The Darkness (film)

The Darkness
File:The Darkness poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Greg McLean
Produced by	Jason Blum Matthew Kaplan Bianca Martino Greg McLean
Written by	Shayne Armstrong S.P. Krause Greg McLean
Starring	Kevin Bacon Radha Mitchell Jennifer Morrison Lucy Fry David Mazouz Ming-Na Wen Paul Reiser
Music by	Johnny Klimek
Cinematography	Toby Oliver
Edited by	Sean Lahiff
Production company	Blumhouse Productions Chapter One Films EMU Creek Pictures
Distributed by	Blumhouse Tilt High Top Releasing Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 13, 2016 (2016-05-13)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4 million
Box office	$10.1 million

The Darkness (formerly 6 Miranda Drive) is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed by Greg McLean and co-written with Shayne Armstrong and Shane Krause. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, David Mazouz, Lucy Fry, Matt Walsh, Jennifer Morrison, Ming-Na Wen and Parker Mack.

The film is based on what are said to be actual events about a family who visits the Grand Canyon and bring home a supernatural force that feeds off their fears and takes over their lives. Filming began in April 2014 in Los Angeles and ended in May the same year.

Blumhouse Productions and Chapter One Films produced the film and it released it on May 13, 2016 to negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Peter and Bronny Taylor go on a vacation to the Grand Canyon with their children, Stephanie and Mikey, and meet with some friends. While having a cookout, their friend Andrew follows a trail into the canyon with Mikey and Stephanie. While Andrew and Stephanie leave Mikey sitting on a rock to continue the trail, Mikey falls through the sand and soon discovers a small cave, where he finds black rocks with symbols on them, Mikey then takes the rocks and puts them into his backpack, not telling anybody what's happened.

When the Taylors return home, strange things begin to happen. Bronny finds that the sink keeps turning on, and Stephanie sees handprints on a steamy mirror, both of which Mikey blames on “Jenny”. Stephanie also sees a reflection of a demon on the oven. While investigating a noise from the attic, a shadow appears behind Bronny. She turns around to find Mikey, who says "Jenny" taught him a secret way to get up there. Meanwhile, Peter starts flirting with a new employee at his job.

After Stephanie gets home from school, she vomits into a container and puts it under her bed. She turns to see Bronny watching her, and becomes angry. When Peter returns home, he sees a crow on the hood of the car. However, he rushes into the house after hearing Stephanie screaming.

He finds Stephanie pushing Bronny and arguing. Peter grabs the angry Stephanie and pushes her out of the room and locks the door. Bronny tells Peter that she's been throwing up for a while, and reveals that there are many containers under her bed filled with vomit. Peter takes Stephanie to a hospital to try to get her help from a therapist.

Bronny leaves Mikey at her mother's house while she heads to the hospital with Peter. Mikey finds his pet cat, and he follows it into the living room while his grandmother cleans up the kitchen, the door closing behind him. When he turns around he sees a snake on the counter and screams. Peter arrives at the hospital and the doctor tells him that a snake got into the house but no one got hurt. However when Bronny's mother got out, she found Mikey trying to kill her cat, much to Peter’s disbelief.

At home, Bronny searches for answers to the strange activity online and finds out about the Anasazi Indians, who believed that demons that were bound to rocks hidden in underground caves. It is also believed that if the rocks are taken, the demons take the shape of a crow, a snake, a coyote, a wolf, and a buffalo. They connect to young children who are dragged into their world triggering an event known as 'The Darkness'. The only way they can be banished is if the rocks are returned to where they were found by somebody who's not afraid.

As she sends the video to Peter, she hears a noise and rushes into Mikey's room to find part of his wall on fire. When Peter comes home he tries to talk to Mikey, but he hides in his tree house. Peter rules out the possibility of ghosts. A couple of days later, Bronny and Peter leave for a dinner to meet Peter’s boss and his wife. When they arrive, the Boss's wife starts to talk about the supernatural before her husband cuts her off. Peter gets embarrassed when Bronny mentions the strange events.

When they get home she finds Mikey covered in black-marks from the part of the wall that was on fire. Blood then pours from his mouth. Peter takes a look at Mikey but he seems fine. Later that night, Bronny has a nightmare that she sees a wolf in the hallway, and Mikey talking to the 'Sky People’ in his room. She asks where they are and they tell her they are behind her. She turns around, screams, and wakes up. Depressed, she buys two bottles of liquor and later confronts Peter about a past affair.

That night, Bronny locks herself in the bathroom and cries while drinking and looking at family pictures on the computer. As Mikey sits in his room, the sheets on the floor rise up with the shape of a figure underneath, and he asks if Jenny is there. Demonic hands come out of the fire-damaged part of the wall, which is revealed to be a portal.

Peter comes home and hears a noise coming from the tree house and goes to investigate. Stephanie wakes and as she looks over, she discovers a handprint on the wall. She starts to get up when more handprints appear one-by-one on her wall. Her bathroom door then opens up, handprints appear on her body, with one handprint on her neck, choking her. In the tree house, Peter sees a coyote which runs away. He then looks up at Stephanie's window and sees the shadow of a demon behind her curtains. The force stops choking Stephanie as Peter rushes in and sits her down in the hallway. Bronny zooms in on a photo from the Grand Canyon and sees a demonic-shape in the background. Peter breaks down Mikey's bathroom door, and finds a smiling Mikey with marks all over the walls and ceiling.

Peter calls a number given to him by his boss, a Hispanic woman named Teresa answers, she is said to perform 'spiritual healings'. Teresa comes over with her granddaughter, Gloria, who acts as a translator. Peter tells them about their trip to the Grand Canyon and Gloria explains about the stones and Anasazi Indians. As they cleanse the house, Teresa and Gloria go into Mikey's room, and note that this is where the real evil lives. They recite a chant as glass rises from the floor and flies at them. They leave and head downstairs to begin the chant again, when the glass table breaks. Mikey goes upstairs to try and enter the portal.

When they realize Mikey's gone, the family race upstairs. Peter rushes into Mikey's room, and locks the door behind him. He sees Mikey walking into the portal with the demons. Peter finds the stones on the floor, and follows Mikey into the portal with them, but he can't set the stones down due to his fear. He offers to swap places with Mikey, and starts walking away with the demons, but Mikey picks up the stones and puts them back down saying 'I'm not afraid!'. The demons leave and Peter and Mikey jump out of the portal together. It disappears, and Gloria declares that the house is clean of evil energy.

The film ends with the family enjoying a picnic together.

Cast

• Kevin Bacon as Peter Taylor
• Radha Mitchell as Bronny Taylor
• David Mazouz as Michael Taylor
• Lucy Fry as Stephanie Taylor
• Matt Walsh as Gary Carter
• Jennifer Morrison as Joy Carter
• Ming-Na Wen as Wendy
• Parker Mack as Andrew Carter
• Trian Long-Smith as Sammy Levin
• Paul Reiser
• Tara Lynne Barr as Kat
• Judith McConnell as Trish
• Krista Marie Yu as Tasha
• A.J. Tannen as H. Quinlan

Production

On February 25, 2014, Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell joined the film. On March 5, it was revealed that director Greg McLean said, "The story is based on a true story that was relayed to me first-hand many years ago about an actual haunting." On April 11, David Mazouz was added to the film. On May 6, Ming-Na Wen joined the cast of the film. On May 7, Lucy Fry was added to the cast to play Stephanie in the Taylor family. Trian Long-Smith also joined the film on the same day to play Sammy Levin, the savvy, bright and flirtatious intern working for Peter Taylor’s character. On May 9, Matt Walsh joined the cast of the film, to play Carter's family member as Gary Carter. Parker Mack also joined the film. On May 14, Jennifer Morrison was added to the cast to play Joy Carter, Gary's wife and also a mother of a child.

Filming

Principal photography began in April 2014 in Los Angeles. The filming ended in May 2014. The film was shot with the camera Arri Alexa Plus 4:3, revealed by cinematographer Toby Oliver.

Music

On June 2, 2014, Johnny Klimek was hired to score the film.

Reception

Box office

The Darkness was projected to gross $3–5 million from 1,755 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $206,000 from its Thursday night previews and $2.1 million on its first day. It went on to gross $5 million in its opening weekend, finishing 4th at the box office behind Captain America: Civil War ($72.6 million), The Jungle Book ($17.1 million) and fellow newcomer Money Monster ($14.8 million).

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 5%, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 2.4/10. On Metacritic the film has a score of 27 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.

External links

• The Darkness at IMDb
• The Darkness at Rotten Tomatoes