Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen

A teenage girl moves into a remote countryside house with her family, only to discover that their gloomy new home has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy the family

Flixster Users

40% liked it

6,309 ratings

Critics

4% liked it

52 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Jaume Balagueró

Release Date: December 31, 2002

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DVD Release Date: April 26, 2005

Stats: 872 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (872)


  • March 16, 2008
    Boring does not even begin to describe Darkness. Three times, I've attempted to watch the entirety of Darkness. Three times. The results? A brisk walk out of the movie theater after 20 minutes on attempt number one, a pleasant, unplanned nap after 24 minutes during attempt number...( read more) two, and a quick trip to the garbage can to make a dvd "deposit" after the 30 minute mark on my final try. Netflix, I'm sorry I threw away your dvd, but I truly think that I did you (and the world) a favor.
  • September 14, 2007
    This is an ok thriller/horror.....but it's one of those that is all about the build up with a slightly disappointing ending. If you like ghost story type films you may enjoy it more.
  • March 8, 2007
    I thought this movie was really wierd, the story and events were on the weak side.
  • February 16, 2007
    Everybody bashed this movie I thought it was great, yeah maybe it wasnt the best but it kept my attention, it had a great story line and the ending was so intence. Whoever said it was a D+ performance is crazy.
  • January 30, 2007
    This one was really surprising! One of the best horror movies made in the past few years. I started to see this one with no expectations other that to have a few laughs... and in the end i was stunned.
  • August 21, 2009
    Oh okay I am going to reveal a secret that noone will believe, but I swear is absolutely true: I used to date a guy who went to school with Miss Paquin and who actually kissed her once. Go me!
  • August 8, 2009
    damn that's pretty scary.

    i sleep w/ lights after watch this,.
  • August 7, 2009
    Recommended by MovieBuff27.
  • August 6, 2009
    I went into Darkness expecting the stereo-typical ghost story, but I have to say this movie was anything but typical. So the film is based around this family who move into a new house, as soon as they get there bad things start to happen, their father gets a sickness back after y...( read more)ears of treatment, and Paul the youngest child starts waking up with bruises on his body. Now it's up to Regina to convince her family that there is something wrong with the house before they are all overcome by the darkness. Like I said I was expecting something that has been done a million times, but to my surprise we get an original movie. Acting, while in most ghost stories the bulk of the movie lies on the shoulders of the actors in this one it really didn't. You don't get bad performances from the cast parse' but they definitely could have been better. We get Anna paquin as the lead role, playing Regina, and while she did a good job I still found the performance to be a bit mediocre. One performance that was anything but mediocre was Stephan Enquist as Paul. He delivered in every aspect. Gore, I wasn't disappointed really in this department because I am a fan of a good bloodless supernatural movie that relies more on CGI and suspense, but I was told that this movie was a bloodbath. Maybe to a middle school girl this would come off as a bloody movie, but as a girl who has seen some of the goriest movies ever made this one was actually bloodless. You get a bloody hand, some creepy faces, and that's about it. Soundtrack, total score, you get strings and very chilling piano music, that worked well when combined with the directing, giving off a suspense building vibe. Speaking of suspense this movie has it. It has been a long time since a movie has actually been able to keep me on the edge of my seat, but this one did it. I jumped so many times that I felt as if I was watching my first horror film all over again. The one thing that I did have a problem with was the cuts that were made. Ok, all that I have to say is if your going to make a movie, make it the way you want the viewers to see it, don't cut it up and bring down the rating and then later decide to release the full version and mark it unrated. That's exactly what Dimension films did, instead of releasing the whole film which was originally given an R rating, they decided to make some cuts and give it a PG-13 rating so that they could have a bigger release. So a bigger release for a worse movie, well doesn't that make all the sense in the world. But enough of my whining about the inevitable way the movie industry works and back to the movie, which as I was saying succeeded in being a truly scary ghost story. The plot usually has to be balanced with a lot of other things to make a movie work but this one the plot was just so good that really I think you could have had any second rate actress on screen and as long as you had this script and Balagureo' behind the camera you would have an A rate film. Bottom line, Darkness has to be one of the most original creepiest ghost stories to come out in a long while, I say if you haven't already go out and get this movie, definitely worth a check.
  • July 1, 2009
    these a history of one evil sect they have to kill 7 boys and when they killed them the darkness and evil appear in the world,one boy scape and the evil wants him now this boy is a man father of 2 childs and when they return to the house the evil wants him have good moments isnot...( read more) wonderfull but its good

Critic Reviews


May 30, 2005
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

There's nothing very frightening about this shallow, stupid spookfest. full review

View more Darkness reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • WrellikW
    August 11, 2008
    This movie was boring and stupid. It was not scary at all and had a lot of nothing. Maybe if you are 12 years old, maybe it might scare you, but not me. I didn't care for it at all. You know, what they should have done, was bought a lot of candles, because the only thing that happened was, that the lights kept going out in the house.

    Take care all,
    William
    Zzzzzzooooommmmm!

    "It is easy to be brave, from a distance." -American Indian Proverb-
  • keland116
    February 2, 2007
    I saw this movie and was sooo mad at the way it ended they have to make a sequel to this!!!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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