The Dark (2005)

Sean Bean turns up again in a small role which should have been bigger but obviously due to wasting time on Silent Hill he knocked this one out pretty quickly too.

He doesn't do a bad job as the sculptor and father whose daughter disappears to the netherworld of Annwyn (pronounced Anoon) following what looks like a drowning but the eye candy for me was Maria Bello who has a sort of early Lindsay Wagner quality about her. She's just one of those people who looks familiar even though you've probably never seen them in a movie before (Coyote Ugly and Secret Window for those who wonder what else she was in!).

The biggest problem with this film was that it was very dark. It wasn't overly scary or dark in subject matter considering it was set half in the world of Welsh mythology and ghosties but it was filmed very darkly so it was hard to make a lot of it out. I suppose it was cheaper to make that way... less set design costs for a start, not that anyone cares.

The second problem, you see, is that it's a bit boring. It's more than a bit slow and turgid and although a couple of attempts are made at scary scenes, they just doesn't amount to anything. And yes, I did fall asleep in the middle of it. My boredom circuits had overloaded. It was a bit too similar to Half Light at this point... a drowned child, bereaved parents one of which is a bit arty, remote region of Britain, one parent American the other British, etc etc. See my point?

Even the titles had me wondering... was this going to be two identical stories in a row? Well, not quite. This one is more mythology and is certainly more pointless than Half Light.

Sean Bean does his real voice and doesn't even attempt a Welsh accent which is fair enough as it was all filmed on the isle of Man rather than some remote Welsh place anyway. I have no idea why they do things like that. I'm sure there couldn't be anywhere cheaper to film in than Wales.

But back to the story. Yes, the little girl disappears and then a creepy ghosty type little girl turns up and the rest of the story unfolds... and again, I'm not going to spoil it anymore for you. It has a twist at the end which is unfortunately quite predictable.

If you like mythology and Sean Bean you'll watch this anyway. If you are expecting shit-yer-pant-scary horror, you'd be better off with something else.