Darkness
OK, I’m going to flat out admit I watched Darkness first out of this box set, mostly because I’ve got a thing for Anna Paquin (Who is playing a role here that was originally intended for Natalie Portman, pre-Star Wars). She looks so much like an ex-girlfriend, it’s uncanny… And I genuinely like her Rogue in X-Men.
We got a nice set up right off the bat with quick flashes of horrific images overdubbed with what sounds like either a police or psychiatrists voice asking a young girl to help them find other missing children., Then we fast forward to Spain, 40 years later and Anna Paquin waking up in a moody house.
We quickly establish that they are isolated in the middle of nowhere with an ailing father and an eclipse coming up. That’s when things start to get weird… Shadows, and things 
moving by themselves. Every day the lights go out, and the son of the family says, the darkness is different. The electricians can’t figure it out, and we are left to wonder what’s going on.
The fathers doctor happens to be Giancarlo Giannini, who perplexed me for half an hour until I realized he was the corrupt inspector in Hannibal. He must’ve been using hair dye in his prior film (shot two years later, but released one year earlier) and it throws me off. In any event, he assures the family that things are going to be just fine, which is a good indication that things are NOT going to be just fine.
The father starts to get obsessive and we get glimpses of shadowy figures in the hallways, not entirely unlike the dead twin sisters in the Shining. It’s all wonderfully spooky and effectively shot so that we know we are out of the first act and things are about to get real. Younger brother starts seeing ghostly children and everything’s about to get bad.
The haunting escalates quickly from here on out, making it difficult to distinguish between the second and third act of the film. With the running time of 88 minutes, that’s not unexpected anyhow.
As things start to get bad, Anna Paquin discovers a weird carved Sigel under the floor, something that comprises of snakes and strange figures now lurk in the darkness, and empty rooms and on ceilings.
Anna figures it out, and leaves the house… trying to warn her parents away from returning, but the evil unleashed isn’t confined to the house – a nice twist. In most haunted house stories, you can escape the ghosts just by bailing, but whatever this darkness is, it’s following her and her family, and the hauntings are relentless. Don’t fall for the red herring though, there’s more going on here than you realize… And by the end, everything is revealed.
This has good hunting elements, but it’s also a really clever suspense film mixed in with the supernatural elements. It’s a genuinely fun film and I’m pleased with the way that this movie starts this box set.
Bad CGI (common, afterFX, same old blood packs)
Mostly one location
Ghost Children (Bonus for white dress)
something walks by in the background
Door slams
occultic symbols (bonus if hidden)
Argo City Comics 