Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Apr 17, 2006 10:53:24 GMT -5
Plot:A couple mourning the loss of their young daughter, Sarah. They are visited by a girl named Ebrill, who claims to have died over 60 years previous...and bears a frightening resemblance to their dead daughter
Cast:
Michael Gross
Sean Bean
Maria Bello
Sophie Stuckey
My Thoughts:Slow moving mystery which carries the burden of predictability
Review: Films like "The Dark" are a horror fans worst nightmare in alot of ways. They carry an intriguing premise, and alot of potential. Yet waste it all because of a slow moving story and, show no real effort at making things interesting. "The Dark" finds a mother and father who lose their daughter Sarah in what appears to be a tragic drowing accident. Soon a girl named Ebril, who resembles Sarah in every way, except being just a tad bit paler, shows up much to the shock and confusion of Sarah's mother Adele and her father James. But there is much more than meets the eye to Ebril's sudden appearance, and the mystery surrounding her is much darker than Adele knows. Or atleast it tries to be, which is the problem with "The Dark". You would think a film called "The Dark" would shroud itself in a very chilling, dark, and mysterious cloak of sorts. Instead, the film offers a very depressing mood mainly because it takes place on a mountain farm overlooking the crashing waves and rocks below. But takes way too long to really get into the full brunt of the story. The story is also poorly written considering Maria Bello who plays Adele, pretty much doesn't greive over the sudden loss of her daughter at all. The film spends about two scenes which come immediately after Sarah's drowning to show Adele showing any kind of emotional pain over the loss of her daughter. Daddy dearest doesn't exactly do the best job of greiving himself. When watching "The Dark" you also get the impression that director John Fawcett saw "The Ring" (2001) and decided to outline his story very similar to "The Ring"'s overall premise. I could point out atleast 8 things I saw in "The Dark" that were basically ripped right from "The Ring"...with animal suicides, people suicides, and an alternate world where the evil child in question resides being three of the most blatant similarities. All of these things are thrown into the movie to make it more eerie and creepier, when in reality they aren't really effective seeing as how they aren't pulled off nearly as well as they were in "The Ring". In fact this movie is so similar to "The Ring" that it's basically "The Ring" lite. It seems Fawcett just wanted to make his own version of "The Ring" for a foreign audience. The performances don't help pull the film out of it's "Ring" coma, with Maria Bello lackadasically playing a mom looking for answers about the mysterious Ebril, and Sean Bean playing a father who just totally welcomes the strange little girl into his home no questions asked. Kind of odd when you think about it, considering when it comes to most logical people...if a little girl who looked exactly like their late daughter showed up out of the blue right after she died, they'd be very suspicious. However in this movie, the characters seem to trolly about like it's no big deal. Eventually the mystery behind all of this craziness is revealed but doesn't manage to do the film any good. The big reveal shows a slight glimmer of promise, but it's soon wiped out by a very predictable climax which I don't know whether it's coincidental or not, but mirrors Samara's motives in "The Ring 2".
"The Dark" is out on dvd now, which is a good thing seeing as how no one has to shell out 10 bucks to see this dreck in theaters. If you loved "The Ring" and "The Ring 2", and have developed a movie fetish for films like them, then you'll enjoy "The Dark". If you're on the opposite side of that coin however, you might want to stay away from this one.
Pros:Good looking sceneries and a decent original score.
Cons:Sub par performances by most of the cast, a story lacking any real scares, a predictable ending, and overall just too similar to "The Ring".
Overall:Barely worth a rental.