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Darkness Falls (Special Edition)

Darkness Falls (Special Edition)

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: FantasticDan and Bugster say "worst movie ever."
Review: One of the worst movies of all time. This is bad. Real bad. Staring the most terrifing childrens icons of all time... the TOOTH FAIRY! That has too be the most retarded villian ever. Shes about as frightening as a half eaten breakfast burrito. She dosen't even kill in an interesting way, it never really says how she kills but we think she scrathces or something. Oh scary, a monster who fights like a three year old girl. Maybe next there will be movies about a killer Easter Bunny. Also the monster makes a moaning schreching sound constently. Its really annoying. It sounds like RHEE! throuhgout the entire movie.We really liked the way the little boy was accused of killing his mother even though there was no way he could have possibley done it. No murder weapon, no motive, no evidence at all. Eventually the boy has too return home too save his girlfriend from the tooth fairy's obnoxiously-screeching wrath. Its all very stupid. Very, very stupid.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The tooth-fairy gone bad? How do movies this bad get funded
Review: Summary:
Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley; young Kyle - Joshua Anderson (I)) lives in the town of Darkness Falls (ridiculously stupid name, but I'll get to that later) where a curse caused by the quasi-accidental hanging of one of the town's residents has left children who lose their teeth in fear for their lives. The curse was put on the town by an elderly lady who used to exchange the children's teeth with baked goods or money (the origins of the tooth fairy legend). She was mistakenly accused of having killed two of the town's children when, in fact, she had not. Years prior to the hanging she had suffered some terrible misfortunes, including the burning of her home in which she was badly disfigured. As a result of the disfigurement she never left her home but at night and even then only when wearing a porcelain mask.

Now Kyle is just losing the last of his baby teeth and knowing the curse, he tries his best not to look at the tooth fairy when she arrives to get his teeth, but he just can't help himself - he pulls out a flashlight and shines it on her. The curse declares that if anyone sees her face she'll kill them. Well, Kyle saw her face, but because he is in the light, which hurts her if she enters it, she can't kill him, so she kills his mom (Rebecca McCauley) instead. Kyle is taken away and everyone in the town seems to accuse him of his mother's death, except his girlfriend at the time, Caitlin 'Cat' Greene (Emma Caulfield; young Caitlin - Emily Browning) who, for some reason, can't seem to get over him.

A number of years later Caitlin's younger brother, Michael (Lee Cormie), is losing his baby teeth and has seen The Tooth Fairy. He is afraid of the dark and refuses to sleep knowing that she'll get him if he does. Caitlin, apparently at her wit's end, calls Kyle to see if he can help. Kyle returns to Darkness Falls from Las Vegas and upon arriving in the town seems to call forth from the townspeople years of pent up rage (for no apparent reason). What's more, no one believes him about The Tooth Fairy except Michael until the Tooth Fairy starts killing everyone.

Eventually Kyle is able to save Michael from certain death and ushers both Michael and Caitlin to the local lighthouse where they commence a standoff with The Tooth Fairy in which Kyle ultimately prevails, breaking the curse and ridding Darkness Falls from the 'evil' Tooth Fairy.

My Comments:
The one thing this movie has going for it is what a friend of mine likes to call 'mental real estate', everyone has heard of the tooth fairy. But that is where the real estate ends. This has to be the worst movie I have seen this year and ranks right up next to Final Destination 1 and The Perfect Storm as one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

First, the premise - A Tooth Fairy gone bad? Come on! My wife and I laughed for almost 10 minutes straight when we realized that we were watching a 'horror' movie about an evil Tooth Fairy. Bloodsucking monsters, ghosts, zombies, vampires, even possessed cats and dolls are scarier than an 'evil Tooth Fairy'. This has to be the worst premise for a horror movie of all time!

As for the story... I think my summary is actually clearer then the story you witness in the movie. The movie jumps from location to location and makes absolutely no sense. There is no reason for Caitlin to still love Kyle. Kyle has no reason to return to Darkness Falls. Michael seems to have some uncanny knowledge about Kyle's experiences with the Tooth Fairy as though he were possessed. And the fight scene in the bar, please! What was the cause of that? Why did some guy just walk up to Kyle and throw his beer on him? Of course Kyle then has to be immediately arrested not once, but twice in the same night so they can take his flashlights away from him. And the set up for the ending, Caitlin reading some book about how some banshee was banished by using a 'really bright light', when will this ever end? I was literally appalled that this story was made into a movie and, what's more, that I wasted even the smallest amount of my time watching it.

The acting... Don't get me started. There wasn't one good actor in this movie, except, perhaps, for Michael. The rest of the characters were ridiculously stereotyped and even more poorly portrayed. Even the Tooth Fairy did silly things and she was computer generated. There are no big names in this movie and it is obvious why - because this movie sucked. Did you hear me correctly? This is a terrible movie. As I mentioned, Michael might be plausibly considered the only decent actor of the film, but he had to read such horrible lines that I just felt sorry for him; perhaps I mistook my sorrow for decent acting, I don't know. I'm actually surprised I'm able to write a review of this film because I'm trying so hard to forget it. The Kyles, both old and young, were horrible; the Caitlins too. Larry, the lawyer, was such a horrible stereotype I couldn't believe someone would write something so infantile.

Overall, this is a horrible movie. The premise is ridiculous, there is no real story, and the acting is beyond dreadful. There was one redeeming quality, however, to this DVD (thank goodness I watched it on DVD and for free to boot), and that is the featurette about the true story on which the movie is based. Yes, you heard me correct, this is actually based on a legend from Australia. I had no idea. And just so you know, you would be better off watching the featurette than the movie because it is more interesting and better made then the movie. In fact, don't watch the movie, just watch the featurette and save yourself the agony. I don't recommend this film, even if someone pays you a lot of money to watch it!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Watch This If You Love Horror Movies!!!
Review: When I first saw the commercial advertising 'Darkness Falls' I
automatically set a goal for myself: See that movie! As I told my friend (who is probably the one person to most likely be a movie critic) about this movie, she seemed to agree with me that it seemed like a good movie. And she was right! This movie is excellent for anyone who loves horror films. I would probably add a brief synopsis of it, but I wouldnt want to ruin for you if it hasnt already been ruined by someone else.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stay in the light during this underappreciated horror film
Review: Any film promising me an evil tooth fairy is one I just have to see. Darkness Falls is not a perfect film, but it earns five stars from this reviewer for a number of reasons. Directors are oftentimes little more than names to me, some of which I know and some of which I do not, but Jonathan Liebesman is a refreshingly humble, exuberant, and talented young director with an appreciation of old-school, atmospheric horror. I tend to question the power of PG-13 horror movies, but Darkness Falls delivers. This is exactly the type of film with which to begin one's experience with the genre. With no nudity, no real gore, and hardly any profanity, it is a film that parents should have little to objection to their children watching (as long as those children no longer believe in the Tooth Fairy, that is). This is horror that inspires exhilaration without any nightmarish after-effects.

The opening of the movie is quite good. First, we are told of the legend of Matilda Dixon, a kindly lady of the early nineteenth century who gave children coins for their lost teeth, thereby acquiring her nickname as the tooth fairy. After being burned horribly in a fire, Matilda would only appear at night, wearing a porcelain mask; the town's growing suspicions of this poor woman were eventually inflamed when two kids went missing; a lynch mob took Matilda from her home, exposed her badly burned face for all to see, and hanged her just before the missing boys turned up safe and sound elsewhere. Matilda cursed the town, and the story goes that she comes seeking revenge on the children there when they lose their last baby teeth. Don't peek, parents laughingly warn their children, or else the tooth fairy will kill you One boy did peek, learning that the legends were somehow actually true, and the dramatization of that night's terrible events is capable of generating more than a few creeps within the soul of the viewer. The boy survived that night, but his life was thrown into chaos, costing him his mother, girlfriend, home, and, to some degree, his sanity. Twelve years later, he lives in a world of constant light, knowing that Matilda can only harm him in darkness. When his little girlfriend of old, Caitlyn, calls him out of the blue seeking his help for her little brother, a child suffering from night terrors of the worst kind, he reluctantly comes back home. His desperate effort to help young Michael leads to an inevitable final confrontation between himself and the demon-haunted tooth fairy, and the town of Darkness Falls will never be the same.

This is not a high-budget film, but the overall look and feel of it is impressive. In his first professional directing job, Liebesman snags some major talent, much of it coming from a new generation of professionals. In the interviews included in the Making Of featurette, Liebesman gives those around him what is perhaps too much credit for making this first film of his as successful as it is. Undoubtedly, though he was fortunate indeed to have Stan Winston design his vengeful tooth fairy. I think the creature works very well, both before and after its porcelain mask is removed, and the camera work makes her all the more interesting and disturbing. Much of the action consists of fast-paced movements and visual chaos, leading one to peer deeply into the darkness looking for her; such concentration on the part of the viewer opens up the door for some quick little scares and Boo tactics. The entire cast is superb, particularly Chaney Kley and the lovely Emma Caulfield, but in many ways the very talented child actor Lee Cormie steals the show and does more than anyone else to make this fanciful tale quite believable.

The extras included on the DVD make the movie a much richer experience. The Making Of featurette really increased my appreciation for what I had seen, and the set of deleted scenes has an important contribution to make. Whereas most movie's deleted scenes clearly deserve to have been cut, most of the deleted scenes here add so much more depth to different parts of the story that I question why they were ever deleted in the first place. You get two distinct commentaries of the film, your choice of widescreen or full screen display, and a most interesting documentary about the real life of Matilda Dixon, the tooth fairy of Port Fairy, Australia, upon whose legend this movie was conceived. The whole package is most impressive, and I believe the movie deserves more attention than it has received.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SCARY AS H....
Review: This movie is a must-see for scary movie lovers. Scared me have to death the first time I saw it in theaters. It'll make you keep your night lights on for weeks!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Legend of Matilda Dixon
Review: This movie is based on the story of Matilda Dixon who was the victim of a real witch-hunt in Port Fairy, Australia in 1841. Matilda's husband was a sailor aboard a whaling vessel that sank in 1836. They had no children. After his death, Matilda grew quite eccentric baking special cakes for children who'd lost their teeth and was dubbed the tooth fairy by the town's people. In 1840, an oven fire horribly disfigured the woman forcing her to wear a porcelain mask and to hide indoors only emerging at night. Children who left their teeth wrapped in a handkerchief and tied to their front doors would awake to find a few coins. In 1841, two children who'd told their parents that they were going to visit the tooth fairy went missing. The town all ready leery of the strange woman hung her only to find the missing children amongst the crowd. Matilda's death was ruled accidental asphyxiation and she was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1861, the cemetery was moved and her body lost so a plaque was erected to her memory. In 1951, it was vandalized by some youths who later went missing. In 1953, a new plaque was added to the monument and no has vanished since.

This was the background story for this tale of the tooth fairy's revenge set in a town called Darkness Falls in the United States. The performance Kyle Walsh gives as Chaney Kley, a man who saw the tooth fairy as a boy and now has to forever remain in the light or she will get him, is tour de force. Kyle was accused of murdering his mother that night and spent many years in mental hospitals. Emma Caulfield (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays Caitlin Green, a childhood friend and his true love whose brother Mike (Lee Cormie) is having nightmares like Kyle's night traumas, contacts him to ask for help. And so the story begins!

Darkness Falls has a classic horror film look with many scenes done in shadows with glimpses of the actors and music that heightens the suspense. Stan Winston created the tooth fairy creature and Skywalker sound did the track for it. I haven't had a movie frighten me this badly in a long time! Buy the DVD with all its extra features; it will be money well spent!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Classical Comedy
Review: This movie is so bad, it's funny. How can anyone take a killer toothfairy seriously? I recently bought the DVD and I watch it whenever I feel like a good laugh.
The DVD has very little to offer, though it has two feature-length audio commentaries that are great. In one of the audio commentaries, the director pokes fun at his own movie. Now think about that.... If you were a director, would you blatantly make fun of your own movie? No.
Bottom line--hilarious movie. It had a horrible director, low budget, boring screenplay, and untalented actors. Wait; I wasn't totally accurate. Some of the actors could act. Matilda Dixon (Toothfairy) is a great actress. She made it seem like she could actually kill a grown man holding a gun. The cat that jumps on the car can also act. I didn't catch its name, though.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WORST HORROR MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!
Review: What's so good about this movie? Let me tell you, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The first part that told the story about the tooth fairy was pretty good but then what could have been a pretty scary movie just turned into a flying slasher flick, this time the slasher doesn't use a knife and flys around and grabs people. That's it. It's not a ghost like the story suggests. It's simply a flying Jason Vorhees. I thought it was suppose go after kids that saw it, not go after everybody it sees! It was just appearing everywhere everytime the lights went off. Sometime in the movie, it suddenly appears in the police station. This is where it really gets funny, the police officers see it and start shooting at it. It was flying around the room and the officers were shooting the lights out, letting the thing get them. First of all, why would a ghost appear in a police station? Just to get the main character? That one scene was inserted for pure action. Things get even more stupid at the end. The evil tooth fairy dies from being lit on fire. Stupid! When I was walking out of the theater after the movie was over, one guy behind me was proclaiming he liked it. I just wanted to turn around and sock him in the nose because there is nothing to like about this movie period!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: THE WOODS AT NIGHT ARE SCARIER THEN THIS
Review: Darkness Falls is as stupid as They!

Dont bother with Darkness Falls-rent Ghost Ship or go see Wrong Turn!

Or go see Identity!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: THE TOOTH FAIRY DESERVES BETTER...
Review: This is a movie that fails to deliver. The spooky beginning shows some real promise, as well as chills and thrills, but quickly careens into disaster, providing the viewer with nothing much but sheer boredom with an occasional thrill tossed in just to make sure that the viewer is still breathing.

The premise of the film is simple. About a hundred and fifty years ago in the town of Darkness Falls, an old woman used to give young children gold coins in exchange for their baby teeth. When two children turned up missing, a mob mentality overtook the town. The townspeople, blaming the old woman for the disappearance of the two children, hanged her for her supposed crime, but not before the old woman cursed the town and all in it. Later, the two missing children turned up alive and well. Oops!

Over the years, legend has it that the ghost of this woman, now known as the tooth fairy, murders those children who see her when she comes to get their baby teeth. About sixteen years ago, a young boy saw the tooth fairy and lived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, his mother did not fare as well. Confined psychiatrically, he returns, as a young man, to his home town of Darkness Falls, where he finds his childhood sweetheart's baby brother being pursued relentlessly by this tooth fairy. Therein lies the tale.

With a script that would not pass muster in Writing 101, as it lacks intelligence and cohesiveness, as well as ham-handed directing and editing that leaves much to be desired, this is a film that simply does not pass muster. At times incomprehensible and down right ridiculous, the film boils down to pure drivel. Its initial promise in term of plot remains unfulfilled, and the film ultimately fails in its execution. All those participating in this production are hampered by the silly script, which does not provide the actors with much with which to work.

Save your money and do not buy this film. If, however, you are a horror film buff, as well as a glutton for punishment, rent it.


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