By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Kevin Bacon is one of the most versatile actors out there. He gave an overall run-of-the-mill mystery STIR OF ECHOES (1999) credibility and entertainment value, he made one cringe in disgust at his character in SLEEPERS (1996), he showed us the mind of one man hell-bent on revenge in DEATH SENTENCE (2007) and he was able to bring four eye witness accounts from different individuals to life in JFK (1991).
Bacon is a pretty significant name in horror, if for nothing else, appearing in the very first FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980). He has always had presence, believability and a certain unique manner of bringing out the humanity and/or lack thereof of his characters.
When I was much younger and watched HE SAID SHE SAID (1991) for the first time, I thought he was drop dead gorgeous. As for looks, he ages quite well, but even in my youth I was attracted to talent, and Bacon has it in spades.
I saw the trailer for THE DARKNESS awhile back and had been waiting for a theatrical release, when I noticed in already on AMAZON streaming. In many ways, the movie wanted to be POLTERGEIST (1982), but sadly it failed in more areas than it succeeded.
The film surrounds Peter (Kevin Bacon) and Bronny Taylor (Radha Mitchell). They have two children, a bulimic, selfish and otherwise ordinary teenage girl, Stephanie (Lucy Fry) and a young son Mikey (David Mazouz) around 11 or 12 who suffers from autism.
On a family trip to THE GRAND CANYON, Mikey falls down a hole and finds a bunch of rocks. He keeps them and when he gets back home, ancient Native American demons begin haunting them. They have a special connection with Mikey as he was the one who unknowingly summoned them.
The water turns on and off by itself, black handprints can be seen everywhere, a crow taunts Peter, and poor Mikey bleeds from the mouth one moment and is fine the next. Bronny is tortured by dreams and turns to alcohol.
After speaking with his boss, Peter decides to bring a healer to his house. He enlists the help of Teresa (Alma Martinez) and her granddaughter/translator Gloria (Ilza Rosario). They cleanse the house while Mikey runs off into the portal created by the Anasazi Indians. Peter runs in to save his son and that is where the final battle ends.
Now, as much as I was disappointed by the execution, there were good points and it’s not nearly as bad as the critics claim.
First, the acting and casting was topnotch. The family was believable and each actor conveyed the emotions of fear and apprehension marvelously. I’ve always said, if the characters aren’t scared, the audience won’t be. Here, the characters were scared.
I enjoyed Paul Reiser as Peter’s boss Simon. Though much of the conversation between Simon and Peter was nothing more but banter, there is a great scene where Simon tells Peter about Teresa. He struggles to get out the details of a miracle she had performed, clearly not wanting Peter to think he was nuts, but also desperate to help his friend and colleague.
There were some terrific scenes and great imagery used. At one point, Mikey is surrounded by the actual Anasazi Indians in their garb and it’s a tremendous visual. The old pictures that Peter reviews of the Anasazi and even the scene of Mikey’s room on fire was done brilliantly.
Within this confused movie there are certain moments of modern horror perfection to be found.
The main issue is the padding and the side stories. There is a fine line between giving characters depth and giving them “issues” in exchange for depth, essentially to take up time. Stephanie’s bulimia, Peter’s thoughts of infidelity, Bronny’s alcoholism, Mikey’s autism are mere statements within the film rather than aspects of a broader personality. For what it’s worth, the actors did everything they could with what they were given. When Bronny finds Stephanie hiding her vomit under the bed, the breakdown of the family and the scene is a riveting one.
That said, we don’t have the fundamental breakdown to tie it all together. The movie wanted to show a family that was broken find one another through this supernatural tragedy. Instead, the film layered problem over problem over problem without offering solutions. Rather than the conversations being about an issue and a resolution, it was merely about the issue and then – cut to the next scene.
Having Mikey fight with Stephanie is completely understandable. Having her fail to grasp the severity of his condition and feel burdened by it, is a normal teenage reaction and people could relate to it. The character didn’t need to be sympathized with any further. Adding in the bulimia did nothing but make the film longer.
For a good thirty minutes, the film turned into a LIFETIME drama. It was like a different film. The mother was a tortured alcoholic dealing with her absent husband who had thoughts of infidelity. She has one child who suffers with autism and wears her down in supermarkets to purchase items she doesn’t want to. Her other child suffers bulimia and won’t talk to her.
The last twenty minutes of the movie definitely picks up speed. The ending is interesting. Despite my dislike for the overused CGI, the practical effects used were great.
Overall, I can see why this film didn’t hit it harder with audiences. It had the potential, but much like the new POLTERGEIST (2015) didn’t explore the right areas. Just as I really wanted to love POLTERGEIST because of Sam Rockwell, I really wanted to love this because of Kevin Bacon. It just needed more horror and less unnecessary drama.
I would’ve loved to see Mikey brought into this cult like mentality. Having a child act like Oliver Reed in BURNT OFFERINGS (1976) would have been brilliant, and I think Mazouz had the acting chops to do it. He just needed the freedom to explore. In all honesty, I think the autism hindered what the producers let Mikey do. Understandably, they wanted to be delicate in the depiction and careful to separate the autism from the supernatural angle. It is that carefulness and unwillingness to let Mikey fully embrace the darkness, that put the nail in the coffin for this one. There were so many ways to properly go about Mikey’s decent into madness. The easiest – he doesn’t have autism, or if he does – they believe the doctor prescribed the wrong meds – or there is a single scene at a hospital where Peter and Bronny are told “This has nothing to do with your son’s autism. This is something else entirely.” Then Mikey is free to do what this character is SCREAMING to do. I kept expecting it to happen and at the very end, we were so close, but they held back – and (spoiler) Mikey did the right thing.
Had this film just gone a little more THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) and a little less DOING TIME ON MAPLE DRIVE (1992), it could have been a modern classic.
It always sucks to see wasted talent, but on the flip side, to see great actors rise above the material and put in 110% never fails to impress.
Watch this as a warm-up film. If you’re having a sleepover or hanging out late, watch this first and then throw in something like THE CONJURING (2013) or for a classic – CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS (1972).
THE DARKNESS will get you in the mood for horror but it won’t succeed in giving it to you. If you’re a Bacon fan, give it a go. He’s always fun to watch and the rest of the cast shined.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5.5/10
