Movie Review: ‘The Dark’
Posted by alex in Alex Linder, movie reviews, VNN Staff at 10:01 am | 
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“The Dark”
2004(debut), 2006/starring Maria Bello and Sean Bean/directed by John Fawcett/screenplay by Stephen Massicotte/on DVD
Reviewed by VNN Staff
We bet that most Jews and liberals won’t enjoy “The Dark” much – after all, there isn’t a negro, a Mexican, a homosexual or an AIDS patient in sight. Worse, the movie takes place not in some big, cosmopolitan city full of brown immigrants and sleazy women, but instead on a barren, rocky coastline in Wales. (Don’t Jews and liberals avoid barren, rocky coastlines unless someone is being “oppressed” on one?)
This ghost story features a young mother (Bello) and her pre-teen daughter traveling to England to visit the girl’s father (Bean) at his isolated country house near the sea. Big and scary trouble follows, including the daughter’s mysterious drowning. There’s an old folk legend involved, and the ending is rather unexpected. Oh, and there’s some sheep in it, too…kinda scary sheep. That’s all the plot outline you really need here. Watch the movie yourself to get the rest of it.
Bottom line: “The Dark” is a reasonably good fright-film, with skilled cinematography of seashores and cliffs, and enough twists and turns to hold the viewer’s attention. It also has a “(The) Ring”-type of feel to it in some scenes, if that helps you any. Bello gives a decent performance as the mother who will do anything – yep, anything – for her daughter. And Bean gives her sturdy support as the husband who only wants to do the right thing, regardless of the circumstances.
If we had to assign a letter grade to this movie, we’d give it a B.