14. Darkness Falls (Liebesman)
By Eivind Langdal
15th October 2009

How important is darkness to horror movies exactly? Well, try to pretend you are a horror director assigned to make a horror movie without any significant use of it. Think you could have done it? No? Me neither. Indeed, many directors in the horror genre should be happy the sun occasionally finds itself at the other side of the Earth, resulting in (you guessed it): darkness.

It’s not that the darkness itself is so scary. It’s what inside it, or, to be more specific, what might be inside it that really make people’s skin go white. Darkness itself isn’t really harmful (though it might make you walk straight into a tree in a forest because you can’t see a goddamn thing). It’s simply our imaginations playing tricks with us. Walking through the woods at night won’t harm you. Or can it? Darkness Falls is a movie that asks a “what if?” question: what if darkness was actually so dangerous it could kill you?

To me, that’s the kind of simple, but effective pitch that just… works. I mean, could you imagine staying in the light for, say, 20 years? That’s what Kyle Walsh has had to do. As a kid, he lived in the city of Darkness Falls, where a local legend tells the tale of an elderly woman named Matilda, who lived in the town 150 years ago. She was like a real-life tooth fairy, as kids who lost their teeth could visit her and receive a gold coin. One day, however, Matilda’s face was horribly burned (which meant she had to wear a porcelain mask outside the house), and when two kids went missing, the townspeople put the blame on her. They hanged her, but before she died, she managed to put a curse on the town: “What I took before in kindness, I now take forever in revenge”. The next day, the two kids were found again, alive and well. But by then it was too late.

Since then, parents in Darkness Falls have told the story of Matilda to their kids: when they lose their final wisdom tooth, she will come and visit them. If they don’t peek, they will survive. But if they do, they will die. Most people don’t believe it, which brings me back to Kyle Walsh, a young boy who, in the beginning of the film, has just lost his last wisdom tooth. He puts it under his pillow, but before he can fall to sleep, a dark figure has entered the room. It’s Matilda. Kyle decides to peek. Not a good idea. He manages to run to the bathroom, but his mother is killed. As it turns out, Matilda can’t go in the light. So there Kyle waits for several hours before morning eventually announces its arrival and the police arrive to take him away to the mental hospital.

Flash forward 10 years, and Kyle is still alive, but also still haunted by the memory of his childhood. He always carries tons of flashlights with him, and never steps into to the dark. If he hadn’t peeked that night 10 years ago, he wouldn’t have had to be as careful now, but because he not only peeked, but also survived, he will have to live forever knowing he must always keep spares batteries for anything that can provide some light (though I guess that don’t include bonfires).

However, Kyle soon learns of a young boy who has gone through the same as he. That young boy is Michael, the brother of Kyle’s childhood sweetheart Caitlin. He is currently situated in a bed in a hospital, where the doctors hopelessly try to figure out why he won’t go out in the dark. Of course, both Kyle and Michael know exactly why, but the former is too haunted by his own past to try and do something to help. Then he meets Matilda again, and decides that perhaps being constantly afraid of the dark is not something he’d want a young boy to be. So now he must kill Matilda. If that even is possible.

Darkness Falls is not a horror masterpiece. Let’s be clear about that. But for me, it’s actually kind of a guilty pleasure. If you have no pretense that every horror film should be a clear-cut masterpiece, then you’ll like Darkness Falls. I’m not talking about lowering your expectations. The problem with this film isn’t that’s it’s bad, because it isn’t. No, the problem is that it doesn’t seem to have any ambitions of being great. So it ends up being somewhere in-between. It’s the kind of film you might catch on TV one late night and decide, “Hey, why not?” Once it’s finished, you might have been slightly satisfied. Sure, you might not buy it, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t like it. If there ever was a film that should be rented, this is it.

But hold on, is there really nothing extraordinary about Darkness Falls? Actually, I think there is. The opening sequence, with the chilly prologue telling Matilda’s story and the following scene with the young Kyle is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Watching it, I almost considered not doing this column, as I realized that dedicating so much time in my life to horror films could do things to my head if I kept watching ones with scenes as scary as that one.

Matilda, too, is a wonderful creation. I have a fondness for those horror films that at least to try make up their own story and characters, instead of just lazily rehashing old ones. Predictably, none of the main characters here are as interesting as the film’s villain, and although her face is hidden for most of the film, she still manages to pack quite a punch. Once the mask falls and her face is revealed, though you’ll be glad you’ve grown up and don’t have to lose any more wisdom teeth. If you do, remember to not peek!