The story is a bit crazy. There's basically a deranged tooth fairy who haunts the town of Darkness Falls. If you see her, she's determined to kill you. However, she can only get you if you venture away from the light and into the darkness. Just writing all that makes me realize how ridiculous the whole film is. The story is pretty absurd, and I recognized this even as I watched it. The plot is filled with cliches, so many unrealistic things happen, and the dialogue is occasionally laughable. This is a weak movie, except for the fact that it's pretty creepy. Plus, the first 15 minutes is about as uncomfortable as I've felt watching a horror movie.I like movies where people have to stay in the light. I think it's a cool concept, and it creates some obvious but thrilling moments. I think the light/dark aspect was easily the best part of Pitch Black. It's fun to watch people trying to stay in the light so that they don't die. This movie uses that pretty effectively, although it does occasionally go way too over-the-top.
So this movie has wooden acting, weak, one-dimensional characters, a poor story, huge gaps of logic and reason, and other assorted flaws. There's so many reasons here for me to hate this movie. And yet, I can't bring myself to hate it. The reason is because the Tooth Fairy is just so damn scary.
I love that this film willingly shows us so much of the supernatural entity that is causing death and destruction. Too often, films are afraid to do this- they are afraid the ghost or goblin or whatever will be too silly if you see it too much on screen. We only get the faintest glimpses here and there. That can certainly be effective, but there's something inherently awesome about a film willing to give the villain some serious screen time. In this film, it makes all the difference in the world. The Tooth Fairy just looks so scary with her porcelain mask and billowing dark robes. She looks like Death itself, which is pretty freaky. On top of this, the sound effects people did a fantastic job of delivering some truly chilling, unforgettable screams and groans that were pretty chilling to hear. The visual aspects combined with the sound makes the Tooth Fairy a very creepy character indeed.
I usually hate stupid horror movies, and by most accounts, Darkness Falls could be considered one. I completely sympathize with anyone who hates this movie. I can definitely understand why someone would. And yet, for me, I just feel too off-balance and creeped out to hate it. The movie created emotion in me (which is what the great movies do) It might not have been one of actual fear, but I felt legitimately uncomfortable. I jumped several times, and I felt nervous while watching it. (and this is actually the second time I've seen it- I saw it in theaters in '03). I felt like this movie did a good job of trying to be scary.
So, the film's flaws prevent it from being a good movie, but this is still far better than it had any reason to be. If you told me I'd feel scared watching a film about a demonic tooth fairy, I would have laughed at you. And yet, this film pulled it off. I really think this is an underrated horror movie. I didn't love it, but I have to admit it was memorable. I'd give this film a 6.5/10.
Anyone else want to own up to a movie scaring you? For me, the ultimate one was the first time I saw The Ring, in theaters. I was glancing all around me the whole way back during that long, dark drive from Parkersburg to Marietta. That movie freaked me out, and is still one of my all-time favorite horror movies.
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