Friday, March 24, 2017

Movie review: The Darkness


Returning from a Grand Canyon vacation, the Taylor family begins to realize something is wrong when young Michael begins to exhibit even stranger behavior than usual. Haunted by a supernatural force, the fight for their lives begins.

Kevin Bacon (Peter), Radha Mitchell (Bronny), David Mazouz (Michael), Lucy Fry (Stephanie), Matt Walsh (Gary), Parker Mack (Andrew), Paul Reiser (Simon), Ming-Na Wen (Wendy), Alma Martinez (Teresa).

The Darkness begins with the Taylor family vacation to the Grand Canyon from which mentally challenged Michael brings back a few seemingly innocent stones. In fact, removal of the stones unleashes an ancient Anasazi supernatural curse upon the family. The rest of the film, as the family struggles to survive, is a roller-coaster ride of haunting events and suspense through to the Happy Ever After ending.

Acting was okay with Bacon delivering his usual. Mitchell did pretty well with solid delivery, and seemed to work well with Bacon. Mazouz delivered nicely throughout, while Fry felt a bit detached. It was nice seeing Wen in a different role, which she managed well, as did the remainder of the cast.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds are solid and well done. Good use of CGI around the supernatural aspects of the film, along with action scenes. Dialogue is okay with only a few rough spots and lacking information. Sound and soundtrack are decent.

While The Darkness sounds good on paper, the film uses a somewhat worn plot with few modifications and really doesn't bring anything new to the genre. This almost feels like a cookie-cutter film someone simply churned out. Kevin Bacon fans, or die-hard supernatural horror fans may enjoy this one. The rest of you will be disappointed at the lack of depth, originality, and lackluster technical work.

With some violence, gore, disturbing images, and mild sensuality this one is fine for teens and above.

Released: 2016
Reviewed: 3.15.17
Star rating: 2 out of 5
Genre: Horror, Supernatural Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Supernatural Thriller

copyright ©2017 Dave Riedel
 

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