Darkness

Much like The Nameless, filmmaker Jaume Balagueró’s first feature, Darkness suffers from an egregiously slow pace and a general emphasis of style over substance; it’s consequently impossible not to wonder just what Balagueró was attempting to accomplish here, as the movie ultimately comes off as nothing less than a total disaster. The hopelessly muddled and impenetrable storyline, which has something to do with human sacrifices and a haunted house, plays a substantial role in the film’s overt failure, and there’s little doubt that even the most attentive viewer will be left scratching their head at the absurdly convoluted machinations of Balaguero and Fernando de Felipe’s script. The pair’s inability to write convincing dialogue (ie it’s as though the screenplay was written in Spanish and then directly translated into English) clearly doesn’t help matters, nor does their penchant for infusing the various characters with thoroughly unconvincing motives and decision-making abilities (why would anyone stay in that house for more than a few minutes?) Such problems are exacerbated by the almost uniformly mediocre performances; Anna Paquin fares slightly better than her co-stars, but that’s honestly not saying much. That Darkness spent a few years sitting on the shelf doesn’t come as much of a surprise, and it’s ultimately impossible not to wish that it had just stayed there.

1/2* out of ****