The Dark (2005)
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.45 You Save: $11.54 (77%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Dark (2005)
Movie Review: Horrifying!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Dark is one of the most creepy horror movies I have watched in quite some time. Mainly, it's because it has one of those endings that leaves you feeling like you've just been hit in the mouth with raw meat. Not only did I have this immediate reaction to the end of the movie but even after I was done watching it, the ending lingered with me for quite some time, sending chills down my spine.
There's more to the movie than just the end. In the beginning, places of the movie feel almost like Silent Hill, but once it starts going, it develops its own personality. In it, a troubled mother and daughter travel to Wales in order to visit the child's father. He is renovating a home, formerly occupied by a reverend who commanded his congregation to kill themselves. When the couple's daughter disappears, they will stop at nothing to get her back, even if that means unraveling the past, and learning why a girl that should have been dead more than 50 years ago has found a way to return.
Some of the plot is a bit contrived, and some of the suspense is odd instead of scary. However, most of the film is very well done, and on a psychological level it is utterly terrifying. In places, the special effects are visually delicious.
This is an excellent horror movie, sure to send chills up and down your back. Rent it, watch it on a dark, foggy night, and get ready to sleep with the lights on!
Movie Review: Cool and creepy -- intriguing images, gripping story, only gets a bit hokey towards the end
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very creepy horror film that deserves comparison with some of the best of the non-exploitation and non-slasher scary flicks like The Others. The approach of the film, especially to begin with, resembles that of classics like Don't Look Now, or Picnic at Hanging Rock -- above all, the strangeness of the circumstances and the fear they invoke mirror the psychological turmoil of the characters -- and, as with those films, the hints at a deeper supernatural mystery are nicely balanced with the growing anxiety of the characters. That is true, at least, until the latter quarter of the film when it gives in to the supernatural and to the twists and turns of more mainstream scary fare and begins to seem more like, say, The Skeleton Key. Maria Bello gives her usual strong performance and, while he has less to do, Sean Bean is convincing as a distraught and loving father and estranged husband. The real star of the film, though, is the cinematographer and crew: the colors of the Welch coast are both beautiful and evocative of a deep and mythical past; the anxiety of the characters and the power of the ocean when they are looking for a drowning girl is captured by the frantic, but not shaky, movements of the camera; the look of "the dark" (you'll know it when you see it), is both subtle and believable. A worthwhile and intriguing film, that has unfortunately not received the attention it clearly deserves.Movie Review: Surprisingly good supernatural horror film.
Summary: 4 Stars
This film will not appeal to many people especialy if you expect it to be the usual teens being stalked in the woods type of film or an over the top gorefest. The dark is more of a slow supernatural tale that relies more on suspence and a good storyline which is kind of similar to Japanese horror, the story is about Adele (Maria Bello) who is seperated from her husband James (Sean Bean) they have a daughter together called Sara, Adele takes Sara to visit James at a remote cotage on the welsh coast in England but during their stay Sara goes missing she dissapears over a cliff top into the sea a hundred feet below. As it turns out a couple of years ago there was a mass suicide where the residents threw themselves of the cliff they were a part of some religious cult and soon Adele uncovers a dark secret about the place and has some strange visions. Don't worry because I haven't ruined anything in this film, the storyline has a mystery to it and nothing is revealed untill the end, I thought that the film was very interesting and the visuals were great but there seems to be something missing maybe it wasn't atmospheric enough and it wasn't that scary but what's the last modern horror film that you saw and thought was genuinley scary? exactley. What I liked about this film is that it was certainly different from the rest of the other straight to dvd horror films out there and I definetely recomend this film.Movie Review: Spooky and atmospheric
Summary: 4 Stars
It doesn't matter who did or did not direct or produce this film. The result is way out of the ordinary with an ending that blows you out of your socks. The characters are fully fleshed out with Maria Bello giving an outstanding performance as the mother you just love to hate: mean-spirited, selfish, you choose your own term.
The horrid little creature that is her daughter is as loathsome as the girl who returns is sympathetic, a victim of her father's insanity. Until the point comes when you realise that this is not quite the case...
The only downside of this beautifully crafted film is the ubiquitous Sean Bean who, like Michael Caine, never seems to turn down work. Even so, his is a solid performance. As unlikable as the characters are, do they really deserve their fate?
This is a gritty and thoroughly unnerving picture. The photography is exceptional, particularly in the "Anwyn" sequences - the real horror of which is entirely in the presentation. The score, by Edmund Butt (who also did the music for the BBC's "Sea of Souls") is anything but forgettable. You just don't know what's around the corner with this music.
I've had this sadly overlooked gem for years. I don't know how I came by it but it stands up, over and over again. I'm only sorry that I have waited three years to speak up for it.
Movie Review: The Dark
Summary: 4 Stars
*The Dark* is an interesting movie. However, I found it, at times, to be a bit too slow for me.
Anyways, Adele and her daughter, Sarah, come to the Wales to visit Sarah's father. However, Sarah drowns in the ocean and her body cannot be found. In the midst of Adele's mourning, Ebrill appears, who has an uncanny resemblence to Sarah.
Ebrill explains that she, too, drowned at the ocean...60 year ago. The story around her drowning is both interesting and creepy. Believing that there's some connection between Ebrill and her daughter, Sarah, Adele goes off in an investigation with the hopes of rescuing her daughter. At the same time, people in town are mysteriously murdered. Just who is doing the killing?
However, the question is will Adele ever find her daughter? Or was this all in her mind in the midst of her grieving? I cannot tell you. You just have to watch it.
The storytelling is wonderful. I just wish it was faster. But the suspense...such a nice build-up.