The Darkness (2016)

There are both good and bad reviews of this film. I like my dose of supernatural horror so I went into it open minded. Pretty big names as actors and the director of Wolf Creek, so why not.A family goes camping in grand canyon, autist boy picks up some indian rocks from a cave, an imaginary friend appears at home, weird things start to happen, family seems to break up.In short, it's somewhat well made, but script lacks. It's never that engaging and the characters aren't THAT likable. Kevin Bacon is pretty good in the lead, but in all honesty I was thinking whether he's a bit old for such role already at almost 60 (feels weird Kevin Bacon is that old!). A minor detail, but he seems to play a role better suited for a 40 something.The script is the worst here tho, not a lot feels relevant. In the beginning they are camping with friends, but we never hear from the friends again. There's plenty of family drama (eating disorder, alcohol, extramarital affair), none of which really work in the whole. On the other hand their sons autism would've deserved a lot more script time. The story is not very interesting really.And who was that imaginary Jenny in the end? Maybe I just missed it.It feels really strange that they got known actors, not only Kevin Bacon, but Radha Mitchell and Paul Reiser in this, while it's clearly a passable b-movie. Watch it if there isn't anything better available, but don't expect a masterpiece.

Who is Greg McLean? Who gave him money to make that movie and allowed him to write the script himself? This is not a horror movie, unless you are younger than 10 years, maybe. It's an awful mess of lame ideas copied shamelessly from genre classics and mixed together into a superficial esoteric story convoluted by unbelievable family drama.Why did actors like Bacon and Mitchell do this job? Bored to death? Out of money? The acting is the only thing in this movie that made me give it more than 1 star. The director botched it big time on all levels of movie making. The pacing was awful, actually nothing happened until the very last 15 minutes, and even that went down the drain. The whole family drama stuff felt artificial and out of place, this family faced so many problems and in the end a supernatural experience brings them back together...well, just BS.There was no tension in the movie, ever. Besides people "acting like you and me" by sitting in dark rooms intentionally while weird sounds come from the attic, the movie constantly rubbed everything in the face of the audience. I always knew what was going on or to come next, as the movie had just told me before it happened. There was no mystery in it at all. The parts where they looked up everything on the internet in seconds - finding fully fledged websites about their specific (oh sure) problems that looked like an advertising agency had designed them... The whole Anasazi demons mumbojumbo being stretched out until you just didn't want to wait until they finally appear. When the old healer lady entered the house I had a last spark of hope that finally now hell would break loose...well, not really. Not at all. The whole thing was a letdown and felt like it was made for a very young audience. Nothing happens, people do scream a few times, one get's bitten by the neighbours dog, two others get a few minor cuts from flying glass shards. That's all! Horror doesn't mean blood, but come on - those demons were as evil and frightening as an old hag on the street.You don't need to be a cineast or a professional film critic to know that this movie was crap. If you find it entertaining, well, blessed is the simple mind. If you say this movie scared you a bit, you should never go outside except in bright sunlight. And even then your own shadow could make your heart stop.Mr. Mclean is a lousy writer (actually more sort of a cribber) and a mediocre director. I didn't see any promising talent here that would make me want to see his next opus. This movie is a total waste of time, unless you need some illustrative material about how not to do it.

Before anyone says anything about me watching The Darkness I have this to say: I WILL watch anything with Kevin Bacon in it. That's not to say I will like it though. This has to be one of his worst movies. Let's get going.Synopsis: A family returns from a Grand Canyon vacation, haunted by an ancient supernatural entity they unknowingly awakened and engages them in a fight for their survival. Starring: Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell Director: Greg McLeanThe Ugly: We already had one horrible remake of Poltergeist, why did we need another? Answer: we didn't. Now, this necessarily wasn't a direct remake, this movie added in some elements from two Stephen King novels called Desperation and The Regulators. Go look them up and you'll see what I mean. In the long run, this more like Poltergeist than its own movie.The Bad: The side stories in the movie. Did we need them as well? Not so much. Were they required? Yes they were. Here's why. They had a basis for a movie. At some point they realized they didn't have a long enough movie so they added a couple of story lines to add more to the movie. Not as bad as an obvious remake though.The Good: Here, the best part of the movie was the acting. Kevin Bacon always shines no matter what he does. Radha Mitchell is always good in the troubled wife role. Even Paul Reiser fit the role he was picked for. Too bad they didn't have a better script or director.Final Thoughts: Star power couldn't save this movie. It had potential, but fell drastically short.Rating: 4 out of 10

Strange things begin to plague a Los Angeles family after a fun vacation. Peter (Kevin Bacon) and his wife Bronny (Radha Mitchell) begin sharing their home with daughter Stephanie (Lucy Fry) and autistic son Mikey (David Mazour) with some inexplicable events like water turning on, footstep sounds in the attic and mysterious hand prints about the home. It is believed they brought back a malignant spirit from their trip to the Grand Canyon. Or is it a dark entity from hell causing Mikey's erratic behavior?Greg McLean co-writes and directs this tense supernatural horror piece. Some eerie special effects fueled by fear. Bacon's talent seems a bit wasted. Also in the cast: Paul Reiser, Trian Long Smith, Ilza Rosario and Alma Martinez.