5.4 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.7 |
In the 1800's there was a woman that little children would take their old teeth (ones they had recently lost) to in exchange for a gold coin. A few years later, tragedy struck her, first a fire in her house which caused her to not be able to go into any type of light, and then she was hanged. There's a story that goes around the town of Darkness Falls about her, and she's called the Tooth Fairy. The story goes that she can't go in the light, and if you wake up and see her, she'll kill you. The usual saying is "Don't Peek." Well, there is a boy named Kyle who gets a warning from his friend Caitlin to not peek. Well, he wakes up on the night when the Tooth Fairy is supposed to come and get his last tooth and sees her.
Starring: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield Ford, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Sullivan StapletonHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 23% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.41:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
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.
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.
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.
The lone bonus feature on the disc is the film's theatrical trailer, in high definition.
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.
2019
Unrated Theatrical and Rated Versions
2013
Haunted
2014
2011
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2018
Unrated Director's Cut
2006
2016
2012
2013
1981
2017
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2015
Collector's Edition
2003
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2007
1984
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2010