'Director Jonathan Liebesman helms a ridiculously familiar and arbitrary cheesy horror tale that doesn't effectively challenge the simple conventions of the fright genre.'
Darkness Falls (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:125
Fresh:10
Rotten:115
Average Rating:3.2/10
Consensus: A derivative movie where the scares are few and things don't make much sense.
Runtime: 86 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis:
For the past 150 years, the legend of Matilda Dixon, "the Tooth Fairy," has hung over the town of Darkness Falls like a dark cloud. After being unjustly accused of a heinous crime, the kindly old...
For the past 150 years, the legend of Matilda Dixon, "the Tooth Fairy," has hung over the town of Darkness Falls like a dark cloud. After being unjustly accused of a heinous crime, the kindly old woman was savagely slaughtered by a mad rabble one night, and there are those who say her vengeful spirit hovers over the town, just waiting to pounce on anyone who sees her in the dark.
It happened to young Kyle. One night he saw Matilda and, though he managed to escape her evil clutches, his mother was brutally murdered.
Or was it just a hallucination?
Haunted by his painful memories of that night, and plagued by guilt, Kyle (Chaney Kley) has never allowed himself to be in the dark since. One day, he is summoned back to town by his childhood sweetheart Caitlin (Emma Caulfield), whose nine-year-old brother Michael (Lee Cormie) is having the same nightmares that drove Kyle to the brink of madness.
When he returns, however, Kyle realizes that Matilda’s evil spirit was no figment of his imagination. She is real and extremely dangerous. And if she catches him in the dark again, her horrible, scarred face will be the last thing he ever sees.
Revolution Studios presents A Distant Corners/Blue Star Pictures Production, Darkness Falls, distributed by Columbia Pictures. Starring Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield and Lee Cormie. The film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman. The screenplay is by John Fasano & James Vanderbilt & Joe Harris from a story by Joe Harris. The producers are John Hegeman, John Fasano, William Sherak and Jason Shuman. The executive producers are Derek Dauchy and Lou Arkoff. Dan Laustsen is the director of photography. The production designer is George Liddle. The film is edited by Steve Mirkovich, A.C.E. and Tim Alverson. The music is by Brian Tyler. Creature Designed and Created by Stan Winston Studio.
Darkness Falls is rated PG-13 for terror and horror images, and brief language.
Starring: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro
Starring: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Kestie Morassi, Alannah Oliver, Joshua Anderson
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Screenwriter: Joseph Harris, John Fasano, John Vanderbilt
Producer: John Hegeman, William Sherak, John Fasano, Jason Shuman
Composer: Brian Tyler
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for Darkness Falls
It's not the idea, but the execution that is bothersome. It's totally predictable.
Simply put, Darkness Falls is like that snake that eats itself: by the time minute 80 hits the screen, you'll have completely forgotten about minutes 1 through 10.
The first new horror film of the new year is the sort of unmitigated donkey crap that makes even a hardcore horror fan like myself understand why the genre is held in such disdain by non-fans.
The biggest problem with the characters is that they have all taken lobotomy pills. They are even more stupid than characters normally are in horror flicks.
Darkness Falls breaks even, at least for horror fans, if not for horror snobs
Inventive fiction masquerading as age-old, local legend deteriorates into a wholly generic creature flick.
Two good elements of the film are the music score by Brian Tyler and the top notch sound design by John Schiefelbein
There's a spooky excitement to the opening and closing showpieces that's noticeably missing from the boring middle stretch.
Every manufactured 'Boo!' operates on a logical void in this latest no-budget, teen-targeted music-video exploitation of childhood night terrors.
The terrible acting, the awful pacing, and laughable special effects make the horror of watching this movie all too unintentional.
Incrediby, the nitwit pun in the title is one of the more intelligent things in this lame-brained, incompetent horror film.
There are more than a few images in this film that may linger once the theater empties... just imagine how much money parents could save if they let their little ones watch this...!
Fangoria subscribers will spot shameless cops from The Haunting, The Fog, The Blair Witch Project and Jeepers Creepers, to name but a few.
Since when does the Tooth Fairy inspire terror? Guess what? She still doesn’t.
Darkness Falls has pushed my tolerance for Hollywood horror movies to the edge.
There's no particular reason to see it unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool fan of weird (and loud) noises, things not quite seen and obvious plots.
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February 22, 2006:
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