As someone who has been a big fan of Aussie director Greg McLean’s work over the last ten years, it pains me to admit that I was left somewhat underwhelmed by his latest project, The Darkness. The supernatural thriller features great actors who all deliver strong performances, a story and mythology I thought was rather interesting, and some cool visuals, but ultimately The Darkness doesn’t offer any real scares and suffers from a resolution that feels a bit too convenient.
In the film, we meet the Taylor family, who already has their share of battles even before some angry ancient spirits show up to try and destroy their familial bonds. Peter (Kevin Bacon) is an architect struggling to keep up with the demands of his job and his pushy boss (Paul Reiser) while attempting to piece things back together with his wife, Bronny (Radha Mitchell), after cheating on her. His kids, Stephanie (Lucy Fry) and Michael (David Mazouz), also have their share of challenges; Mikey, being the youngest and autistic, is often the focus of his parents’ attention, leaving his older sis feeling a bit invisible and like an afterthought most of the time (and these emotions lead poor Stephanie down a dark path). The Taylor clan heads out for a relaxing vacation, hoping to get things back on track, but the youngest member of the brood comes across an ancient Anasazi ritual cavern where he decides to bring home a few souvenirs, a decision he and his family will soon regret once the angry spirits show up and have some fun at the Taylors’ expense.
While I didn’t find The Darkness to be a terrifying affair, there were still several elements to the project overall that I enjoyed. Being someone who has been intrigued with the Anasazi mythology ever since The X-Files dug into it back in the early 1990s, I loved seeing it as a focal point in The Darkness, as there’s a wealth of material to that culture that has yet to be explored cinematically. The way the co-writers frame this family, seemingly perfect on the outside but filled with so much conflict when you begin to dig deeper, gives The Darkness a real sense of authenticity, especially since these are folks who have problems to contend with even before the proverbial crap hits the fan. These characters feel like people you either know or maybe live down the street from—people who are working through their own kind of inner turmoil.
So, to see the Taylors brought to life by a universally strong ensemble was great, especially since Bacon and Mitchell are always an excellent addition to any project they’re a part of, and the younger actors, Fry and Mazouz, both have their moments to shine in The Darkness as well.
My biggest issue with the film is that McLean feels a bit muted here as a storyteller, as he’s often been a director who provides his audience with films that have something of an edge to them. The Darkness does offer up several great moments visually that are pure nightmare fuel, but what follows those moments truly lacks any sort of boundary-pushing that you’d hope to see from the guy who introduced us to the murderous Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek. No one in The Darkness feels “unsafe,” and the direction the finale takes just seemed so confoundingly typical to me, that I was admittedly bummed.
As far as PG-13 horror efforts go, The Darkness is enjoyable for the most part because it doesn’t feel like everything else going on in theatrical horror and features a stellar ensemble that brings something special to the table—two things I will always appreciate as a film lover. Plus, I do think this will probably be a fun date night movie for teens looking for something “scary” to watch this Friday the 13th, which is most likely the reason the film exists in the first place.
I would have loved to see McLean get the chance to make an R-rated version of The Darkness because there are nuggets of greatness buried deep within the ideas he presents here. Unfortunately, they get stifled by the constraints of the film’s rating, hindering the potential for any true moments of terror for those of us who consider ourselves a bit more seasoned in terms of genre fare.
Movie Score: 2.5/5
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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