Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Dark

The Dark


The Dark

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The Dark (2005) (DVD)
By Sean Bean

This is a very creepy horror film that deserves comparison with some of the best of the non-exploitation and non-slasher scary flicks like The Others. The approach of the film, especially to begin with, resembles that of classics like Don't Look Now, or Picnic at Hanging Rock -- above all, the strangeness of the circumstances and the fear they invoke mirror the psychological turmoil of the characters -- and, as with those films, the hints at a deeper supernatural mystery are nicely balanced with the growing anxiety of the characters. That is true, at least, until the latter quarter of the film when it gives in to the supernatural and to the twists and turns of more mainstream scary fare and begins to seem more like, say, The Skeleton Key. Maria Bello gives her usual strong performance and, while he has less to do, Sean Bean is convincing as a distraught and loving father and estranged husband. The real star of the film, though, is the cinematographer and crew: the colors of the Welch coast are both beautiful and evocative of a deep and mythical past; the anxiety of the characters and the power of the ocean when they are looking for a drowning girl is captured by the frantic, but not shaky, movements of the camera; the look of "the dark" (you'll know it when you see it), is both subtle and believable. A worthwhile and intriguing film, that has unfortunately not received the attention it clearly deserves.


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