In spite of the tepid title, the involvement of some acclaimed Hollywood names and fancy production values, "The Dark" sounded like a potentially good and old-fashioned atmospheric horror/ghost thriller even for the more experienced and 'developed' horror buff to enjoy. To my knowledge, not too many genre movies deal with Welsh mythology and, since I'm a sucker for these ancient folklore tales, I thought this movie deserved a fair chance. Anyway, it couldn't possibly be worse than "Silent Hill"; that other recently released excuse for a horror flick with Sean Bean where his daughter goes missing. Well, it's not worse but definitely almost equally bad! Aside from the cool rudimentary folklore plot, "The Dark" is full of dreary clichés, false scares, confusing red herrings, tedious padding and wannabe suspenseful elements that are shamelessly stolen from other recent (Asian) ghost chillers such as "Dark Water" and particularly "The Ring". The script is adapted from a novel by Simon Maginn and without even having read it I already know for sure the book must be a dozen times better than the film. It is more than obvious that the producers wanted to cash in on the success of other films. There's basically nothing wrong with that, but they were naive enough to believe nobody would notice the blatant similarities. Some sequences, like the ones filmed outside and near the cliff, look exactly like the footage of "The Ring". The production seemingly never develops a personality and near the end director John Fawcett ("Ginger Snaps") loses complete grip and control over the subject matter, resulting in a needlessly convoluted and infuriatingly confusing climax.
Continuously bickering mother Adele (Maria Bello) and early teenage daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey) arrive in a really remote area in Wales to rejoin their estranged father James (Sean Bean). Sarah disrespects her mother and wants to stay with her dad, but the place literally bathes in an ominous aura and feels haunted with the tragic events of the past. After witnessing some sheep committing a strange and somewhat disturbing act of ritual suicide, Sarah disappears in the water. During her search for the girl, Adele learns more about the local legend of "Annwyn" the place where people go to die and about a priest who encouraged an entire town's community to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff in order to get back his own deceased daughter Ebril. All this happened more than 60 years ago, but Adele is convinced there's a connection with the vanishing of her daughter. She's proved right when the reincarnation of Ebril seeks contact with them. Admittedly the whole Annwyn myth itself is compelling and the few sequences with the sheep running amok are oddly unsettling (if you happen to have a phobia for sheep, avoid this film or nightmares are guaranteed!), but overall "The Dark" is just another lackluster horror accomplishment. Fawcett makes the terrible and typically Asian ghost story - mistake of using an overload of eerie noises (opening doors, whispering child voices, distant Morse code ) without ever showing any actually bloody horror scenes or shocking imagery. After struggling through a couple of these repeated mistakes, the film becomes very boring and then the finale is just miserable beyond words. The acting performances are amiable particularly Sean Bean impresses, playing the good guy for a change and the location spotters did a tremendous job.
Continuously bickering mother Adele (Maria Bello) and early teenage daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey) arrive in a really remote area in Wales to rejoin their estranged father James (Sean Bean). Sarah disrespects her mother and wants to stay with her dad, but the place literally bathes in an ominous aura and feels haunted with the tragic events of the past. After witnessing some sheep committing a strange and somewhat disturbing act of ritual suicide, Sarah disappears in the water. During her search for the girl, Adele learns more about the local legend of "Annwyn" the place where people go to die and about a priest who encouraged an entire town's community to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff in order to get back his own deceased daughter Ebril. All this happened more than 60 years ago, but Adele is convinced there's a connection with the vanishing of her daughter. She's proved right when the reincarnation of Ebril seeks contact with them. Admittedly the whole Annwyn myth itself is compelling and the few sequences with the sheep running amok are oddly unsettling (if you happen to have a phobia for sheep, avoid this film or nightmares are guaranteed!), but overall "The Dark" is just another lackluster horror accomplishment. Fawcett makes the terrible and typically Asian ghost story - mistake of using an overload of eerie noises (opening doors, whispering child voices, distant Morse code ) without ever showing any actually bloody horror scenes or shocking imagery. After struggling through a couple of these repeated mistakes, the film becomes very boring and then the finale is just miserable beyond words. The acting performances are amiable particularly Sean Bean impresses, playing the good guy for a change and the location spotters did a tremendous job.