Fear of the Dark (2003)

A lonely house with dusty basement and dingy attic; a raging thunder storm; a sudden power outage; eerie noises in the shadows; a creepy ventriloquist's dummy: Fear of the Dark has got everything necessary to make an effective spooky film.... well, everything except one: a decent plot.Having firmly established that it's central character, twelve year old Ryan Billings (Jesse James), has a morbid fear of the dark thanks to the malevolent spirits that lurk there waiting to attack, the film fails to develop the concept any further, preferring to concentrate on simply delivering routine scares.There is no explanation for why the spirits have singled out Ryan for torment all his life, no clues as to who or what these monsters are, and no reason given for why no-one else has ever been bothered by the ghosts until now; it's lazy film-making that relies on cheap modern horror movie tactics (crap CGI spooks and convenient jump scares) to try and disguise the fact that the entire thing has been built around the flimsiest of ideas.Technically, the film is OK, with reasonable enough direction and acting, but there really needs to be more to a film than endless wandering around a dark house waiting for the next lame CGI effect to pop out of a closet.

This story looks more like an account of a collective paranoia case generated by a mentally insane kid, and not a ghost story.Twelve years old Ryan is pathologically afraid of the dark, suffering from some bizarre nyctophobia caused by being trapped in a dark basement years ago. His insanity makes you wanna punch him to sanity once for all.Instead he has an older brother Dale who doesn't believe him in the first place, but starts to get scared by him. Dale has a girlfriend who's in some kind of platonic relationship with him (very cute subplot).So one night the two brothers are left alone by their parents who go to a party. During the night Ryan drives Dale crazy with his fear that the lights in the house might go off and the "living darkness" could get him. Then both of them start to see creepy faces and hear scary noises. That's the point in the movie when you get nervous because you expect an explanation for what's happening, but you don't get any clue besides the clinical one.The whole madness comes to an end in the morning when the sunlight scares the "ghosts" away. That would never happen to real ghosts, but we are talking about made up ghosts produced by a damaged mind.5 out of 10 because I watched it with the speakers turned loud on and some scenes were scary because of the noise.

OK, now there are going to be two types of people who are going to watch this movie for the most part. One group is going to be watching this horror movie for buckets of blood and guts, ax wielding maniacs, supernatural creatures that come from hell, and the clichéd big breasted dumb teenagers in their panties, running around tripping over stuff while they are being chased by some murderer because they went BACK into the forest to check out some sound they heard. Then there are going to be people who are fans of horror movies that are basically looking for a good scare who don't mind using their minds to project what might be going on or a more psychological horror movie that relies on creating imagery that's not only freighting but scenes that are "jump out of your seat" scary. So if you are one of those people in the first group, skip this movie because you will not only be bored but also upset because almost none of that stuff is here. Now if you are one of those people in the second group you are going to love this movie. The story, acting, and special effects are very well done for straight to video B horror movie. This movie still shows that you don't need to be over the top to make a good horror movie. I can say that there is some great genuine scares that will make you jump out of your seat. The acting if well done even though it is basically a cast of nobody's, the special effect both CGI and make-up effects are great, and the overall story is one that you will remember because it preys on fears that all kids have had which is being scared of the dark. I think I know why some people also may have found this movie not scary because you really need the full effect. I would suggest that if you have a home theater with a Dolby Surround set up, use it! Because that added to this type of movie a lot, the music and sound effects really come alive when you watch a movie that's move psychological than a gross out flick. When you hear things coming from all corners it just makes a horror movie like this even better. It's not "The Others" or "Signs" but what it has to work with it does very well. It's not a perfect horror movie but I have to say it's one of the best straight to video horror flicks I have ever seen and it's definitely scarier than some of the most recent horror both straight to video as well as theater releases.

Those used to blood, gore and cheap thrills most likely will not enjoy this movie at all. I was never afraid of the dark but after having children who were, this movie provides insight into their fears that I couldn't understand. I like the ending where it is the child who has to conquer his/her individual fear. A parent or sibling can provide support but it is the individual who has to finally overcome. As this movie shows, it is our mind that provides our worse fears. From insects, to dogs, to monsters, we all have something that comes alive in the dark. They don't have to be ghoulish or nightmarish as some viewers would hope to see. They only have to be real in our mind, and that is what I enjoyed about this movie. We saw three peoples fears through their eyes and how they dealt with them. I wouldn't recommend this movie to small children or those who may be afraid of the dark, but besides being entertaining, it may help some parent to understand what their child may be going through. I like movies like this that rely on our minds to provide the scares rather than those which rely on blood and gore. I would have to give this an 8.