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Overall Rating : 3/10
Directed By : Ray Gower
Thora Birch (Ghost World)
Toby Stephens
Christien Anholt (Relic Hunter)
Supplied By : Union Station Media / Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Apr. 19, 2007
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| PLOT A troubled young woman wakes up one day as a different person, someone being stalked by terrifying creatures. But what is the dream and what is reality? |
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| THE REVIEW In the film DARK CORNERS Susan Hamilton has been having rater disturbing nightmares lately. The nightmares see a young girl named Karen go through a number of things like the dead corpses at the morgue where she works talking back to her - but the most frightening thing about these dreams is that Karen is being stalked by a hooded madman(in one dream she is even killed by him). Susan does not know where the dreams are coming from, but those around her chalk it up to the stress cause by trying to conceive a child with her Boyfriend, which hasn't been as successful as she hoped - not to mention that there has been a real killer on the lose know as "The Night Stalker" killing women around town. It seems that everything that happens in real life for Susan is being combined to form the dark nightmares that haunt her. Susan sees a shrink to shake the dreams out of her head, but soon enough they come back, and they are far worse than before, They are so worse that even things from the nightmares begin to crossover into Susan's real life, and Susan can't seem to locate the line between reality and fiction. I have had my screener of DARK CORNERS sitting on my shelf for about a month now. Well, since I am a fan of Thora Birch and the release date is drawing near, I thought i'd check it out - and some how I am glad I waited to see this one. I see this because DARK CORNERS turned up to be one big confusing mess. so confusing that after I watched this thing, I wasn't sure just how exactly I was going to write about this one exactly, still don't(I hate when that happens). but I will try my best anyway. We have a woman named Susan, who happen's to dream about a woman named Karen, whom is continuously stalked in another world. Both characters are played by Thora Birch, who is a Blonde as Susan and a Brunette as Karen - Susan's world is normal, peaceful and bright, while Karen's is dark gloomy and grim. Susan sees Karen stalked and killed but later in the film it seems as if even Karen is beginning to have her own nightmares inside of Susan's nightmares(what????) Yeah if you didn't understand what I just typed - don't worry because, you're not alone.... neither did I. I wish I could better explain this film to you, I really do, but just ask anyone whom has seen this...I bet they couldn't either. About the one thing in this film that makes any logical sense is the subplot of Susan thing to have a baby with her Boyfriend David, They are having trouble so they go the invetro route and Susan is frightened about being put under due to the nightmares. Well, all of this we understand, and just when we think we are kind of smooth sailing, something happens to through the viewer off again....this happens when things from the dream world begin to crossover into reality. At first, I admit that the concept reminded me a little of Wes Craven's shocker - which like in Craven's other masterpiece A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, a killer from the dream world breaches into reality. But the reason I was reminded of SHOCKER first, was because in that, the main character sees someone else killed rather than themselves, it is clearly obvious that they tried to be original in a sense - but sorry it's already been done. And also when speaking of the film's originality, the ending was also cooked up to be one to shock the audience but even that failed as the twist apparently unforeseen by the filmmakers was made highly predictable in the middle of the film....you just saw it coming. In the end the film looks great visually and the dream world almost gives off the vibe of an Italian film, which I thought was nice. But the rest of the film tries to be too clever and too ambitious for it's own good - a lot is shown but very little is thoroughly explained, leaving the audience confused, and after awhile even bored. The characters are also bland having very little development, perhaps the only likable characters are those played by Birch(who was the main selling point for this film anyway). Thora Birch is so talented, in fact I couldn't emphasize that enough. It's a wordier why she'd take roles such as the one in THE HOLE and this film - both films weren't all that good nor successful, I guess she expected more than she got from them. |
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| GORE
METER 3/10 All I remember is a few mutilated bodies, bloody corpses, a bloody fetus(not as graphic as it seems) and a slit throat....nothing that great. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3.5/10 Just suspenseful fare that doesn't seem too original, much like the movie itself. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM As I said, I love Thora, but this film was just too tangled up as it tries so hard to be original, for me to take a real liking to. This film has been getting a mixed reception by views, and I feel fan's that like this aren't really looking for much as the imagery is enough entertainment for them. But me, i'm the opposite, when I watch a film, I want a great story not so much coo visuals(although they are a bonus) I just couldn't find a real story here - I agree with The Arrow's review.....just what was this??? This DVD will be released on May 22, 2007 |
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