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Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Sullivan Stapleton ... see more see more... , Steve Mouzakis , Peter Curtin , Kestie Morassi , Jenny Lovell , Peter Stanton , Angus Sampson , Joshua Anderson , Emily Browning , Rebecca McCauley , Daniel Daperis

Children have a very good reason to be afraid of the dark in this flashy horror story. Matilda Dixon was a genially eccentric woman who, in the 1850s, lived in a New England town known as Darkness Fal... read more read more...ls. Matilda was well known to the local children for her habit of paying them for teeth they'd lost, but when two youngsters mysteriously disappeared, Matilda was lynched by an angry mob wrongly convinced that she had murdered the kids. In the year 2002, former Darkness Falls resident Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley) lives in Las Vegas and is still desperately afraid of the dark since a childhood run-in with the ghost of Matilda Dixon left him severely traumatized. While police and psychiatrists scoffed at Kyle's stories about Matilda's spirit, his childhood friend Caitlin (Emma Caulfield) is alarmed when her nine-year-old brother Michael (Lee Cormie) begins having nightmares very much like those which disturbed Kyle's rest for years. Like Kyle, Michael has little luck convincing most grown-ups that the white-robed specters he sees in the dark are real, so Caitlin asks Kyle to return to Darkness Falls to help get to the bottom of his story. Darkness Falls marked the directorial debut of filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

45% liked it

79,564 ratings

Critics

9% liked it

126 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 26 min.

Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman

Release Date: January 24, 2003

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DVD Release Date: April 29, 2003

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Stats: 3,127 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (3,127)

  • 3niR
    March 25, 2011
    3niR
    It started out real good. I mean REAL good. I absolutely loved the beginning. It was dead creepy. But then it started to get corny and boring in the end. Kyle's acting wasn't that good. His "stay in the light" dialogue seemed to be more like uttering a memorized line witho... read moreut having any feelings in it. And it kinda bothered me when all the characters died (except the main ones, of course).
  • matertenebraum
    July 17, 2009
    matertenebraum
    While the opening scene was promising and genuinely suspenseful, the rest of the movie wanders in a different direction to make it ultimately suck.

    I like the idea of not looking at the antagonist - sounds like the concept of a creepy myth. So why didn't they put more emphasis i... read moren that and leave all of the crap out? I really don't want to spend too much time writing this, as such a disappointing film doesn't really deserve the time of day....so why am I wasting my time writing this? It's even more pointless than the film itself.

    Oh well, I'll go now.
  • kiriyamakazou
    March 27, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    The film starts with an interesting story of an old woman loved by children, but victimised when she is disfigured. It's a quick 4 minute narration, but it's more interesting than the rest of this film. They should have made the film a period piece. Instead it becomes a usual hor... read moreror. What's really annoying is that the first 10 minutes are brilliant. Genuine chills and jumps, not to mention those freaky moments where you want to look away. The main problem with Darkness Falls is a complete lack of characters, but plenty of people. People are introduced just to be slaughtered. The film is so short that they had to make the credits 11 minutes long just so they could show the film theatrically. Perhaps they should have spent some time developing the protagonists. Upon further searching, the design of the Tooth Fairy was changed, for the worst. The original design was creepy and unholy. Now it's just some pissed off old girl. Very missable indeed.
  • MidnightMadwoman
    June 22, 2008
    MidnightMadwoman
    The effects in this movie are well-done and I really like the child actor in it, but there's not much else to say about this. You know those horror movies where the horror would end if the main characters weren't such dumbasses? This is one of those. None of the characters are li... read morekeable, but the movie is short, so you don't have to put up with them for long. There's nothing to HATE about this movie, but there was nothing special about it.
  • CrookedlittleB33
    May 18, 2008
    CrookedlittleB33
    Eh. Cool idea, I guess.
  • newvogueravyn
    March 11, 2008
    newvogueravyn
    I liked the backstory and the visuals of the Tooth Fairy (particularly the china mask), but that was about all that was vaguely original. There were stock background characters (cops who don't believe and get in over their heads, 'menacing hick', lawyer...and of course, the dialo... read moregue is primarily made up of certain phrases, in this case: "Stay in the light!" and the child's name (not quite as bad as Silent Hill for that one, but SH brought more to the party overall). So, would I watch this again? Maybe if it was on TV and I was very bored. The Tooth Fairy visuals are worth it but they're too spread out amongst the the trite stuff.
  • harrycaul
    October 31, 2007
    harrycaul
    A silly, instantly forgettable horror film. One imagines that when the bill for the half-decent effects came in there was no money left in the kitty for any stars. The plot, what there is of one, chugs along exactly by the book and the hero spends most of his time bellowing "Stay... read more in the light!", with variable earnestness, at incredulous and ill-fated bit-players. The 'frights' are strictly of the 'something bursting quickly into the frame accompanied by a loud noise' variety.
  • deano
    July 22, 2007
    deano
    What a scary and thrill in the dark like what people are in this supernatural-horror film.
  • djdemersseman
    June 21, 2007
    djdemersseman
    so let me get this straight... the tooth fairy is evil? and she flies around in the sky for half the movie? oh and if we stay in the light, we stay alive? GREAT! half star
  • garyX
    April 30, 2007
    garyX
    This is a tricky one to rate. Basically, it's shit. But at the same time, it didn't bore me because it's not pretentious, and at just over 70 mins, it's mercifully short. It has literally no plot to speak of and the dialogue is lame and repetititive; it feels like a po-faced and ... read morelesser episode of the X-Files, but it's reasonably well shot. In the end, a sense of humour would've helped immensely. Inoffensive rubbish.

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Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones
February 26, 2007
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

It begins with not one but two prologues; one character turns up out of nowhere, his introduction no doubt left on the cutting-room floor; and the paltry 85-minute running time includes 15 minutes of ... Full Review

Ann Hornaday
September 26, 2005
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Oy, how it falls. Full Review

Peter Travers
January 31, 2003
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Do you really need me to tell you how scary this horror show isn't?

Alex Pappademas
January 28, 2003
Alex Pappademas, Village Voice

This is horror-flick boo-ya at its most rote. Full Review

Bruce Fretts
January 25, 2003
Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly

Like something salvaged from Stephen King's wastebasket. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 24, 2003
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

A truly awful and extremely loud scareflick.

Peter Howell
January 24, 2003
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

There's not a jot of originality in Darkness Falls, but there are a few good scares. Full Review

Carla Meyer
January 24, 2003
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

Announcing her presence with a phlegmy wheeze, the Fairy strikes swiftly and sometimes even scarily, thanks to Stan Winston's ace special effects. But the movie's premise ... telegraphs her appearance... Full Review

Steven Rea
January 24, 2003
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Stephen King without the snap, David Lynch without the kink, teen horror without the teen hormones, Darkness Falls falls apart in a crescendo of creepy-crawly hoo-ha.

Gene Seymour
January 24, 2003
Gene Seymour, Newsday

If you need to be really scared of the dark, you're better off making up stuff from the shadows in your own room. Full Review

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Darkness Falls Trivia

  • "Where once was light, now darkness falls,..." is from which movie?  Answer »
  • What 2003 horror starred the following actors and actresses? Emma Caulfield, Chaney Kley, Emily Brown, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro, Sullivan Stapleton   Answer »
  • What movie is about an evil tooth fairy?  Answer »
  • ****MOVIE ANTONYMS**** Have some fun guessing what movie by reading its opposite lightness rises  Answer »
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