The Fear of Darkness (2015)

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Blistering performances.

Maeve Dermody was good in this. The cinematography was pretty good. You know a movie doesn't have much going for it when a reviewer compliments the photography. There is nothing new here. Its the usual run of the mill paint by numbers affair using the run of the mill paint by numbers stock standard horror/thriller tool of "it was all just a dream" thing. Boring.The lead was good. I see good things in her future. Granted its a tough role and not easy to carry an entire film by yourself, but she didn't really have much to work with here. I sort of feel sorry for her. Hopefully better screenplays will come her way soon.

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.

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.

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.