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Abhorrent
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Disturbing
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Acceptable
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Wholesome
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+ + + + +
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Exemplary
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VA
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For viewers of all ages
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V13
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For viewers age 13 and below with parental guidance
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V14
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For viewers 14 and above
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V18
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For mature viewers 18 and above
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NP
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Not for public viewing
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Title:
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DARKNESS FALLS
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Running Time:
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85 min
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Lead Cast:
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Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Sullivan Stapleton, Steve Mouzakis, Peter Curtin, Kestie
Morassi, Jenny Lovell, John Stanton
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Director:
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Jonathan Liebesman
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Producer:
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Lou Arkoff, Derek Dauchy
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Screenwriters:
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Joseph Farris, John Fasano
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Music:
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Brian Tyler
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Editors:
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Timothy Alverson, Steve Mirkovich
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Genre:
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Horror/Thriller
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Cinematography:
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Dan Laustsen
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Distributor:
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Columbia Pictures
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Location:
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Darkness Falls, New England, USA
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Technical Assessment:
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• • •
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Moral Assessment:
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+ + +
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CINEMA Rating:
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For viewers 14 and above
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Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley) would insist that at age ten (12 years ago), he saw his mother killed
by the Tooth Fairy (Matilda Dixon).
She was a children-friendly woman turned avenger, for having been wrongly accused of killing two children. Now his childhood friend Caitlin (Emma Caulfield) finds him and asks him to help her brother Michael (Lee Cormie) who is going through night terrors as he did. Still afraid of the dark but helped by strong anti-psychotic drugs—reluctant but knowing the truth—he goes back to Darkness Falls with Caitlin.
Like the majority of scary/horror movies, where the format and style almost always never
change, Darkness Falls lacks the depth of a good story and relies heavily on special visual and sound effects like thunder, lightning, screeches, music and
prosthetics. The dark and shadows are sometimes too intense, preventing the identification of certain visuals, consequently lessening appreciative value. The
intensity and mix of the various sounds are excessive, becoming more stressful than entertaining.
Still, the technical elements taken together do contribute to the making of a sufficiently scary movie.
Darkness Falls is centered on the revenge of a woman (the Tooth Fairy) turned evil because she is wronged. She goes on a mindless
killing binge of the townspeople through the long years. Reason shows that this is irrational behavior, unjustified under any and all circumstances.
The rash action of the town folk is clear—the two boys are alright. It has been said that it is better to judge a guilty person innocent and let him/her go than to misjudge an innocent man guilty and punish him/her. To hurt someone who has hurt you does not make you the better person. On the positive side, though, feeling the need to preserve himself, Kyle still could feel concern for Caitlin, and especially Michael, by putting himself at risk in responding to their need. The projected horror and the terror via horrifying visuals and sounds suggest that
Darkness Falls should be viewed only by the those 14 years old and above.
(Date reviewed: June 6, 2003)
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