by Mo-bunny
"Darkness falls asleep in the theater and wants her money back."
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This was a truly thought provoking film, bringing to mind such questions as: "In the 21st century, why is the electrical system in a hospital so faulty?" "Why are people using an elevator in a building without electricity?" "Why is said elevator working if there's no electricity?" and "Why is a room immersed in gasoline not exploding?"Aside from these pressing questions, this film was a complete bore-fest. There was nothing new, which in and of itself isn't bad, but the old horror-flick rehashes weren't even done entertainingly. Not only were "Boo!!!" moments completely predictable, but there were a few spots in the film that could have been really scary - only they weren't.
The story takes place in the town of Darkness Falls - a very fortunate coincidence, as every town where evil, scary things happen should have an appropriately scary name. 150 or so years ago, a woman named Matilda lived in Darkness Falls. She was a nice lady who had a messed up face because she got burnt in a fire. Kids all over town would come to her when they lost their teeth and, because she was so nice, she'd give them a gold coin. Somehow, she gets falsely accused of killing some kids, and ends up being hanged. However, before she dies, Mathilda has time to curse the town and says that she'd kill all the children in town on the night they lost their last baby tooth.
So, we fast forward to little Kyle who loses his last baby tooth, and who happens to live in Darkness Falls. He finally gets the guts enough to ask his friend Caitlin to the big dance, and right when he's about to fall asleep, out pops the Tooth Fairy (aka, Mathilda). Supposedly, the rules that Mathilda laid out when she died are changed now (because, let's face it, if she killed EVERY kid in town when they lost their baby teeth, there would be no one left in town). Now, instead of just losing your last baby tooth, you have to also LOOK at her - oh, and like gremlins, light will kill her. So, it seems very easy to avoid being killed by Mathilda: sleep with a night-light, and keep your eyes shut.
Kyle does neither of these two things. Stupidly, when he gets scared, he peeks at the evil tooth fairy. And, again, defying her own rules, she doesn't kill him. She sort of hovers above his bed and gives him a chance to get into the bathroom where the light is on (though, why he didn't just reach over to the bedside lamp is beyond me). Kyle's mother, hearing the ruckus, comes out and decides she will prove there is nothing scary. And, defying all logic, walks down a dark hall and enters a dark room - never once attempting to turn on a light in a completely dark house. Kyle's mother, of course, doesn't live, and poor poor Kyle goes through years and years of false accusations (Darkness Falls could also be named 'AccuseEveryoneOfMurder Falls'), therapy and bad dreams because of this encounter.
Fast forward to 16 years later, and Caitlin is having problems with her brother Michael - eerily, the same problems that her old school chum Kyle used to have. So, perplexingly, she calls him completely out of the blue (long distance from the hospital, even). Even more perplexingly, he decides to go and see what he can do to help.
From this point on, the whole movie is a big, muddled mess. Mathilda shows up, and, AGAIN, starts to defy her own rules (I guess it's true even in death that women always have the right to change their minds). She begins killing random people who: #1 haven't looked at her, and #2 are well beyond childhood. She can also be in many places at the same time, and sometimes, light doesn't really bother her all that much.
Plot-wise, the movie is lame, at best. Unfortunately, a lame plot isn't the only thing that plague this film. Bad acting, horrible dialog, and cheesy effects abound in this flick. More than that, though, even when the movie is in full action-mode, there is far to little to keep you awake to see it. To top all that off, the big climax - where everyone is in a lighthouse covered in gasoline, no one ends up getting set on fire or exploding (and believe me, by that time in the film, you really want to see someone explode).While the idea of turning the Tooth Fairy into something evil is intriguing, little else about this film was. Though the film on its own is not at all entertaining, it is actually possible to have fun watching it with a group of friends and have a contest to see who can pick out the most things wrong it.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=6576&reviewer=329
originally posted: 03/03/03 16:02:46
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