Best movie of this year hands down!

Very well executed

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Funnily enough I didn't mind it being a bit mimical of Poltergeist, or even The Manitou. The acting was crisp enough, and I like the idea that instead of the wholesome family under siege, this one was dysfunctional, with each one fighting their own demons (rather than the supernatural ones). This movie brimmed with ideas.The problem, I thought, with this movie is its pacing. I thought that the first half of the movie was unnecessarily long and tended to drag out the suspense until there really wasn't any suspense left. This meant that their was little time to get into the heart of the characters and their individual flaws, let alone the medium who appears too much near the end of the film.I felt that whilst this movie borrowed a lot from Poltergeist, it went to too many lengths trying not to be Poltergeist, and as a result the project suffered.A pity really because this movie had all the elements of being a great movie, but squandered it on timing. Elementary mistake.

THE DARKNESS is another hodge podge of tired ideas like many horror films today. The story is about an ordinary family who visit the Grand Canyon. A kid brings some rocks back home, but it turns out they're cursed by a demon which proceeds to follow them and make their family life a misery. Despite the presence of some useful players here this is very much an ordinary production which I found very mundane. There are bits and pieces of THE EXORCIST, POLTERGEIST, INSIDIOUS and plenty of other films visible throughout and yet the film has no distinct voice like any of those other movies. Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell are good value as the parents but they have little to work with here and Bacon's STIR OF ECHOES was much more entertaining. Director Greg McLean previosly made mini-masterworks like ROGUE and WOLF CREEK so it's a shame to see him wasting his time on this; try THE BELKO EXPERIMENT for a much more enjoyable time.

When I saw the darkness, I felt like I needed to take out a ghost movie checklist and start listing everything I had seen before. Weird or Special needs child who communicates with the spirits? Check. Annoying, angry teenager that adds nothing to the plot? Check. Father with fidelity problems that doesn't believe in the spirits at first? Check. Mother with alcohol problems that seems crazy to everyone else? Check. The Darkness follows a strict character and story design and doesn't try to add anything unique or interesting. The movie is also terribly fast paced and tries to throw way too much in one sitting that everything just seems squished together and has no emotional impact. There are no real scares or thrills, only non-impactful jump scares that fall flat. The sad thing is that we have very good acting talent in this film, but the writing, directing, and editing is done so badly that the acting looks terrible.

Before anyone says anything about me watching The Darkness I have this to say: I WILL watch anything with Kevin Bacon in it. That's not to say I will like it though. This has to be one of his worst movies. Let's get going.Synopsis: A family returns from a Grand Canyon vacation, haunted by an ancient supernatural entity they unknowingly awakened and engages them in a fight for their survival. Starring: Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell Director: Greg McLeanThe Ugly: We already had one horrible remake of Poltergeist, why did we need another? Answer: we didn't. Now, this necessarily wasn't a direct remake, this movie added in some elements from two Stephen King novels called Desperation and The Regulators. Go look them up and you'll see what I mean. In the long run, this more like Poltergeist than its own movie.The Bad: The side stories in the movie. Did we need them as well? Not so much. Were they required? Yes they were. Here's why. They had a basis for a movie. At some point they realized they didn't have a long enough movie so they added a couple of story lines to add more to the movie. Not as bad as an obvious remake though.The Good: Here, the best part of the movie was the acting. Kevin Bacon always shines no matter what he does. Radha Mitchell is always good in the troubled wife role. Even Paul Reiser fit the role he was picked for. Too bad they didn't have a better script or director.Final Thoughts: Star power couldn't save this movie. It had potential, but fell drastically short.Rating: 4 out of 10