Darkness Falls (2003)

9% of critics liked it
(126 reviews)
45% of users liked it
(79,564 ratings)

Children have a very good reason to be afraid of the dark in this flashy horror story. Matilda Dixon was a genially eccentric woman who, in the 1850s, lived in a New England town known as Darkness Falls. Matilda was well known to the local children for her habit of paying them for teeth they'd lost,… More Children have a very good reason to be afraid of the dark in this flashy horror story. Matilda Dixon was a genially eccentric woman who, in the 1850s, lived in a New England town known as Darkness Falls. Matilda was well known to the local children for her habit of paying them for teeth they'd lost, but when two youngsters mysteriously disappeared, Matilda was lynched by an angry mob wrongly convinced that she had murdered the kids. In the year 2002, former Darkness Falls resident Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley) lives in Las Vegas and is still desperately afraid of the dark since a childhood run-in with the ghost of Matilda Dixon left him severely traumatized. While police and psychiatrists scoffed at Kyle's stories about Matilda's spirit, his childhood friend Caitlin (Emma Caulfield) is alarmed when her nine-year-old brother Michael (Lee Cormie) begins having nightmares very much like those which disturbed Kyle's rest for years. Like Kyle, Michael has little luck convincing most grown-ups that the white-robed specters he sees in the dark are real, so Caitlin asks Kyle to return to Darkness Falls to help get to the bottom of his story. Darkness Falls marked the directorial debut of filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Jonathan Liebesman
Written By: Joseph Harris, John Fasano, John Vanderbilt
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: Jan 24, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Apr 29, 2003
Studio: Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
It begins with not one but two prologues; one character turns up out of nowhere, his introduction no doubt left on the cutting-room floor; and the paltry 85-minute running time includes 15 minutes of end credits.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Oy, how it falls.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Do you really need me to tell you how scary this horror show isn't?
Alex Pappademas, Village Voice
This is horror-flick boo-ya at its most rote.
Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly
Like something salvaged from Stephen King's wastebasket.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
A truly awful and extremely loud scareflick.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
So bad it's almost painful. Skip it.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
his is a very flawed but entertaining and cheesy monster flick that would be fun to watch around a crowd with some popcorn.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
Film lovers beware! The evil spirits of boredom will befall should you enter a darkened cinema and endure Darkness Falls.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
A mish mash of horror-movie clichés.
Adam Smith, Empire Magazine
The kind of movie that gets laughs entirely unintentionally.
, Time Out
All semblance of plausibility is extracted, leaving a cast of TV actors to struggle with a plot with more gaps than an eight-year-old's grin.
Scott Nash, Three Movie Buffs
Exactly what a horror movie should be; fun, scary, fast paced, and with 'jump' moments galore.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
This is, quite simply, horror porn, with barely any connective tissue linking each set piece.
Andrew Wright, Portland Mercury
Provides for more than acceptable campfire fare (although at under 80 minutes, it lasts less than most Duralogs), with occasional moments of genuine visceral fright.
Daniel M. Kimmel, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The problem is that both the plot and the characters are so thin that it's hard to care about anything that's happening on screen.
Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly
There are a few cheap scares, but overall the film is, well, toothless.
Shannon J. Harvey, Sunday Times (Australia)
You will find more frights in Finding Nemo. And you might just have more fun playing with your lollie wrappers, performing shadow puppets on the screen - or even picking your nose - than enduring this dimly lit horror movie.
Alexa Moses, Sydney Morning Herald
The characters are empty, the performances wooden, and of course, the grave little kid is omniscient.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Darkness fell along with my eyelids, during this dire by-the-numbers horror film.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dead A

It started out real good. I mean REAL good. I absolutely loved the beginning. It was dead creepy. But then it started to get corny and boring in the end. Kyle's acting wasn't that good. His <i>"stay in the light"</i> dialogue seemed to be more like… More
It started out real good. I mean REAL good. I absolutely loved the beginning. It was dead creepy. But then it started to get corny and boring in the end. Kyle's acting wasn't that good. His <i>"stay in the light"</i> dialogue seemed to be more like uttering a memorized line without having any feelings in it. And it kinda bothered me when all the characters died (except the main ones, of course).
Cassandra M

While the opening scene was promising and genuinely suspenseful, the rest of the movie wanders in a different direction to make it ultimately suck. I like the idea of not looking at the antagonist - sounds like the concept of a creepy myth. So why didn't they put more emphasis… More
While the opening scene was promising and genuinely suspenseful, the rest of the movie wanders in a different direction to make it ultimately suck. I like the idea of not looking at the antagonist - sounds like the concept of a creepy myth. So why didn't they put more emphasis in that and leave all of the crap out? I really don't want to spend too much time writing this, as such a disappointing film doesn't really deserve the time of day....so why am I wasting my time writing this? It's even more pointless than the film itself. Oh well, I'll go now.
Luke B

The film starts with an interesting story of an old woman loved by children, but victimised when she is disfigured. It's a quick 4 minute narration, but it's more interesting than the rest of this film. They should have made the film a period piece. Instead it becomes a… More
The film starts with an interesting story of an old woman loved by children, but victimised when she is disfigured. It's a quick 4 minute narration, but it's more interesting than the rest of this film. They should have made the film a period piece. Instead it becomes a usual horror. What's really annoying is that the first 10 minutes are brilliant. Genuine chills and jumps, not to mention those freaky moments where you want to look away. The main problem with Darkness Falls is a complete lack of characters, but plenty of people. People are introduced just to be slaughtered. The film is so short that they had to make the credits 11 minutes long just so they could show the film theatrically. Perhaps they should have spent some time developing the protagonists. Upon further searching, the design of the Tooth Fairy was changed, for the worst. The original design was creepy and unholy. Now it's just some pissed off old girl. Very missable indeed.
Emily A

The effects in this movie are well-done and I really like the child actor in it, but there's not much else to say about this. You know those horror movies where the horror would end if the main characters weren't such dumbasses? This is one of those. None of the characters… More
The effects in this movie are well-done and I really like the child actor in it, but there's not much else to say about this. You know those horror movies where the horror would end if the main characters weren't such dumbasses? This is one of those. None of the characters are likeable, but the movie is short, so you don't have to put up with them for long. There's nothing to HATE about this movie, but there was nothing special about it.
Bannan i

Eh. Cool idea, I guess.
Kylie B

I liked the backstory and the visuals of the Tooth Fairy (particularly the china mask), but that was about all that was vaguely original. There were stock background characters (cops who don't believe and get in over their heads, 'menacing hick', lawyer...and of course,… More
I liked the backstory and the visuals of the Tooth Fairy (particularly the china mask), but that was about all that was vaguely original. There were stock background characters (cops who don't believe and get in over their heads, 'menacing hick', lawyer...and of course, the dialogue is primarily made up of certain phrases, in this case: "Stay in the light!" and the child's name (not quite as bad as Silent Hill for that one, but SH brought more to the party overall). So, would I watch this again? Maybe if it was on TV and I was very bored. The Tooth Fairy visuals are worth it but they're too spread out amongst the the trite stuff.
Stephen M

A silly, instantly forgettable horror film. One imagines that when the bill for the half-decent effects came in there was no money left in the kitty for any stars. The plot, what there is of one, chugs along exactly by the book and the hero spends most of his time bellowing "Stay… More
A silly, instantly forgettable horror film. One imagines that when the bill for the half-decent effects came in there was no money left in the kitty for any stars. The plot, what there is of one, chugs along exactly by the book and the hero spends most of his time bellowing "Stay in the light!", with variable earnestness, at incredulous and ill-fated bit-players. The 'frights' are strictly of the 'something bursting quickly into the frame accompanied by a loud noise' variety.
Dean M

What a scary and thrill in the dark like what people are in this supernatural-horror film.
Daniel J D

so let me get this straight... the tooth fairy is evil? and she flies around in the sky for half the movie? oh and if we stay in the light, we stay alive? GREAT! half star
xGary X

This is a tricky one to rate. Basically, it's shit. But at the same time, it didn't bore me because it's not pretentious, and at just over 70 mins, it's mercifully short. It has literally no plot to speak of and the dialogue is lame and repetititive; it feels like… More
This is a tricky one to rate. Basically, it's shit. But at the same time, it didn't bore me because it's not pretentious, and at just over 70 mins, it's mercifully short. It has literally no plot to speak of and the dialogue is lame and repetititive; it feels like a po-faced and lesser episode of the X-Files, but it's reasonably well shot. In the end, a sense of humour would've helped immensely. Inoffensive rubbish.
Drew S

A really awful horror movie on all fronts, but it's at least notable for not letting up. The atmosphere is consistent, unlike most of today's horror films. Still, The Descent did this far better, and was actually a good film. This is Derivative Central.
Jason S

I couldn't get through it.
Jacob P

Not the most clever horror movie, although it has its scary moments.
Deb S

When Kyle was a youngster he barely escaped a close encounter with the tooth fairy and has lived his life in fear since. Twelve years later Kyle is contacted by an old childhood friend, Caitlin whose little brother is being terrorized by this vengeful super bitch who sneaks into… More
When Kyle was a youngster he barely escaped a close encounter with the tooth fairy and has lived his life in fear since. Twelve years later Kyle is contacted by an old childhood friend, Caitlin whose little brother is being terrorized by this vengeful super bitch who sneaks into bedrooms of sleeping children to steal their teeth; but if you see her accidentally, she stalks you down and kills you. The catch!!! She's sensitive to the light. So loaded with a bag of flashlights and prescription medication, Kyle sets out to stop her once and for all! <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=29p93df" target="_blank"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/29p93df.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2pqtgxt" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2pqtgxt.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
Jason S

Sadly forgettable horror movie. Despite a interesting premise, the lack of scares and horrible dialogue will send you running. Aside from a few good scenes, this is something easily missed.
Laurence C

Save for a notoriously effective opening sequence and one moderately eerie scene in its final third, Darkness Falls has all the trappings of a modern horror stinker, right from its pervasively dark production design to its seen-it-before jolts and plot points. Helmed by all-around… More
Save for a notoriously effective opening sequence and one moderately eerie scene in its final third, Darkness Falls has all the trappings of a modern horror stinker, right from its pervasively dark production design to its seen-it-before jolts and plot points. Helmed by all-around mediocre acting and shot without distinction, it has very, very little to offer even to the most undemanding horror fans. Skip this one.
Lovable M

The concept was kinda cool: a killer tooth fairy. But after the kinda promising opening, the story and any interest ceased to exist.
Donna D

I was expecting a "Sheer Terror" but was hightly disappointed in it. The story was lame, and there was nothing scary about this movie at all.