Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Darkness Falls Blu-ray Movie Review

Falls, fails…what’s the difference?

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater October 21, 2011

October is here, and you know what that means—the studios and home video distributors are flooding the market with catalog horror titles that you’d completely forgotten about. Some of them, of course, should probably stay forgotten. Case in point: Darkness Falls, a 2003 ghost story that was near-universally panned when it came out and has since drifted off into that ephemeral pop culture ether of dimly recalled fright films like House of the Dead, Blair Witch 2, and Feardotcom, the kind of disposable early 21st century tripe that makes you say, “Oh yeah, I remember that now. It wasn’t very good.”

And Darkness Falls isn’t. It has a genuinely creepy opening—sure, I’ll give it that—but the rest is plot-less, loud and hyperactively edited dross with logical gaps the size of town-swallowing sinkholes. It bears every mark of a film rushed into production with no clear vision of what it should ultimately be. It was significantly re-edited, it went through five name changes before settling on “Darkness Falls,” and then there’s the issue of the monster—a demonic, vengeful tooth fairy. Originally, the audience would’ve only gotten a good look at this caterwauling she-beast in the climax, but the studio objected, brought in practical effects guru Stan Winston to do a new creature design, and did significant reshoots to give the evil boogeywoman more to do. Bad idea. As is almost always the case, once you see the monster in all its oogedy-boogedy glory, it just isn’t scary anymore.

Darkness, falling.

As if it’s going for some kind of record, Darkness Falls features not one, but two prologues. In the first, over creepy 19th century child portraiture, a voiceover narrator takes us back 150 years and tells the story of Matilda Dixon, an old woman beloved by all the children of Darkness Falls. (Yes, that’s the town’s name. You’ve got to suspend your disbelief early if you’re going to make it through this film.) See, Matilda would give the kids gold coins in exchange for their baby teeth, but when she nearly died in a house fire, her face was severely disfigured, forcing her to wear a porcelain mask and—presumably—keeping the kiddies at bay. Later, wrongfully accused for the disappearance of two missing tots, Matilda was lynched by the townsfolk, and “with her dying breath she laid a curse on Darkness Falls.” Now, I have no idea how someone being hanged—that is, violently and suddenly asphyxiated—can even have a “dying breath,” but that’s beside the point, I guess. The legend is that ever since, Matilda’s vengeful spirit visits the town’s children when they lose their last baby teeth. If the kids see her, she kills them, and of course, the town has a history of children dying mysteriously. But here’s the gimmick: Matilda can’t stand the light. Flashlights, lanterns, raver glow sticks, whatever—all burn her already burned face. So, as one character eventually puts it—in a pithy, poster-ready catchphrase—“Stay in the light, stay alive.”

In the second prologue, we jump forward to the early 1990s, as Kyle—a loner pre-teen who looks like a male version of a young Julia Stiles—pries his last baby tooth out and heads to bed, putting the canine on his dresser. We see a figure dart in front of the window, but it’s just Kyle’s puppy- crush, Caitlin, who pops in for a quick kissy-kiss and a chat about the upcoming school dance. Phew. When she leaves, though, cranky old Matilda shows up in the shadows to do some serious haunting, killing Kyle’s mom and leaving the poor kid—safe in a well-lit bathroom—speechless and traumatized. The boo factor is high in this scene—there are jump scares a’plenty—but this is the last time the film is even remotely frightening.

And so we leap forward again, this time twelve years. Adult Caitlin (Emma Caulfield) has a kid brother who’s been hospitalized for having severe night terrors—after losing his last tooth, natch—so she calls up Kyle (Chaney Kley), whom she hasn’t spoken to since the incident, in hopes that he might be able to help. After going in and out of state hospitals and foster care for years, Kyle is now a brooding artist who lives in Las Vegas—a city that’s never truly pitch black—and carries a bag full of flashlights with him everywhere he goes. (You can bet he’s going to lose these at a key moment.) He agrees to come back to Darkness Falls, thinking perhaps he might confront some of his old demons—well, one, in particular—and sure enough, as soon as he shows up, his supernatural burn-victim nemesis begins wreaking poorly edited havoc in town. But it’s not just the cutting that’s bad. The film skips all pretense of a story. There’s no real chemistry between Caitlin and Kyle, no subplots, no sexual tension or character development—just this vengeful, bat-shit crazy old crone hell-bent on killing anyone who sees her. There’s not much rhyme or reason to it.

And that’s the worst part; Darkness Falls pretends to have logical consistency—See the ghost, get killed! Stay in the light, stay alive!—but very little about it makes any sense whatsoever, not even in the credulity stretching language of horror movies. Take Matilda. She’s obviously a ghost, stuck between planes of existence because she can’t let go of her grudge, but she also seems to have a physical body. She’s not just an apparition—she’s corporeal. How can this be? At one point, Kyle rips off her porcelain mask, punches her in the face, and sets her on fire. I don’t want to get into the metaphysics of this—it’s just not worth our time—but doesn’t it seem more than a little ridiculous? I mean, it might work if we saw less of her, but in just about every scene she’s dodging bullets, darting through the air, or swooping down to snatch up an unsuspecting policeman. It’s overkill. And come on; she’s way too nimble for a wheezy, 150-year-old hag whose breathing sounds like gargled mucus.

Darkness Falls Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

You can say one thing for Darkness Falls—it certainly lives up to its name visually. Much of the film takes place in shadowy interiors lit by small light sources, so this probably isn't a movie you're going to want to watch during the day, especially if you've got a screen that's prone to glare. The film's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer looks decent, but I'm guessing this isn't an all-new HD master. I could be wrong, but the degree of edge enhancement suggests this is possibly the same master source that was used for the film's DVD release. It never gets to the extent where you can notice harsh white halos around outlines, but you can definitely tell that some artificial sharpening has taken place. Grain looks comparatively natural, though, with no evidence of overzealous noise reduction. The image is a bit soft at times, but fine detail is visible in close-ups and it's immediately clear that you're looking at a high definition picture. Color is fairly well-represented too, although black levels can get slightly heavy during the darkest scenes. Is the overall difference worth upgrading from the DVD? Probably not, unless you're a huge fan.

Darkness Falls Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

At the very least, Darkness Falls has an aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track going for it, the kind of immersive, effects-heavy mix you expect from most modern horror films. The masked demon-hag Matilda Dixon, of course, provides the movie with most of its sonic shocks. She gurgles and wheezes and screams a piercing banshee scream. She circles the soundfield, zipping through the space behind your head. She blows through windows, sending glass shattering in all directions, and goes crazy inside the police station, causing cops to pull their guns and start shooting wildly into the air. When the track isn't occupied with Matilda-related mayhem, you'll hear a fair amount of ambience from the rear speakers—pouring rain, bar chatter, etc.—and get blasted full-force by the sort of bland alterna-rock you thought everyone stopped listening to in 1999. All in all, the mix is suitably beefy, with good dynamics and the occasional subwoofer action. Dialogue, though often inane, is clean, clear, and easily understood, even during the most frantic sequences. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

Darkness Falls Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The lone bonus feature on the disc is the film's theatrical trailer, in high definition.

Darkness Falls Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I can't say I really needed to revisit Darkness Falls, one of those horror films that should justifiably slip through the cracks and be forgotten. Aside from its opening scene—the second prologue, that is, not the first one—it's never that scary, and it never makes much sense story-wise. That said, the film does have a few fans, and they should be moderately pleased with this Blu-ray release, lack of special features aside. If you missed the movie in theaters back in 2003, though, don't bother with Darkness Falls; it's just not worth your time. As far as I'm concerned, the only real horror story about the tooth fairy is this one.