Dark Circles (2013)

Let's be realistic.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I came to watch this film with low expectations as it was on the horror channel. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the directing was excellent. Especially like the facing person perspective when the mother was exhausted and going through the motions of collecting clothes for washing. I have watched numerous mainstream horror films that have been well received but severely lacking in plot, suspense, acting skill and sense. This film ticked all the boxes for me. The acting was strong and the way their lives and relationship slowly degraded through lack of sleep and what was happening to them was really well done. As a mother of 4 kids I can fully understand the effects of sleep deprivation. I liked the way the couple were left doubting themselves and didn't know whether they were hallucinating from lack of sleep or whether the things they were seeing were real. I did find it unbelievable that they would have stuck so stubbornly to staying in the house. I think realistically they would have given up on the house long before. And where were family or friends in all that time? And why did they insist on keeping the child in his own room? Realistically they would have brought him in with them long before too. The ending surprised me and I thought it was a good twist. Although there were some believability issues I still gave this film a 9 as after, becoming jaded by so many over hyped under quality horror films, I felt this was really effective, very suspenseful and really well directed. I would definitely recommend it.

"Dark Circles" was somewhat of a less than mediocre experience. And I mean that in the best possible way.What made it less than mediocre was the slow storyline and the fact that nothing overly interesting happened at all through out the entire 87 minutes that the movie ran for.That being said, then it should be noted that the actors were actually doing good enough jobs with their performances, they were just struggling against an uphill battle against a horrible script and a very anti-climatic storyline.The story is about a family moving into a newly acquired house with their baby. But soon thereafter they realize that there is no rest, peace and quiet here, as the neighbors are constructing a house. And something inside their newly acquired house is not welcoming them with open arms.The movie is nicely enough edited and filmed, just a shame that the storyline failed to be impressive.As for a horror movie, then "Dark Circles" was awfully devoid of scary moments and anything even remotely disturbing. And this also contributed to the slow, dull pace that the movie trotted on in.

Starring an unknown cast, 'Dark Circles' treads familiar grounds, with a family moving away to the rural side of the USA in order to escape the hectic life in the city. From it's chilling 5 minute opening up to its eventual climax, 'Dark Circles' presents itself as a good start to this years run of 'After Dark Originals'. With the aforementioned opening 5 minutes effectively setting the tone for what's to come, I got the feeling that this could very well be a good horror movie.With a movie like this, and a plot that has been used countless upon countless times it's quite hard to be original and I think the director (first time feature director Paul Soter) decided to sidestep that by just trying to give us as many creepy moments as possible. For the largest part he succeeds by giving us a rundown of the common and not so common tactics to scare us. Loud sounds, a point of view camera, shapes in the distance drawing near, and a very ominous soundtrack consisting of the same 4 tone piano medley all work together to give us the unsettling vibe that is so highly sought after in these types of movies.What makes a movie great though, is its story.dark-circles-3 And while it sets out promising, with the main leads openly discussing the disturbing things they are witnessing, ultimately it degrades itself by falling back into the old habits of horror. They start to distrust one another (which only serves as a cheap setup to give us some more scary scenes) and the plot moves from one angle to the complete opposite without any clear given reason as to why.It didn't manage to make me dislike the movie all together, but it took away from the experience I was having up until 50 minutes into its 86 minute total. The final resolve made me think of 'High Tension' a French horror movie which had an ending that totally ruined all that came before it.While 'Dark Circles' doesn't tread the same grounds as that one, nor did it have as much impact as 'High Tension' had, its ending makes you wonder about the logic that's being used here.Can a ghost be killed by a knife? Will it come back? What about the people who die over the course of the movie? and what about the marriage that was under huge pressure up until 2 minutes before the end of the movie? Ultimately, 'Dark Circles' is one of those movies that entertains, but doesn't manage to rear its head amongst the better horror movies. Being a virgin in this genre could benefit your experience as a viewer, but as a seasoned vet it's a case of been there, done that.To summarize: some genuinely creepy scenes, an effective soundtrack, decent acting and a very well shot movie make this one of the better entries into the 'After Dark Originals' library. But that doesn't mean it's great.

If you don't watch a lot of horror/thriller flicks you may get a bit of novelty out of this film but for a fan of the genre it's going to be predictable. This is just one of those movies that didn't have enough of a horror element to really frighten, instead they relied on a really not so scary ghost lady who is just chilling in cupboards and watching people through windows. Also I was just a little confused and frustrated at times with the decisions our stressed out couple, some simple decision making skills would have lead to me to actually believe this could be a plausible story, but alas, it seems this movie should have ended with the baby in the dryer and really scored some gore points. if this was targeted to any type of audience it would most likely be used as a tool to scare young couples into using birth control, I suppose teen mom on MTV could be a little more scary then this movie, that show is real.