The Fear of Darkness (2015) Reviews

• Lots of psychological gibberish and severely lacking in thrill.

  quincytheodore2015-11-04

  Partially investigative drama and halfhearted thriller, The Fear of Darkness is a movie focused on a disturbed character, who may or may not be involved in paranormal activity. Horror movies tend to use this premise, but the main character Sky is neither charismatic nor enigmatically appealing. Despite much effort on delivering scientific based narrative, in which there is abundance of them, it eventually falls on insipid twist without accomplishing much. For this type of thriller to work, the movie needs intriguing characters or having good chemistry between the cast. It has none of those. Sky (Penelope Mitchell) has two rigid expressions, utterly confused and overblown panic. There's barely any range on acting aside from looking distraught the entire time and it doesn't help establishing any nuance for personality. Meanwhile, the supposedly nurturing psychiatrist Sarah Faithful (Maeve Dermody) is plain and too formulaic of a character to stand out. The movie moves agonizingly slow, switching from between possible haunting and the psychologist handling the case. There's actually a bulk of the runtime spent panning across bedroom without anything happening, not to mention there are interviews that feel redundant. Script either bombards the audience with heavy pseudo-science mumbling or constant shouting of the same question. It chooses to bring medications or suggestive trance for the strange behavior, and at times it almost looks like it's going somewhere with these plot devices. However, it only amounts to basic mystery spectacle, lacking any substance for all the flamboyant talk. It does produce good soundtracks overall, they sound like something out of fantasy flicks and admittedly a pleasant surprise. Only the most avid fans of mystery thriller would find some enjoyment here, because for all the psychological narrative, it only amounts to tedious dialogues.

• Australian Thriller - I liked it.

  pgrieves2015-11-06

  I know other reviews might have questioned the merit and pace of this film - but I liked it. It kept me interested and it becomes stranger as it nears the end. Some people might question this films intention and believe it's useless or superfluous film. But it is a thinking person film with loose ends. I'll have a go with what i think happens at the end and others can consider their own conclusion. Sky is told that Sarah is not real and she has been in treatment for 10 years for a drug psychosis.The treating Dr says "she's nearly there" and they drug her to rid Sarah from her mind. Unfortunately Sarah is the only protective factor in sky's mind - Sarah knows the darkness wants Sky and has always frantically protected her. So the treatment appears to work and Sarah is dispelled. All is good until Sky looks in the mirror and then appears consumed by the darkness - to me it appears she was possessed by it as she leaves the hospital. She heads back out to the house where it all began and where the darkness resides. On the way someone or something stops to help her in the truck and we are lead to believe the darkness is within her or within the truck. She leaves the truck and goes toward the house and further into darkness OR there is another way of viewing the ending - that she never left the hospital but just moved deeply into psychosis (the darkness) after having her protective factor removed and we see sky's "dark" thinking just like we have seen her reality and world right through the whole film. Anyway - it made me think and I liked this film. i particularly liked that Aussie scenery and the birds on the water and mood of the film.

• Had potential but the ending is very confusing....

  dumbangel-411052015-11-05

  This is one of those films that has enough going for it (good cinematography, decent acting) to keep you watching. I generally enjoy the output of films from Australia and for the first hour this in no exception with a few genuinely creepy moments. However, whatever enjoyment is had is quickly shot down in the last quarter of the film with an ending that leaves you scratching your head and wondering why you bothered in the first place. The "supernatural" presence in the film could have been a whole lot more terrifying but in the end....confusion reigns! I am not sure enough viewers will figure out the ending within the natural run time of the film so it's hard to recommend.

• Snorefest

  ryanhope12015-11-05

  This film is all "blah blah blah" and nothing happens. The script is dreadful and you can really see they had trouble working out how to end it all with a tedious little twist that you saw coming a mile away. There were just too many scenes were people were talking at each other for what was 10 minutes every scene with a couple of little "frights" (and I do mean LITTLE) in between. By half way through I got bored and started fast forwarding all the walking bits because if people were;t talking they were walking and it all seemed so padded out. The acting was pretty average and even Aaron Pederson who is usually pretty good felt like he'd just walked onto the set and didn't know what film he was in. Honestly, it's all a bit of a dog's breakfast. EXCEPT, the one thing that is actually very good is the cinematography, so obviously they paid someone good to do that. Overall, it's just a pretty looking borefest.

• 50:50 approach to a mystery movie.

  visharl2016-01-08

  Maeve Dermody as Dr. Sarah Faithful – a psychologist with plenty of issue as her own baggage. She's brought in to investigate a case of one Skye Williams (Penelope Mitchell) after Skye is suspected in the murder of her (boy)friend. Skye insists that it was some sort of evil… some kind of "darkness" which was the cause of her boyfriend's death. Through the investigation of Skye, Sarah must come face to face with her own demons and stand up to the "darkness" which soon begins to equally harrow her. There is the introduction of a powerful hallucinogen (DMT – Dimethyltryptamine) which could be to blame for Skye's possible departures from reality. Honestly I was not sure of what was happening in the movie all along. Is the Ghost there or not?Who killed whom? There are a lot of unsolved mysteries that leaves the audience puzzling. As some one said, The Fear of Darkness is nothing that will blow your mind or change your life, but is can boast a beautifully shot picture with stunning compositions, strong performances and plenty of tension,making it well worth your time. The background scores are worth the 2 hours spent on the movie.