Rating: 
Summary: THIS is direct-to-video?
Review: !Heather's Teenage Son!
Well...I was up late and there was nothing on, and then I saw FEAR OF THE DARK and remembered seeing it for sale at Movie Gallery. The cover looked stupid, so I thought the movie would also be stupid. But, it wasn't. It's actually kind of creepy, really. This 12-year-old boy is afraid that something will get him if it's dark, so he has 14 night-lights in his room. The big brother doesn't believe him, of course and then wierd things start to happen. It's really a very interesting little flick. It would have been kind of cool on the big screen. I give it 4 out of 5.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Scares for the whole family
Review: Although it's admittedly a b/c horror flick it was adequately creepy and had the rare and pleasantly surprising feature of no extremely foul language or overly suggestive adult situations. The whole family can watch this one without getting offended.
Careful though, the little ones won't want to turn out the lights for a month! ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Risible
Review: Before I even start this review, let me say this: 'Fear of the Dark' is quite possibly the worst horror flick ever committed to celluloid, so if you're looking for a fair, unbiased review, it's perhaps best that you wait for the next reviewer who's been foolish enough to buy or rent this sorry little title.'Fear of the Dark' follows the story of nine year old Brian Billings (Jesse James) and his terror of the dark, which all comes to a head one night when there's a power cut, and he and his seventeen year-old brother Dale (Kevin Zegers) experience a power cut, and lots of things that go bump in the night. Directed by K.C. Bascombe, this film fails the two most important credentials of any decent horror movie: it's not scary and the actors are truly awful. From the opening sequence, showing another slightly overweight pre-teen getting trapped in a basement (maybe Central Casting were having a sale on fat kids?), both a lousy script and no talent whatsoever (except possibly the abilities to over-act and waddle) to the closing scenes, complete with Mom and Dad and Morals (we almost expect to see Michael Landon waving at us from the corner!), 'Fear of the Dark' never once manages to create a sense of tension or of belief. This is achieved through several things. The first and most annoying feature that negates any form of scariness is Brian Billings, done up like a rotund little Terminator, mincing around and screaming like a B-Movie in a strange hybrid exoskeleton/light suit. It's a ridiculous, hilarious image totally out of place with the proposed 'feel' of the movie. The second truly awful thing in the mechanics of this film is the use of unstructured and time-lapse camera-work, which gives this feature film more of a feel of a low-budget TV Series, instead. Direction is pretty terrible. A house in the midst of a power-cut would have been an ideal opportunity to use light and atmosphere as the stars of the show but sadly, Bascombe apparently lacks the foresight or the talent to make this happen. The beasties look awful, shiny white PVC and Freddy Kruegger's old clothes adding to the misery of watching this flick. I won't bother going on. There's no point. Just stay away from it, because 'Fear of the Dark' really isn;t worth anything at all, much less something as valuable as Your Time.
Rating:
Summary: It IS a rip-off...but not of Darkness Falls...
Review: First of all, I know Amazon says this came out in 2002, but I looked at the dates on the movie itself, and its a movie from 2004. Whoops, Amazon!
Second, the movie that this mainly copies is Wes Craven's 'THEY' which was also copied by, you guessed it, 'Darkness Falls'(I won't even go into how awful that movie was).
I'm not the person to get scared by most movies, and this one was no exception. However, the acting was decent, the plot was pretty good, and there are a few well done suspense scenes, as well as one helluva jump moment that gave even my boyfriend and me a jump.
So, my advice is, rent it first. If you find it at a decent sale, buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: THINGS THAT GO KABOOM IN THE NIGHT
Review: Halfway through this refreshingly good horror movie, Rachel Skarsten's character says that society has prepared us to be afraid of things since we were children. She recalls that "Rockabye Baby" culminates in the smashing of the cradle; how about the gore in the Grimm Fairy Tales; and even a common prayer says "If I should die before I wake.." So being afraid of the dark and things under the bed and in our shadowy closets is pretty routine occurence.
This well crafted, sometimes jump out of your seat spooker, takes that theme and makes for an enjoyable nail biter.
Poor Ryan (well played by Jesse James) is terrified of the dark; the opening sequence startled me!!! He has been ever since an early trip to the basement resulted in him being dragged into a dark corner. Now, the poor lad is ultraphobic. He comes home from school and turns on every, I mean EVERY, light in the house. He has battery operated lights available in his room, and his father has even put brilliant spotlights around the house, although he defeats his effort in some ways by placing the switch in the attic!
Anyway, one night his parents (who have even sought psychiatric help for Ryan) decide to go to a party (something they don't do obviously very much). Anyway, a big storm comes along, and Ryan is left in the care of his older brother (an effective Kevin Zegers). From this point, many strange sights and sounds are encountered during this long, long night.
Director K.C. Bascombe uses lighting and silences effectively, and he has given us a functional family that obviously cares about each other. And there's no gore, sex, or rap music to drag it down.
It's a family friendly spook story, but one that might make you check under the bed.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Film
Review: I almost didn't rent this movie because of the cover. I figured it was going to be another splatter movie, but surprisingly it wasn't. Actually it steered away from the typical nude scenes and bad language that are so typical of most horror movies. It was refreshing to see that a horror movie could be made that was entertaining without the gore and nudity. I have to admit, I'd like this one for my collection when the price comes down.
What makes or breaks a movie for me is the photography, score, lighting, character development and acting. This is a well made film. The director knew his craft. A fun film to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Tense and scary
Review: I don't scare easily. I try to watch every horror that comes out. I can say that this is one of the few good ones out there. It has a lot of tense and nervous moments and was pretty scary. I would say about 1 in 20 horror movies are worth buying or even watching at all and this is the one that is. Even though it has the same dark theme as the other movies mentioned, it is different and the best one.
Rating: 
Summary: Isn't a rip off of Darkness Falls
Review: I hate to burst everyone's illiterate bubble...Fear of the Dark DIDN'T rip off Darkness Falls, it is the other way around. FEAR OF THE DARK came out in 2002...Darkness Falls came out in 2003. you do the math... This movie does have it's creepy moments. Way better than Darkness Falls in my opinion...
Rating:
Summary: Creepy Fun
Review: I just sat through "Night of Komodo", "Python" and "Savage Island", all direct to video horror, all lousy beyond definition, and so I figured what the hell?.....might as well pop in "Fear of the Dark", I mean if i could make it through "Savage Island" everything else will be Macbeth by comparison. "Fear of the Dark" starts off pretty well, with a kid retrieving a lost baseball in a dark basement, and just sort of carries you along on a cool little thrill ride where things really do go bump in the night. The young actors really do a good job, and the movie does a pretty decent job of building suspense in several parts. If you liked "Clownhouse", then you should enjoy "Fear of the Dark" as well. No gore, no nudity and very little profanity also makes "Fear of the Dark" a kid-friendly horror film (if there is such a thing in our politically correct world anymore??) and would be perfect for your teen's next slumber party.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: I liked this film alot. It was scary at times and the effects were good. I'm a fan of Kevin Zegers' acting and have seen most of his films. One downfall to this DVD is the "Screener Copy Only" message appearring evry chapter or so. It must appear 3 or 4 times during the movie. It's on the bottom of the screen and dissappears after a few seconds. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this or if it's just my copy. Hmmm, very wierd. A great movie to watch in the dark.
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