Danika (2006)

The story follows Danika, a woman whose fears for her children are manifested in premonitions of death and disaster. Bierko plays Tomei's husband, while Hall is her psychiatrist and confidant.

Director:

Ariel Vromen

Writer:

Joshua Leibner

Stars:

Marisa Tomei, Hannah Marks, Guy Camilleri

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marisa Tomei	...	Danika Merrick
Hannah Marks	...	Lizzie Geralds
Guy Camilleri	...	Man
Akuyoe Graham	...	Patricia Guilford
Ori Pfeffer	...	Bank Robber #1
Jeffrey Nicholas Brown	...	Bank Robber #2 (as Jeffrey Brown)
Craig Bierko	...	Randy Merrick
Kyle Gallner	...	Kurt Merrick
Nicki Prian	...	Lauren Merrick (as Nicky Prian)
Ridge Canipe	...	Brian Merrick
Regina Hall	...	Dr. Evelyn Harris
Jacqueline Pinol	...	Nanny
James Avery	...	Teddy Johnson
Tanya Linette Smith	...	Sales Lady
John Ducey	...	TV Anchorman

Storyline

Danika is a thirty-five year old overprotective mother with a beautiful family composed of her successful husband Randy, two sons - the teenager Kurt and the little Brian, and one teenager daughter - Lauren. Danika is disturbed and near a breakdown, having dark and terrifying nightmares and daydreams; distracted in her work and consequently committing mistakes; and under psychiatric treatment with Dr. Evelyn. Her problems originated when her husband cheated on her with the nanny of their children, breaking her confidence in him. The lack of attention caused by her disturbed mind leads her family into tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

stress | children | fear | death | psychiatrist | 

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Taglines:

Her visions are beyond your worst fears...

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language, some sexual content and a scene of drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 June 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Даника

Filming Locations:

21311 Victory Blvd, Canoga Park, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blue Omega Entertainment,Danika LLC,Roberts/David Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Craig Bierko joined the cast the day before shooting began, replacing the original actor cast as Randy.

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Goofs

When the family is walking away from the crash the two younger kids change place from one shot to the next.

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Connections

References History of the World: Part I (1981)

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Soundtracks

What A Day
Written & Performed by Greg Laswell

User Reviews

Only enjoyable because of Marisa Tomei's performance

Let's see: I had great expectations towards this film, since Danika pretty much has the potential to be a fairly enjoyable thriller, but to my disappointment, it turned out to be one of those films that deliberately try to be confusing just for kicks. I don't know about the others, but I'd say I had my share of these kinds of psychological thrillers that usually lead to the same disappointing endings and nonsensical sequences. You know, the typical soft-horror/thriller/drama flick in which the main character keeps having hallucinations and visions about horrible things happening around her and the rest of the characters are dead worried but they still don't do anything to help her out. Even though Ariel Vromen succeeds to create a puzzling atmosphere and there are two or three enjoyable moments, I'd say that these 'twist in the end' fever has been pretty much overdone already. This film pretty much offers a nice variety of pointless hallucination sequences in which Marisa Tomei, giving a flawless performance, always repeats the same situations but in different scenarios. Obviously, it ends up getting tedious after a a while.

'Danika' is the story of a genuinely desperate housewife, whose main fear is to lose one of her children or the three of them, for that matter. This obsession of overprotecting her kids, turns out to be the result of a traumatic childhood experience, in which poor little Danika loses her brother in a road accident. During the course of the film, the mentally unstable woman, appears basically smothering her children and over-worrying about every little thing, making the rest of her family lose their patience. However, it is clear to Danika that something is definitely not okay with her, as she realizes that she's experiencing weird hallucinations that turn her life into hell on earth.

This film offers a few sequences that promise some sort of explanation whatsoever or at least a tiny little connection to the end. Nevertheless, just like many other recent flicks out there with a twist in the end, 'Danika' turned out to be ambiguous for no reason and it tries to deceive the audience and doubt about their own intelligence. My advice is to avoid this film, unless you are bored and you have nothing else to see. I wouldn't label it as 'unwatchable', because that would be unfair, considering that there are a few good things that deserve to be appreciated, but it's mostly Marisa Tomei's performance actually. 'Danika' is not terribly bad, but frankly, I was utterly disappointed when the good atmosphere and the few achievements were suddenly overshadowed by the silly ending. I wouldn't recommend this... sorry.