9 year old | gramophone | supernatural horror | dead child | missing child | 

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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 PG-13 for disturbing images, intense terror sequences, thematic elements and language

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

(Around 23 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

Regina: Since when are you afraid of the dark?
Paul: Everything is different here.

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Alternate Versions

US theatrical version was heavily edited to get PG-13 rating.

• the word "fuck" is changed to "freek/frick".
• the man slicing his finger happens off screen
• the boy being attacked inside of his room by the six kids isn't shown
• the R-rated version shows more intense sequences of the satanic ritual which was performed on the six kids.

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Connections

Featured in Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

User Reviews

A real treat for horror fans

Spain - what a great country! It gave us Julio Medem, it gave us Alejandro Amenabar, and now there's Jaume Balaguero, the man who brought us Darkness, a horror film that's clever, fresh & intriguing. An american family (Iain Glen & Lena Olin) with a teenage daughter (Anna Paquin) & a little boy (Stepnah Enquist) moves into an old house somewhere in Spain, and soon enough find out that there's something wrong with it. There are ghosts of children, supposedly murdered in this very house, there's a strange man walking around the house watching it silently, the little boy is afraid of the dark & wakes up with bruises on his body & the father, who A) has a dark secret in his past, which is somehow connected to the house & B) is not very well in the mental department, starts going a little bit crazy. Sure, it all sounds corny enough, and every person who've seen films like The Sixth Sense, A Stir Of Echoes and The Shining can smile his way through the first half of the film thinking he's seen it all already. But Balaguero has more tricks up his sleeve then just a collection of genre cliches. In fact, he enjoys playing with these cliches, because later things turn not quite the way you were dead sure they would, and the final act has even more surprises in stock. The film is genuinly scary, especially in the second half when the tension just won't let up. The visuals are good - a couple of scenes are pretty likely to haunt you days, maybe even months after watching the film. The final verdict: definitely worth seeing, maybe even more than once. I haven't received that much pleasure from a horror film in quite a while

P.S. And please, people, stop comparing it to The Others, the two films have very little in common except for the set-up (children in a haunted house)

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

USA Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Dark

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$10,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,400,000, 26 December 2004

Gross USA:

$22,163,442

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$33,988,736

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castelao Producciones, Dimension Films, Fantastic Factory (Filmax)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 103 min (Unrated Version)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1