Darkness (2002 film)

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Darkness
Promotional poster for Darkness
Directed by	Jaume Balagueró
Produced by	Julio Fernández
Written by	Jaume Balagueró, Fernando de Felipe
Starring	Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Giancarlo Giannini
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	3 October 2002 (premiere)
Running time	102 min.
Country	Spain/USA
Language	English
Budget	~ US$10,600,000
IMDb profile

Darkness is a 2002 horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró.

Tagline: Some secrets should never come to light

1 Cast
2 Synopsis
3 Influences
4 External links

[edit] Cast

Anna Paquin – Regina
Lena Olin – Maria
Iain Glen – Mark
Giancarlo Giannini – Albert Rua
Stephan Enquist – Paul
Fele Martínez – Carlos
Fermin Reixach – Villalobos

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Forty years after an unfinished occult ritual resulted in the disappearance of six kids, an American family has moved into a never before inhabited house in Spain. The mother, Maria (Olin), wants to get the place in order, while the dad, Mark (Glen), goes to work, and their kids, teenager Regina (Paquin) and her younger brother Paul (Enquist), try to settle into their daily routines.

It helps that Mark's doctor father, Albert Rua (Giannini), is nearby, especially when Mark begins to suffer from some mental breakdown attacks that periodically reoccur. Regina is not only worried about him, but also Paul who is now scared of the dark for the first time. The young boy has reason for that, however, as there seems to be some sort of supernatural force beneath his bed. Furthermore, there are instances when figures of kids are seen standing in the shadow and darkness, watching the family.

As Paul becomes more scared and their father increasingly unstable, Regina eventually figures out it must have something to do with their home where the power is lost everyday. With the help of her new friend, Carlos (Martinez), the two eventually meet the man, Villalobos (Reixach), who designed the house, and learn that it was built for supernatural reasons to coincide with an eclipse that only occurs every forty years. With the next one quickly approaching, and now armed with the knowledge that the earlier occult ritual needs one more death to be completed, Regina races to make sure that Paul is not the final victim.

[edit] Influences

The association of the Darkness with lies, malevolence and evil in the film echoes the Jewish and Christian visions of the serpent in the Garden of Eden and of the Devil or Satan.

However, the Darkness as depicted in the film resembles that found in ancient Egyptian mythology and religion - the state of chaos and formless void that existed before Creation and which constantly threatened existence thereafter. This primal darkness was embodied in the Ogdoad and in the great serpent Apophis; was associated with water (hence the constant rain); and opposed Ma'at, the Egyptian concept of Truth and Order).