Darkness Falls

Name: Darkness Falls
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Released: January 24, 2003
Duration: 86 min
Rating: 23
Cast: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield

2003

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 231 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	Your Score
6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 231 Ratings

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Darkness Falls

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: January 24, 2003 | PG-13

Starring: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield

Summary: Kyle Walsh (Kley) must return home to confront his troubled past and save his childhood sweetheart Caitlin (Caulfield) and her younger brother Michael (Cormie) from an unrelenting evil that has plagued the town of Darkness Falls for over one hundred and fifty years. (Sony)

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Genre(s): Thriller, Horror

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 86 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Once you get past the inherent silliness of the premise, what we've got here is actually a deft little chiller, stylishly directed despite the so-so cast. Read full review

Janice Page

So much schlock and melodrama find their way into Darkness Falls that when an exasperated character shouts near the end ''All this over a [expletive] tooth!,'' you know how he feels. Read full review

Stephen Holden

About as scary as a ride on a minor roller coaster, it unrolls its amplified butcher-block shock effects within the first five minutes. Read full review

Connie Ogle

A cheesy horror film can offer a vicarious cheap thrill or two. Darkness Falls offers only a test of the patience, not even providing much chance to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of its villain. Read full review

Peter Travers

Do you really need me to tell you how scary this horror show isn't? Read full review

Bruce Fretts

Darkness Falls is like something salvaged from Stephen King's wastebasket. Read full review

Desson Thomson

A truly awful and extremely loud scareflick. Read full review

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User Reviews

Aerialist277

Jun 18, 2021

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0 of 18 users found this helpful018

Assonance

May 4, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Plot Holes

The tooth fairy is sensitive to light, no matter how dim, Yet she is shown flying around during the storm with no reactions to the very bright and near constant lightning.… Expand

1 of 16 users found this helpful115

oust

Apr 26, 2021

The sound of Matilda Dixon's wailing throughout the film is really the sound of an elderly woman's groaning in bed. The sound was both sped up in the parts where Matilda screams, and slowed down in the places where she gurgles and breathes heavily.

7 of 14 users found this helpful77

Rind

Apr 23, 2021

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5 of 6 users found this helpful51

FilipeNeto

Jun 24, 2020

Well, I confess that I expected more from this film, even considering that it is a film for the teen audience where, therefore, the terror doesn't scare that much. I think that if we are really teens (I'm older, so I'm out of the target audience), the film must be really impressive to watch.Well, I confess that I expected more from this film, even considering that it is a film for the teen audience where, therefore, the terror doesn't scare that much. I think that if we are really teens (I'm older, so I'm out of the target audience), the film must be really impressive to watch. So, take this into account. In fact, considering the audience its aimed at, the film is good. The problem is with me, that I am older, more difficult to scare and, even worse, I have seen a lot of horror films and it is not just anyone who scares me.

The film begins by explaining the story we are going to see: in the past, in a small coastal town in the USA, a very kind elderly woman who was unlucky enough to be disfigured in a fire was accused and executed for a crime she did not commit. Angry by the injustice and cruelty with which she was treated after years being good to everyone, she vowed to take revenge and, since then, appears to all the children in the night when they lose the last baby tooth. All those who recklessly look her in the face appear dead. However, a boy survived and reached adulthood, despite the trauma, the death of his mother and his whole life marked by successive attempts by the spirit to kill him. Now, he can make a difference and try to save the son of the woman he has always loved, and who is marked to die too.

The plot is predictable, we have seen a lot of similar stories, but it will work very well for teenagers wanting to feel chills down their spine. The scares come from the rapid appearance of things and shadows on screen, and the tension is well built throughout the film. Things heat up right from the middle and the film gets thicker quickly, discarding much of the plot building that other films take to exhaustion. There are some clichés but the fact is that they are well used and the film works well.

The cast is led by Chaney Kley, who curiously passed away because of a sleep disorder, in one of those almost fateful coincidences between fiction and real life. The actor gave life to Kyle, who tries everything to defeat the Tooth Fairy and save people after a life of trauma due to her. The actor is good and does an excellent job in this film, which is one of the best works of his short career, more turned to the TV. Lee Cormie is excellent in the role of Michael, the target child of the evil entity's attacks, while his mother, played by Emma Caulfield Ford, is not so good and always seems a little artificial. The rest of the cast does not deserve much attention and is limited to the average or mediocrity usual in a teen film.

Technically, the film is quite regular. Personally, I would highlight good cinematography, which knows how to use light and shadow masterfully to frighten and create tension. Good quick shots in the action scenes also help, and the incidental soundtrack is very good and works effectively. The Tooth Fairy, however, seems to me somewhat exaggerated, inasmuch as it is nothing more than a flying creature with things similar to tentacles of cloth or smoke and a face of eaten flesh behind a porcelain mask, Jason Voorhees/Michael Myers style.… Expand

3 of 36 users found this helpful333

brucethemoose

Feb 2, 2011

At the beginning, it was a fantastic horror movie, and scared the **** out of me when I only saw the first 1/3rd or 1/2 on HBO. For that I give it a 6. But when I saw the whole movie, all my fears were gone, because the 2nd half of the move was HORRIBLE, and it had a simply atrocious ending.At the beginning, it was a fantastic horror movie, and scared the **** out of me when I only saw the first 1/3rd or 1/2 on HBO. For that I give it a 6. But when I saw the whole movie, all my fears were gone, because the 2nd half of the move was HORRIBLE, and it had a simply atrocious ending. Its as if the script writer was on a role, then decided to let his dog write the ending of the movie.… Expand

0 of 9 users found this helpful09

BigK.

Dec 20, 2005

A truly dreadful, poorly thought out film with dreadful acting. Avoid.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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64	#64 Most Discussed Movie of 2003
83	#83 Most Shared Movie of 2003