Reviews: The Darkness (2016) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Demons
Subgenres: Demons, Featured Supernatural, Supernatural, Back from the Dead, Cursed, Suburbs, Tourists, Blumhouse
Horror fans will enjoy our review of The Darkness (2016), where we cover its story, scares, and how it ranks among modern horror classics.
The Darkness (2016) is an American supernatural thriller horror movie that is assumed to be based on true events about a family who was terrorized by supernatural forces that followed them from their trip to the Grand Canyon. I felt the film was too rushed with no jump scares or any other types of scares, and that may be because the movie took about one month to complete filming. Director, co-writer and producer Greg McLean (Wolf Creek (2005), Rogue (2007), Wolf Creek 2 (2013)) failed in many different areas in this film but succeeded by picking excellent actors that deliver strong performances. The storyline was interesting as well as the visual effects but with a title like The Darkness, you need scares and great if not excellent resolution.
The Darkness revolves around the Taylor family who is not the perfect family and has many worries, but I guess it was not enough because of the challenges in life they are about to face after returning from a family vacation. Peter (Kevin Bacon - Apollo 13 (1995), Footloose (1984), Mystic River (2003), X-Men: First Class (2011)) is a struggling architect who has a not so pleasant boss. His boss, (Paul Reiser - Whiplash (2014), Aliens (1986), Mad About You (1992), My Two Dads (1987)) is bossy/pushy, and his relationship with his wife could be better, and it is all because he cheated on her. His son, Michael (David Mazouz - Gotham (2014), Touch (2012), The Games Maker (2014)) is autistic and receives most of his parent’s attention while his daughter, Stephanie feels invisible. Stephanie (Lucy Fry - Vampire Academy (2014), Mako Mermaids (2013), Lightning Point (2012)) feels neglected and not wanted which leads her to the wrong path resulting in nothing good.
The family decides to have a relaxing vacation at the Grand Canyon to get away from their hectic lives and mend their family problems, but things do not go the way they plan. Michael stumbles upon an ancient Anasazi ritual cave and then, of course, decides to take a few objects with him home. It did not take long for him and his family to regret taking anything from the Canyons because their chaotic lives become a nightmare that they cannot get rid of easily. I love that I can connect with the characters on different emotional levels as they go through their lives journey in a devastating nightmare. With all said, it was not Greg McLean’s best movie and will probably be one of his worst movies ever. The suspense, sets, sound, cinematography, and atmosphere was average. I gave this movie a four because of the brilliant acting from the actors and because of effort from the director and the mythology aspect of it.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Darkness Rating Scores
- Our Score: 4/10
- Overall Score: 3.03/10
- IMDB: 4.5/10
- MetaCritic: 2.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 0.3/10
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