Beneath The Darkness (2012)

5% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
21% of users liked it
(1,010 ratings)

In Beneath the Darkness, Ely Vaughn (Quaid) is a pillar of the community in tiny Smithville, Texas. The town's mortician, Ely has been revered since his days as the high school's star quarterback. But since the tragic death of his wife two years earlier, Ely has withdrawn from his neighbors, while… More In Beneath the Darkness, Ely Vaughn (Quaid) is a pillar of the community in tiny Smithville, Texas. The town's mortician, Ely has been revered since his days as the high school's star quarterback. But since the tragic death of his wife two years earlier, Ely has withdrawn from his neighbors, while local teens spread stories of supernatural goings on at Ely's mansion-which is also the funeral home. When high school friends Travis (Oller), Abby (Teegarden), Brian (Lunsford) and Danny (Werkheiser) decide to check out the rumors, they are shocked to see the supposedly grieving widower dancing with a mysterious woman behind the curtains of his bedroom window. Their curiosity aroused, the four teens wait for Ely to leave the house before breaking in to investigate. But instead of finding clues to the woman's identity, they stumble on a grotesque, long-hidden secret. The sadistic mortician next door will now stop at nothing to literally bury his past. -- (C) Official Site

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Martin Guigui
Written By: Bruce Wilkinson
Genres: Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Jan 6, 2012 Limited
On DVD: Feb 28, 2012
Studio: Image Entertainment

Critic Reviews

William Goss, Film.com
A bore sprinkled with hints of hilarity, soon to be buried like so many of its characters.
Rex Reed, New York Observer
You anticipate every scene before it happens and figure out every secret before it's revealed.
John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
Dennis Quaid goes Psycho in dull Texas-set thriller.
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
At times it seems the simple ineptitude of "Beneath the Darkness" surely must mask some undercurrent of deeper sophistication and intention on behalf of the filmmakers. Alas, as it turns out, such things never surface.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Even Dennis Quaid's uncharacteristic hamming as a mad mortician in a small Texas town can't save this silly, scare-free horror film...
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
The screenplay gets nothing out of the claustrophobic terror of being locked up in that narrow grave, and the "mystery" is obvious from the start.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...a pervasively underwhelming thriller that wears out its welcome almost immediately.
Scott Weinberg, FEARnet
There's nothing in Beneath the Darkness you haven't seen before, better, and recently.
Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com
While certainly a low-budget flick which relies heavily on suspense over almost everything - meaning, there's a lot of cat and mouse stalking around or/and talking about how spooky Ely is - Beneath the Darkness doesn't necessary sink or succeed.
Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue.com
A compilation of contrivances and absurdities that is right off the teen-horror assembly line.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Dennis Quaid is fun to watch as a psychotic, but he leaves the screenplay behind.
David Noh, Film Journal International
The best way to consider this wayward mess is as an unintentional genre spoof.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
When it comes to creepy old buildings, overly attentive owners, and prying outsiders, Beneath the Darkness has nada on Don Coscarelli's epic Phantasm saga or, for that matter, Norman Bates' clear-eyed if psychotic shenanigans.
Robert Levin, amNewYork
This mediocre movie should have bypassed theaters and gone straight to Netflix.
Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net
Bruce Wilkinson, the film's late writer and executive producer, is more than likely turning in his own grave.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Eric H

This attempts to do for "Psycho" what "Disturbia" did for "Rear Window", update it for a teen audience, but where the latter film succeeded this fails miserably. Quaid is cast against type as a deranged mortician who lives with the corpse of his wife.… More
This attempts to do for "Psycho" what "Disturbia" did for "Rear Window", update it for a teen audience, but where the latter film succeeded this fails miserably. Quaid is cast against type as a deranged mortician who lives with the corpse of his wife. When a bunch of uncharismatic "One Tree Hill" type teens catch on to this, one of their number becomes his latest victim. As is usual in these films, the adults of the town don't believe them so they must expose him themselves. Quaid has fun with the role and plays it well over the top but his performance isn't enough to elevate a bland script. The budget for this borefest was seven million dollars and it's hard to see where it was spent. Maybe most of it went to Quaid, it seems the only explanation for an actor of his quality appearing in something as bad as this.
Christopher O

I saw a preview on the on demand and got it from blockbuster. It is horribly written, acted and directed. Quaid has never been so horrible as a crazed mortician. One of the most horrible films I have seen recently