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Canadian Maniac
Jun 25, 2000

Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield

Well, where to begin? This movie is a product of the recent PG-13 horror trend that Hollywood has been on, a trend that has actually produced a few note-worthy movies like The Ring and The Sixth Sense. The problem with a low-rated horror movie is that it limits the avenues a director can take. Obviously, the gore factor is out so they need to fall back on solid acting and writing. Unfortunately, Darkness Falls features neither of these.

The plot itself is your typical small town ghost story, the kind I'm sure most of us have heard and spread around when we were younger. A kindly old woman gives children gold coins when they lose their teeth. However, one night a fire strikes her home and she's left horribly scarred, as a result she's sensitive to light and must wear a mask to protect her hideously scarred face. Of course, soon two children who go to visit her and go missing. She's blamed and promptly hung, cursing the town's children as she dies. After a set-up scare sequence involving a young boy we're taken into the present, where that same boy, now a man is still afraid of the dark. You know what, gently caress it, I'm not going to explain this poo poo heap anymore, so here's what sucks.

The acting is laughable, the movie was shot on the cheap and as such they rely on a relatively unknown cast (you'll probably only recognize Emma Caulfield from Buffy). The two awful performances that really stand out are the lawyer and the obligatory scared young boy. The lawyer looks as though he's never been in front of a camera before, his performance reminds me of all the straight-to-video trash that gets reviewed on the front page. Child actors are always risky business and the makers of Darkness Falls lost this particular bet, you'll want the lisping little goblin to die...and fast.

The movie packs in the cheap scares. There's even a cat jumping out that was obviously intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but just ended up sucking. The monster's limitations are shamelessly taken from the aliens in Pitch Black, and possibly other movies I'm not aware of. No one believes the crazy guy until - SURPRISE! They're all dead and it's too late. And how convenient is it that the power would go out in the entire town this particular night? At seventy-five minutes the pain ends early, but movies this short are a slap in the face to the people stupid enough to pay full ticket price to see them. The short movie trend is one that's nagging at me and I'd like to make Darkness Falls my scapegoat. Stay in the light, and away from this dreck.

RATING: 1.5

PROS: It's over quick? The Tooth Fairy character is a decent CONCEPT.
CONS: Awful acting, predictable scares/plot, short running time (maybe a pro).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0282209/

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last laugh
Feb 11, 2004

NOOOTHING!
Truly abhorrent film. One of the worst horror movie plots/ execution I have ever witnessed. I got quite fed up with the cheap scares, which any movie can acheive.

.5/5

doctor 7
Oct 10, 2003

In the grim darkness of the future there is only Oakley.

I was actually debating whether or not to give this movie a .5 or a 1. I decided on a .5. There was only one scene that was actually something I enjoyed watching in this movie, and that was the "Tooth Fairy" first appearing and chasing the main male lead as a child but even that couldn't raise it to a 1. Everything else about this movie was complete and utter trash and not worth seeing. I'd like to add that the editing was probably some of the worst I've ever seen.

Scar Trek
Mar 6, 2002

I was here before this cliché crap and I'll be here long after it's cold and raped and dead in the ground.
Ugh.

This kind of movie should be right up my alley. However, even I found it dull and disinteresting. Steer clear folks, the little Flash movie about the history of the town that was once up on the official site is far more entertaining than this movie.

And a hint to future filmmakers. If you're going to make a movie about fear of the dark, that's not an excuse to spend 60 out of the 70 minutes of the movie in scenes that the viewers can't see anything in.

1.

TUS
Feb 19, 2003

I'm going to stab you. Offline. With a real knife.


I thought having Anya from BUffy in it would make it watchable, alas that wasn't the case. I think I had a conversation about graduating with my roommate while watching it...

1/5

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Debbie Metallica
Jun 7, 2001

I normally enjoy bad horror movies but even this was too much to take. The intro is really kind of interesting; for about two seconds I thought "hey, this might not be TOO lovely after all!" Wrong.

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