ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - January 24th
"DARKNESS FALLS" released in 2003
MINI BLOG
A vengeful spirit has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years earlier. Her only opposition is the only child, now grown up, who has survived her before, in Jonathan Liebesman debut horror film, Darkness Falls!
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In the Nineteenth Century, in Darkness Falls, Matilda Dixon is a kind old woman, who exchanges with children their baby teeth per coins. One day, her face is burnt in a fire in her house and she becomes sensitive to light, using a china mask to protect her face against light. When two children go missing in the town, Matilda is blamed by the townsfolk and she was hanged, tearing of her mask, exposing her hideous face to the light. With her dying breath, Matilda laid a curse upon Darkness Falls and their descendants, stating that when each child loses the last tooth, she would seek her vengeance on any who lay their eyes upon her face, fulfilling her curse: What I took before in kindness, I will take forever in revenge! After her death, the two children are found, and the shamed citizens decide to bury this sad and unfair event and never mention it again. Twelve years ago, a small boy Kyle (Joshua Anderson) accidentally sees the Tooth Fairy, who kills his mother. All the persons in Darkness Falls but his girlfriend Caitlin (Emily Browning) accused the boy of murdering his her and he is sent an institution, considered deranged. In the present days, Kyle (Chaney Kley) now lives in Las Vegas, constantly avoiding the dark. Until Caitlin (Emma Caulfield) calls Kyle and asks him to return to Darkness Falls to help her with her younger brother Michael (Lee Cormie) - who has also seen the Fairy Tooth!
Above: Kyle (Chaney Kley) must overcome his fear to help save Caitlin (Emma Caulfield)and her younger brother Michael (Lee Cormie) from the Tooth Fairy!
Joe Harris originally wrote the screenplay for Darkness Falls, based on his own short film Tooth Fairy, which he wrote and directed in 2001. Co-written with James Vanderbilt and famed script-doctor John Fasano (who would also go on to co-produce the film), Darkness Falls was picked up by Sony-based production company Revolution Studios with South African filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman directing; at the time, Liebesman had won the Hollywood Young Filmmaker Award at the Hollywood Film Festival in 2000, for his 8-minute short film, Genesis and Catastrophe (based on a short story written by Roald Dahl).
The project went through five titles - The Tooth Fairy, Don't Peek, Fear of the Dark, The Tooth Fairy: The Ghost of Matilda Dixon and The Tooth Fairy: Every Legend Has Its Dark Side - before it became Darkness Falls. In a different version of the film's script, the creature only appears in the final act as an Angel of Death, designed by creatures effects supervisor Steve Wang. When Revolution demanded changes to the script to allow for more screen-time for the Tooth Fairy, Stan Winston was brought onto the project to create a new Tooth Fairy, and Wang's winged and toothy creation was jettisoned. The sound of Matilda Dixon's wailing throughout the film is really the sound of an elderly woman's groaning in bed; the sound was both sped up in the parts where Matilda screams, and slowed down in the places where she gurgles and breathes heavily.
TRIVIA: The entire movie was shot on location in and around Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
The project went through five titles - The Tooth Fairy, Don't Peek, Fear of the Dark, The Tooth Fairy: The Ghost of Matilda Dixon and The Tooth Fairy: Every Legend Has Its Dark Side - before it became Darkness Falls. In a different version of the film's script, the creature only appears in the final act as an Angel of Death, designed by creatures effects supervisor Steve Wang. When Revolution demanded changes to the script to allow for more screen-time for the Tooth Fairy, Stan Winston was brought onto the project to create a new Tooth Fairy, and Wang's winged and toothy creation was jettisoned. The sound of Matilda Dixon's wailing throughout the film is really the sound of an elderly woman's groaning in bed; the sound was both sped up in the parts where Matilda screams, and slowed down in the places where she gurgles and breathes heavily.
Above: Matilda Dixon's demonic spirit, the Tooth Fairy, revealed!
Darkness Falls was panned by critics upon its release. Time Out reviewed the film as, "All semblance of plausibility is extracted, leaving a cast of TV actors to struggle with a plot with more gaps than an eight-year-old's grin." J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader wrote, "It begins with not one but two prologues; one character turns up out of nowhere, his introduction no doubt left on the cutting-room floor; and the paltry 85-minute running time includes 15 minutes of end credits.", while Las Vegas Weekly's Josh Bell stated, "There are a few cheap scares, but overall the film is, well, toothless."
Despite the incredibly negative reviews, Darkness Falls was a moderate hit at the box office, grossing an impressive $47.5 million against a $11 million budget. Joe Harris wrote Darkness Falls: The Tragic Life of Matilda Dixon, a prequel comic, which was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2002, while Liebesman went on to co-write and direct the cult short horror film Rings in 2005, and direct The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in 2006.
TRIVIA: The closing credits run for 11 minutes. This is because without the extra time, the movie would have been considered too short to release theatrically.
Despite the incredibly negative reviews, Darkness Falls was a moderate hit at the box office, grossing an impressive $47.5 million against a $11 million budget. Joe Harris wrote Darkness Falls: The Tragic Life of Matilda Dixon, a prequel comic, which was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2002, while Liebesman went on to co-write and direct the cult short horror film Rings in 2005, and direct The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in 2006.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 9%
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