| Danika | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ariel Vromen |
| Produced by | Lorena David John Parenteau Mark A. Roberts Daniel Bickel (uncredited) |
| Written by | Joshua Leibner |
| Starring | Marisa Tomei Regina Hall Craig Bierko Kyle Gallner Nicki Prian Ridge Canipe Bailey Hughes |
| Music by | Gilad Benamram |
| Cinematography | Darko Suvak |
| Editing by | Danny Rafic |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 26, 2006 |
| Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Danika is a 2006 horror film directed by Israeli Ariel Vromen. It stars Marisa Tomei, Craig Bierko and Regina Hall. The film was released on DVD in the US on December 26, 2006.
Contents |
Danika Merrick (Marisa Tomei) suffers from increasingly disturbing paranoid hallucinations. Most of her hallucinations involve threats to her family and media-fuelled fears such as child kidnappings, car accidents, her children lying, and terrorism. Danika confides to her husband, Randy (Craig Bierko), and Evelyn (Regina Hall), her psychiatrist.
The movie begins with Danika apologizing for being late, and being scolded by her bank manager about incorrect collections. Her manager leaves the office instructing Danika to correct the errors, and remain in the office.
Danika then witnesses a bank robbery in progress with two trigger-happy robbers shooting anyone that moves. The alarm goes off and the robbers force Danika's boss to tell them where the security monitors are located. The manager points to her office where a shivering Danika seeks shelter in the corner. As the door opens, she expects to come face to face with a gun toting bank robber, but is confronted by her manager who wonders what is wrong with her.
The movie continues with increasingly paranoid hallucinations including finding a human head in a grocery bag, witnessing her daughter's teacher killed by falling glass, believing that her son's partner for a school assignment is trying to give her son AIDS, et cetera.
At the end of the film, the audience learns that Danika had been in a car accident years earlier while driving her young children. The accident had occurred immediately after Danika learned her husband was having an affair with the children's nanny. In the car accident, all of her children had died, and Danika was the only survivor.
At the end of the film, a homeless Danika sits watching the intersection where the accident had occurred. She slowly walks away pushing a shopping cart filled with her children's belongings. All of the events after the accident, concerning getting back together with her husband and raising her children to young adulthood, have been a hallucination Danika experiences because of the guilt she has over being responsible for her children's deaths.
The film is directed by Ariel Vromen and written by Joshua Leibner. Danika's budget is estimated to be $5,000,000. Danika saw its world premiere at the 2006 CineVegas Film Festival in Las Vegas. At the San Diego Film Festival in 2006, the film picked up awards for "Best Film" and "Best Actress"[1][2], the latter won by Regina Hall.