Challenger

When I was a child, the dark was one of the last things I was afraid of. After seeing Boogeyman, that fear has been reassessed...and I’m still not afraid of the dark. It was the same with Darkness Falls, whose plot is almost identical to that of our current child-hood-nightmares-come-to-life film. I remember sitting in the dark theater, watching the commercials before the movie, when it dawned on me that there were ten other people in the theater. No lie. After watching the movie, I compared it to one of the commercials. Robert DeNiro’s American Express card commercial was far more dramatic and entertaining then the actual movie.

As the movie opens, the main character, Tim, is alone in his room. He hears those weird noises most of us heard as a child, and freaks out. His dad soon comes in to tell Tim it was all his imagination. When Tim’s dad opens the closet, Mr. Boog is more than happy to prove to him that he is NOT an imaginary closet monster.
Fifteen years later, Tim is an adult, living on his own, and who still fears dark closets. After a bizarre dream involving his mother, Tim takes a journey back to his home to confront his fears, and to attend his mother’s funeral. Let’s pause right here. It seems Tim had a bad relationship with his mother. Throughout the movie we see flash backs of his past, but nothing really gives depth as to why, in the dream, his mother was crazy.

There isn’t really anything else to mention about the actual plot of the film. I could talk about some of the other characters that make brief appearances (was that Lucy Lawless?) but that would give away the movie. Lighting for the movie was awful, but when the entire movie deals with what one fears in the dark, you just have to deal. If the producers gave a bit more background on the characters, the movie would have actually made a lot more sense. Those with simple minds need not worry, the plot isn’t exactly a stumper.

Despite the movie’s obvious flaws, it makes for a decent flick. Even though it was better than Darkness Falls, I wouldn’t pay money to see this movie again.