Darkness Falls

There is almost nothing positive to say about “Darkness Falls,” the new slapped-together horror movie hitting theaters. It’s filmed so poorly that it is almost impossible to see. The editing is so bad that what you can see comes at you too fast to follow. The acting is laughably amateurish. And the story is so idiotic that it makes the cheesiest of basic cable look intelligent.

The film starts with a prologue about an old woman who inhabited the town of Darkness Falls back in the days before color film existed. This woman loved children, but two missing kids were thought to have died in her care. So, the town hanged her, only to then realize that they were mistaken. As she died, she cursed the town by saying she would visit children on the night they lost their last baby tooth. If they saw her, she would hunt them and their loved ones. This earned her the nickname, “The Tooth Fairy.”

From that charming premise, we see Kyle Walsh who, as a young boy, saw the Tooth Fairy. She kills his mother, but the Tooth Fairy can’t stand the light, so young Kyle is saved by hiding in the brightly-lit bathroom. Flash-forward to the present. Kyle is a flashlight-obsessed psychotic living in Las Vegas. He is drawn back to Darkness Falls, because Michael, the brother of his childhood sweetheart, has also seen the Tooth Fairy and is being stalked by her wicked ways.

That’s basically the story, a terrible combination of “The Blair Witch Project,” “The Ring,” and every bad horror cliché in the book. “Darkness Falls” is one of the new breed of horror movies, ones that are not very gory so they can secure a PG-13 rating. To qualify for a PG-13, they emphasize suspense rather than gore. This makes sense for talented filmmakers, but the makers of “Darkness Falls” fail so mierably that their attempts are both boring and painful. The terrible acting, the awful pacing, and laughable special effects make the horror of watching this movie all too unintentional.

Parents should know that the film contains countless sequences of children in jeopardy, not to mention many (mostly bloodless) onscreen deaths. It also features some kissing between two rather young children, as well as the unpleasant sight of young kids ripping out their last baby teeth. There are jump-out-at-you surprises, suspenseful fake-outs, and also numerous scenes in which the Tooth Fairy appears and lets out a high-pitched scream.

Families who see this movie should discuss why people should not jump to conclusions about others, such as the way the townspeople did about the old woman. Why is she terrorizing the children? They should also discuss why kids should not forcibly remove their teeth.

Families who enjoyed this movie should seek out last year’s “The Ring” and John Carpenter’s horror classic, “Halloween.”