Liebesman only spends as much time as necessary with "serious drama" to amplify the horror. Although I'm not usually a fan of modern films having shorter running times (it was more understandable back in the days of literal A and B films on the same bill at a theater), Darkness Falls is compact because there is little "dead time" between the suspenseful material. What really matters in a film like this is the horror material, and director Jonathan Liebesman handles it skillfully. Since I'm a big Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan, that might have supplied Emma Caulfield with some unconscious bonus points, but I loved her acting here. I loved the three main characters, and thought their performances were very good. They seemed like real people to me, with entwined pasts. I loved the small town setting of the film, and the interactions of the characters in the script. When it's initially told through a "slideshow" during the opening credits, I was thinking that I would have preferred them to give me a 10-minute historical prologue, but in retrospect, I'd prefer to see an entire film that's a prequel telling the villain's story. The villain in Darkness Falls is excellent in conception and design. However, in both of those cases, the good stuff far outweighed the bad for me. It didn't help that the climax is also slightly marred with hyperactive editing. The most crucial for me occurred during the climax, where there were a couple actions taken that I was a bit confused about. The other flaw is that there are occasional lapses in plot logic. Chaotic editing is the only thing that would fit. For example, there is a scene set the small town police station that is inherently chaotic. However, I also realized this time that at least occasionally, the editing is perfect for the scene. Occasionally it was so fast that I couldn't very well tell what was going on. The main flaw for me was some of the super-fast editing during the horror "action" scenes. I think the difference this time was for two primary reasons-one, when I first saw this in the theater it was in the midst of a slew of horror films that had similar themes, and maybe I was getting tired of it by the time I watched this one, and two, I think the positive aspects worked well enough for me this time that I was more forgiving of the few flaws the film has. Darkness Falls (2003) is a case where my rating has gone up quite a bit since my last encounter with it. Sometimes my rating goes down, sometimes it goes up, and sometimes it stays the same, but I like or dislike the film for different reasons than I did on my first viewing. It's very rare that my opinion remains the same on a film from one viewing to the next. Is the "Tooth Fairy" more than just a childhood myth? It's so much fun watching films multiple times. It seems that a town legend of the "Tooth Fairy" is haunting his imagination, and Walsh had similar experiences. Andrews earned an Academy Award for Disney's "Mary Poppins," and went on to star in the screen adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" as well as in the films "Victor Victoria," "Star!" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie.Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley) returns to the small town of Darkness Falls to help his childhood girlfriend, Caitlin Greene (Emma Caulfield), whose brother is hospitalized with severe night terrors. Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut in 1954's The Boy Friend, which was followed by the role that would launch her career, Eliza Doolittle, in My Fair Lady she also starred in Broadway's Camelot and Victor/Victoria. He is also the recipient of the tenth annual Mark Twain Award for American Humor. His film and television appearances are numerous and have resulted in six Emmy Awards, six American Comedy Awards and seven Cable Ace Awards. Filming will begin next week in Vancouver.Ĭrystal made his Broadway debut in 2004 in the solo show 700 Sundays, which earned the actor the Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards. Michael Lembeck directs a cast that features Ashley Judd, Crystal, Andrews, Stephen Merchant and Ryan Sheckler. Doubtfire" screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer has penned the screenplay for the film, which is aiming for a 2009 debut. According to Variety, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) stars as a minor league hockey player who must pay for loosening a few teeth on the ice by serving as a Tooth Fairy for a week.
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