Darkness Falls (2003) Movie Information:

Darkness Falls (2003) Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman Darkness Falls (2003) Written by: James Vanderbilt, Joseph Harris, John Fasano Darkness Falls (2003) Cast: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Sullivan Stapleton, Steven Mouzakis, Peter Curtin, Kestie Morassi, Jenny Lovell, John Stanton

Darkness Falls (2003) U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures Darkness Falls (2003) U.K. Distributor: Sony Pictures

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Darkness Falls (2003) Synopsis:

As a young boy, Kyle Walsh claims to have accidentally woken up out of his sleep, just in time to see the Tooth Fairy trying to kill him. From that point forward he is considered crazy by everyone in town--except his childhood sweetheart, Caitlin, and her little brother, Michael. Years later, Kyle must return home to confront his troubled past, and save Caitlin and Michael from an unrelenting evil that has plagued the town of Darkness Falls for over 150 years.

Darkness Falls (2003) Movie Review:

Hoping to catch the same audience that engulf last
fall's horror hit The Ring (2002), Columbia pictures
now releases the B horror film Darkness Falls into
theaters. Though the film has good things in it, it
is still not a good movie. What does work for the
film is that its director uses a lot of tricks to keep
the thrills going. The director also obviously knows
the genre material he is working with and he doesn't
attempt to insult audiences by taking this horror
project too seriously.

Though shot in the country of Australia, the setting
of the film is in the fictional Maine town called
Darkness Falls. Over 150 years ago, there lived a
well-respected lady called Matilda Dixon, who would give children a gold coin for every tooth that they lost. She ultimately became known as the "Tooth Fairy". After surviving a fire in which she was left badly scarred, she became secluded in her own home. After two children disappeared, the town blamed Dixon for murdering them, she was them sentenced to death. Before she was hung, the 'Tooth Fairy" placed a curse on the town. The following day, the two children arouse out of hiding as a hoax without a scratch on them.

The film then moves 12 years before present day,
where the main character has an encounter with the
ghost of the Matilda Dixon. She comes for children's tooth under their pillows, but she also terrorizes them and will kill anyone who looks her in the face. There is only one protection against her, which is to stay in the light and away from the dark. So get your flashlights ready. Flash forward to now present day, the main character, Kyle (Kley) returns to Darkness Falls from Las Vegas to the aid of his old girlfriend Caitlin (Caulfield). Caitlin's little brother, Michael (Cormie) has just lost his last tooth and has been recently seeing the "Tooth Fairy". With everyone believing that he is crazy, Kyle must find a way to prove to Caitlin that what Michael is seeing is true. The three are also faced with how to stop the angered ghost before she kills them all.

Director Jonathan Liebesman uses about every trick in the B-horror movie book in this film. His style and
quick cuts is what makes this film watchable, even
though you quickly realize that the overall movie
isn't that good. The key to Liebesman keeping the
audience interested is not so much the quick glimpses of the "Tooth Fairy", but the instantaneous sound that I found to be a force. Everytime the ghost arrives, you can hear her snarling and breathing, it is sometimes too loud, but also pretty creepy. Like said earlier, I believe Liebesman knows the B-horror genre
and he takes full advantage of this with the
production. Liebesman doesn't try to make the film
smart, when he knows that it isn't.

The writing by John Fasano, James Vanderbilt, and Joe Harris is full of continuos chase sequences and bad dialogue. Of course there are holes, like with every B-movie, but the opening narration explains what you need to know about the "Tooth Fairy" in a few frames rather than trying to figure out her motive later. The script also contains many dumb jump-out-moments that want to get the attention of the audience during parts of the film that are slow. An example of one is a cat jumping out across a car for no apparent reason
at all.

The acting cast is virtually a group of unknowns. As
Kyle, Chaney Kley shows decent range and I can see him getting a few roles in the future. Emma Caulfield is modest with her role as Kyle's old girlfriend Caitlin. Young Lee Cormie shows a lot of wide-eyed emotions and fears as Michael, who connects with Kyle on their similar fears.

Darkness Falls is one of those B-horror movies that
you know is bad, but you still watch it. The concept
of having a ghost that can't be in the light and the
character's having to use flashlights as their weapons works to an extent. The choice seems to have been taken from other similar horror films like Pitch Black (2000). Thrills are apparent in the film over its stupidity and bad writing. At the Darkness Falls official movie website, you can watch the first ten minutes online, which in my opinion is the best part of the movie.

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Darkness Falls (2003) review written by: Bailey Henderson