29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than you think..., April 19, 2006
Everyone thinks Darkness Falls sucks, giving it 2 or less stars. But come on people! It's not that scary, but it's spooky. It makes you kind of paranoid if you just watched it at night. It's quickly become my favorite horror movie, and it's unfair that people won't give it a chance. The actors and actresses are the best of the best, and it definately is worth seeing and buying. Don't listen to the pessimists. It's better than I thought!
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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WELCOME TO DARKNESS FALLS, February 7, 2006
As a young boy, Kyle Walsh saw something no one is supposed to see...and live. Less fortunate was Kyle's mother, murdered in a night of raving terror from which Kyle has never recovered even twelve years later. Now he's coming home to Darkness Falls, to confront his childhood fear, and save his beloved Caitlin and her younger brother from a nightmarish doom...
Though it got off to a good start at the box office in 2003, DARKNESS FALLS quickly floundered and is not widely appreciated by many horror fans. Despite its decidedly mixed reviews from fans and critics alike, DARKNESS FALLS won me over the first time I saw it and it continues to entertain today.
Exploring both humanity's general fear of the dark as well as the theme of childhood trauma that can shape one's life forever, DARKNESS FALLS is a fast-moving supernatural thriller that scores high marks for an original concept, interesting monster, empathetic characters, and atmospheric suspense. Chaney Kley captures all of Kyle's angst and obsessiveness perfectly, and Emma Caulfield is appealing as Kyle's childhood sweetheart Caitlin, caught up in a nightmare from which she cannot awake. Children in peril are often a bust in scary movies, but Lee Cormie is excellent in his role as the benighted Michael and provides a highly believable catalyst to bring Kyle and Caitlin back together. The monster is scary and realistic, another knockout job from Stan Winston Studio, and turning the Tooth Fairy legend on its darkside makes for an ingenious and decidedly wicked new bogeyman.
One reason DARKNESS FALLS disappointed at the box office is that it is, after all, a PG-13 film in a genre in which a very hard "R" rating is par for the course. Lacking the splattering gore of many horror films, as well as the gratuitous nudity, DARKNESS FALLS perhaps came across as too "tame" for some. Director Jonathan Liebesman took a lot of the blame, but unnecessarily so, as the look, feel, and pacing of DARKNESS FALLS are all excellent. Often compared to the more popular THE RING, DARKNESS FALLS is clearly a very different movie, sharing with its rival only the theme of a haunted child.
Though mine may be a minority opinion, I consider DARKNESS FALLS to be perhaps the best horror movie since the remake of THE MUMMY in the 90s. Relying more on creativity for its shocks than the normal blood & guts, DARKNESS FALLS succeeds at least in part because it doesn't give in to certain genre conventions. If you're looking for something different in a scary movie, give DARKNESS FALLS a try--I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I would give it more stars if I could!, April 13, 2003
DARKNESS FALLS is, in my opinion, one of the scariest, most original horror films in years and it will end up becoming one of my guilty peasurres. It is perfet to watch on a dark and stormy night and you won't want to stay in complete darkness anymore. See it, it's very good and do not believe the criticts. they're just rating it badly because they are all comparing it to THE RING, and even though this was excellent, it is no match for THE RING.
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