The Dark

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Zachary K 08/18/2024 Well, it's an old film by now of course, but honestly, this is a decent horror film. Is it the most awe-inspiring film of all time? No. Is it scary? Not really, although there are a few decent moments where the tension managed to build nicely. But there are some strong points too...I feel like most of the acting is pretty solid overall, and the cinematography and setting lend the whole affair a tense and haunting quality in parts. Some scenes, mostly involving the sheep, manage to give a bit of a chill at times, and in all, the story is relatively original. At least, they give it a good try and while they didn't surprise me, they did at least keep my attention. The biggest draw back for me is the ending, which is a little muddy. I get it. I know what they are doing, but it isn't the clearest or most satisfying resolution. And there are a few plot elements that had potential to be used more effectively, so that was disappointing at times. I can't say I loved this one, but it is worth a watch, at least once. See more Jack S 09/06/2023 Bello and Bean try their best to generate suspense here, but there's nothing else particularly effective or remarkable about this standard ghost story except perhaps the ruggedly picturesque cinematography of the beautiful Welsh coastline. See more prawnda s 06/13/2023 im willing to give this a shot, but im 20 minutes in and they've barely stopped shouting each others names over and over the entire time. "SARAH SARAH SARAH" is about the least imaginative script that could possibly be written for this occasion, and it kinda demonstrates poor taste in direction very early on. See more 02/19/2020 I think the people that have watched this movie don't want to sit through the quiet parts of a horror movie , which is fine but it's definitely a psychological horror movie so it has some build-up and charter development that help the rest of the movie. I watched this and I didn't find it scary but my friends that did were terrified even in the quiet parts so it has those scary moments and suspense that can leave you on the edge of your seat or hiding behind the couch, so I really think this is a really good movie it's just not given enough credit. See more jesse o 03/26/2017 Where do I even begin with this movie? By and large, I've always liked Maria Bello as an actress. I don't think she's the best around (nothing's gonna ever keep her down), but she is a good actress. But let's just say that she doesn't make great impression in this movie. If WatchMojo.com ever decided to make a list of her 10 best performances, this wouldn't even come close to being considered as an honorable mention. That's not to say she's awful in this movie, there's just some scenes here where she's just not particularly good. As if she wasn't taking the movie all that seriously at all. Whether it's overacting or just poor delivery, there's just something off about her. And it's not like the script does her any favors any way, but I think a good actor, regardless of whether or not the script truly entices them or not, does the best possible job they can. It was either that or the director truly does not know how to get consistent performances from the actors. It's most likely the latter, since I've seen Maria Bello look good far more times than I've seen her look like she did in this movie. As far as everything else is concerned, eh. This just didn't do anything for me. And it's not like I felt there was much potential to be here. I mean, they do involve some Welsh mythology about the afterlife, or some place similar, but they use it in the most generic way possible. Adelle and James both fear their daughter dead after she, seemingly, falls into the ocean. They fear her dead after a search yields nothing. Then they find this strange girl in James' house that tells her that there's a way they can get her back and it's a sort of exchange 'one of the living for one of the dead.' This girl, called Ebrill (but pronounced Ebrith) is later revealed to have been one of the dead who was brought back. She was brought back her father, the leader of this religious cult, who lied to his flock by telling them that jumping off the cliff, to their deaths, was their way to salvation. Though, of course, considering the fact that Ebrill was not supposed to be alive, she becomes something akin to an evil spirit, luring Adelle and James into doing whatever she wanted them to. And this is all fine, parents willing to do absolutely anything and everything to bring back their children is an universal theme. One can relate to it even if they don't have children, it's just one of those things. But I found the entire execution of everything in the film to be completely generic. For a movie that's focusing on Welsh mythology, there's nothing about this movie that uses those elements to create a truly unique story with a different approach to the afterlife. Nope, it's just about as straightforward a movie as you can get and, quite frankly, it was all a little boring to be honest. Which is kind of a cardinal sin, to me, for a horror movie. You can be great. You can even be terrible. But you can never be boring. I say a horror movie can be terrible, because at least you can have some fun if it's one of those 'so bad it's funny' types. But if you have a boring horror movie on your hands, then you're not really inspired to do anything. You're more apathetic towards everything you just saw. You don't really care to keep watching, but you do so because you've already started it. The point of this all is the fact that this is just a really boring movie. There's some horror, but it's not like it's particularly good or interesting. It doesn't rely as much on jump scares and that's to their benefit, if I'm honest. Don't get me started on how I feel about jump scares. But, yes, there's not much in the way of horror here. So I don't know what to really call this. I mean it's certainly framed as one and it plays out as one, but it doesn't actually do anything that a good horror movie would do. Eh, I don't have much else to say about this movie. This wasn't very good, it was far more boring than it was bad, but I wouldn't recommend this. Generic story, inconsistent acting and dull execution keep this from being something that you should go out of your way to see. See more 05/10/2014 In no way a cohesive interesting story. See more Read all reviews

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