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ACTOR
Sean BeanMaria BelloSophie StuckeyAbigail Stone
DIRECTOR
John Fawcett
SYNOPSICS
The Dark (2005) is a English,Welsh movie. John Fawcett has directed this movie. Sean Bean,Maria Bello,Sophie Stuckey,Abigail Stone are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. The Dark (2005) is considered one of the best Drama,Fantasy,Horror,Mystery,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
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The Dark (2005) Trailers
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The Dark (2005) Reviews
Don't blame me.
Look, I would just like to add my voice to this. I wrote the novel, Sheep. The film is 'adapted' from my book the exact same way a pile of rubble is 'adapted' from a house. My book is a slow, serious thriller on the theme of contamination, of land, of food, of livestock, and of minds. It is about ritual purity, conformism and the category-error that is literal biblical belief. It is, in short, about something. None (NONE!) of the filmmakers had read it, they just had a script based on another script, and were highly indignant when my agent suggested they actually read the original. The film takes some of the visual gestures that animate the book (sheep diseases, religious mania etc), but then scoops out all the surrounding connective tissue, everything that makes the book make sense, replacing it with some kind of pulp which looks to me as if the writer was shaken violently awake in the middle of the night and asked to regurgitate the story lines from the last five horror movies he had seen, except his notes got all scrambled up - the result being a sort of plot-pudding, full of screaming and running about and unexplained (unexplainable) twists. No disrespect to anyone, and I know what sort of pressures the screenwriter was under, but the film does not, in any sense, 'adapt' Sheep, the novel. Sheep is a careful, thoughtful book, with a meticulously worked plot. It is also (I am informed) scary (one reviewer said it was the only thing he had ever read which did actually scare him), which the film of course, despite its most strenuous efforts, fails completely to be. The book is not about some vague Disneyfied version of Welsh mythology (nice and safe and distant in these troubled times), it is about Christianity, the Bible: about what happens when religion turns to madness. The scariness is in the waiting, the hinting, the accumulation of detail, drip by drip. It is about fearing, dreading, while something unfolds which cannot be understood until it is too late. I may not have succeeded in any of this, but I was trying. The film just flaps about from one random thing to another, papering over the cracks with tiresome 'shock' effects and Maria Bello screaming. Copies of Sheep are hard to track down now without paying a lot of money, but I would love it if the people who were disappointed in the film were to read the book. Please don't judge the book (or any of my other books) because you didn't like The Dark: there is almost nothing connecting the two things. Give the book a try: you'll be surprised. Thanks for your time.
Stock scare horror for the first half, then a somewhat confused but clever psychological horror the second half.
Sean Bean is such a lost talent, he's a great actor and never seems to be given a decent or lead role. Even in Lord of the Rings he was cast as the turncoat. So I was excited to hear that he was the lead man in this movie, although not the lead it was a good step. Plus it was a British film and a horror. These things all combined to make me think that this was a movie to see. Both Bean and Maria Bello are very convincing in the movie. Bean plays the straight up man who is confused by the happenings around him and just wants to make the family happy again, he plays a super convincing Father. Bello gives a great performance as she is called upon to be a trying mother, confused, insane, panicked and totally distraught. Not that much of a range really! The interplay between these two actors is very good, and when Bean has scenes with the daughter, he's just superb. Something that becomes quite annoying through the first half of the movie are the deliberate scare tactics used by the Director, they are exceedingly formulaic and you know when they are coming and even when the shock comes. Still, all credit to them, you still leap out of your chair even knowing when a scare is coming. The formula is pretty constant through the first half, slow music, a long single scene, slow movement and no action, usually in the darkness, then a few fast cuts together accompanied by a loud sound and a raise in the music tempo, and there you have the scare. During the screening people were leaping like mad! After a while following this formula the film does turn around on itself and become something different. It's here that it becomes a lot more psychological and indeed, clever. There was a big feeling in this half of Event Horizon, particularly the flashbacks to being strapped in the chair, fast, multiple cuts of horror. However during the latter half it also becomes confusing and very weird, yet I wish the whole movie had been like this. It could have abandoned its standard scare tactics and concentrated on the plot in the latter half, and this would have provided for a much more psychologically scary movie. There's a particular moment near the end of the movie when a door closes in front of the lead, and your emotions are totally with the character at this point. Confusion for a few seconds and then a slow building understanding. It's a very good moment. Still, however clever the entire ending is, I still felt it lacked clarity and subtlety. Dropping the scare formula of the first half would have brought a much better movie, and getting rid of the premise of scary sheep would have helped too. Perhaps it's a British thing, but sheep are not in the least bit scary, in fact coming from a Northern Scottish town sheep are considered far from scary. It just seemed to be a plot device that was struggling not to be absurd. That said, you'll still leap, you'll still be scared, and when the film finishes you'll still like the conclusion.
Had the potential to be much, much better.
Okay, I know from the get-go that this was going to be a horror movie and they are going to apply the conventions that is so typical of the genre i.e.: scary music, mystery plot line, dodgy camera angles, scary make-up and screaming girls. I love horror movies and I was mentally prepared for this to just be another typical film. My problem with it was it was TOO typical. You know that when the daughter sat too close to the edge of the water that she was going to fall in. You know that when the camera focuses on someone's back, something is going to creep up on them, making them squeal. You know that when the man follows the girl into the barn, he's going to get killed. In short, it is just too predictable. The worst thing however, was the fact that the climaxes are too many and the twists and turns of the plot are too tedious to really leave an impact on me. The ending was disappointing and I felt that it would have left a bigger impact if without the entire "bad girl wins scenario". Pathos is a powerful theme in a horror movie, which was why I felt that movies such as The Exorcist, The Ring and Ju-On (Japanese version of The Grudge) excels in the genre that they represent. The Dark doesn't even manage to do that. I think it would be better just to have Ebrill and her father in the realm of the dead, Adele stranded in the house while Sarah and her father reunited. The pathos would work very well here on various levels because 1) Ebrill's wish to have a loving father is unfulfilled, especially sad because she was cruelly tortured 2) Adele finally managed to do something right for her child at the price of her own life 3) Sarah, the victim throughout the show, is finally allowed that one bit of happiness and can think fondly of her mother at last. Instead, they made Ebrill the "bad girl" like her father and that upsets me because I can't feel sorry for any of the characters now. Understanding her plight was the key I think, but since they made her "bad", it just ruined it for me. Plus, the whole issue with Sarah isn't resolved which leaves me thoroughly dissatisfied also. In short, this had the potential to be a rather good film but falls short due to its too ambitious attempts at wanting to be different from the other movies of the same genre. Which is a shame, considering the excellent cast that they had working for them.
Surprisingly good except the sound work
The most disappointing thing about this movie is sound FX work. While every other crew member tried to avoid clichés and worked minimalistic the sound operator did his best exactly in the opposite direction. Sure he was proud of himself - every possible library sample from "Horror FX" folder (squeaks, boos, bangs and so on) has been employed at times "to make it scarier". Otherwise the movie is surprisingly good. Cold and dark Welsh mythology, no fun. Acting is full of nuances. Scares are delivering (reminded me feelings of "Ju-on" (Japanese original of "The Grudge")). No major holes in script, everything is logical, worked in great detail. The climax is overloaded a bit with twists, but except the last one (too confusing way of depicting it) is impressive anyway. My deepest respect to the cameraman for that catch of the Northern landscapes beauty, for the tricks with focus, for many unusual angles and meaningful use of color FX. That chapter in Annuun treated in sepia is simple and convincing - bravo! 8 marks for the well-worked atmosphere, fresh scares, interesting story, eye pleasures, serious attitude and creativity.
Wasn't as scary as suggested but still pretty good!!
The Dark shocked me really, after seeing the trailer on TV my initial thoughts were that it was going to be a genuinely scary film, however after watching it, it appears it is not as much scary as it is strange! The concept of it will seem pretty weird to you but it actually works, however there are times in it where the acting is pretty sketchy. I think all in all this film will appeal to people who like a bit of the supernatural or spiritual stuff, and maybe not as much to the people who like a really scary horror flick. Hat off to Sean Bean, i like most of the films he's in, and Maria Bello does make viewing slightly more pleasant. Some will like it, some won't. Would definitely watch again though.