Fear of the Dark

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.

Rating:
Summary: Not the Most Amazing... but better than anything out now
Review: I originally wanted to see this movie based solely on the stars: Kevin Zegers (Disney's "Air Bud") and Rachel Skarsten (WB's "Birds of Prey"). Not expecting much, I simply sat down to watch it, expecting the same regurgitated horror that we've seen in so many other movies.

I was pleasantly surprised.

While the movie would never win an Oscar, or isn't at the level of classic horror movies, it works on more of a cerebral level than most modern thrillers. The monsters aren't just the normal ones that go bump in the night, but ones that are part of the inner fears of the characters. Jesse James and Kevin Zegers show a chemistry as siblings which is very interesting, and feels real... with James' character suffering from Night Terrors, Zegers' character doesn't know really what to believe with everything going on. Rachel Skarsten gives a truly unexpected performance as Zegers' love interest.

While at times, the movie seems odd... and seems to be 'stupid', it really stretches into the minds of the characters that we're introduced to. You are never really sure about what their fighting... is it a figment of their imagination, or something tangible?

If you want a quality thriller, take a look at Fear of the Dark.

Rating:
Summary: children might like it
Review: really saw no point in this movie.Not scary-not entertaining.The acting was good but the movie went nowhere.For what it had to present it was too long.

Rating:
Summary: This horror movie rocks!!!
Review: Scary, dark and fun -- this is every kid's worst nightmare. Alone in a house, during a blackout, and there's some very creepy things in the walls. It's very suspenseful for a direct-to-video thriller and has a cool atmosphere. There's three really scary scenes that really stick out in my head.

It kept me up the night I saw it. My friends dug it too and we hate most low-budget horror movies. This one's a good purchase...

Rating:
Summary: Scary, but not for everyone
Review: The first time I saw this movie I was with a group of college friends out in the woods where with the setting tended to give it a creepy feeling. The movie seemed to be based on a theme that when there is light, life is normal, but when it is dark, your worst fears will come to life. In our western culture, darkness is often compared with evil and sinister beings such as vampires and warewolfs. This movie seems to bring out this fear with a new type of villiany known simply as "dark men" who are tall, skinny, wear hats, and want to eat humans. These creatures are only capable of living under dark circumstances and if confronted by light, they must take cover. These creatures have haunted one of the main characters for years unbeknown to his parents and older brother who think his actions are the result of too much caffeine and an abnormal psychological behaviors. Although his parents are loving and will do almost anything for their child, they are hoping to break him out of his fear. It isn't until the movie starts that his older brother experiences his fear as well. I believe the movie had some very good actors, a taste of suspense, but there was always a break in drama when things get to scary which a lot of people don't like. I think this film is great for families, although I think you will soon be seeing power bills go up due to having your lights on all the time. I think this movie would be more liked by teenagers. It would be extremly scary for young children and not sophisticated enough for some adults who would want more of an explanation of what took place. This movie was extremly suspenseful and although my friends wouldn't admit it, I could see that a lot of them were scared. One interesting point that a lot of people miss that in the middle of the movie the tv keeps on getting switched from cartoons to the family getting attacked by creatures. This tv seems to be projecting the future as you look at the end of the movie and see that the "dark men" creature standing over the teenager ready to strike as was shown in the movie, indicating that maybe they weren't going to live through the night, but that is just my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: ehh
Review: There is a power outage and this kid has a severe fear of the dark, his brother (who is babysitting during the outage) starts getting scared of the dark, his brother's girlfriend gets scared of the dark too, some very cheesy patches of darkness and ghosts chase them around, they turn on the flood lights and they all live happily ever after. The end. Wasn't very scary. I would reccomend it for a younger audience looking for a scare though. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Movie was pretty good
Review: This is a great movie for a younger audience but still halfway decent and enjoyable for adults, something I would rent. The story is ok and acting is suprisingly good by the main characters. Effects are nice and a few of the scenes were actually creepy, well creepier than any mainstream horror flick Ive seen recently. Overall, judging by the young actors talent with such a simple story line I would give it a 6 out of 10 for their effort.

Directed at the reviewer before me: I think what the smoking scene intended was to show the brother is still just a kid even though he talked tough sometimes. I had my first cigarette when I was 14 and I didnt inhale either, I mean who did? Its not like you would have an adult teaching a kid how to smoke so you just watch and learn. I thought that scene was a very accurate portrayal of an older brother trying to act cool in front of the younger one. Most males probably couldve related to that scene and remembered how they were at that age.

Rating:
Summary: Surprinsingly suspenesful
Review: This isn't a terrific movie by any stretch. There are more than a few laughable scenes and silly, ridiculous occurrences. We laughed out loud when Kevin Zeger's character, Dale, was smoking. Like Clinton (*cough*) he didn't inhale, although he took several drags on the cigarette. My question for that scene is: why bother having the kid smoke if he's not going to inhale? Obviously Zeger doesn't smoke, and for that I applaud him, as so many actors and actresses in Hollywood do.

Regarding the silly occurrences. Say you're a father with a child that has a terrible fear of the dark. Would you:

a)Put a number of floodlights where they could be easily reached, say a chest in an open area, or
b)Put them in a dark attic?

Of course the movie chose "b".

Regardless, I was immensely surprised when I found myself trapped in suspense. There were moments of dramatic tension that actually made me a little nervous (perhaps even a little scared, although I never jumped), and when the movie was over, and I walked into my office (being 1:00am, my entire condo was dark, and my office darker than any other area) I really did take a tiny "gulp" until the light turned on. The same for returning to bed - until the light on my nightstand was turned on, I was somewhat on edge

Given the movie's obvious flaws, this made me more than a little embarrassed. But like I said, they handled some of the scary scenes quite well, even though I rolled my eyes during the stolen scene from the Frighteners. That was unnecessary. I can't imagine why they chose to write that scene into the script. Again, regardless, congratulations to the movie for making someone edgy who just doesn't ever get edgy from watching horror films.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: This movie just ripped off darkness falls and it even failed at doing that. It's really about helping friends, not turning your back like a punk!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Horrible
Review: This movie was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Darkness Falls was a much better movie then this and Darkness Falls was horrible too! this movie went nowhere and the actual monsters in the movie was maybe shown...twice for a total of 47 seconds. Very bad movie that wasn't scary or well thought out. Yea, little ones will be scared of this movie but then again littles ones get scared at the sight of lmost anything and this movie is far worse that almost EVERYTHING!!