When I see a movie like this, one thought pops into my head: filmmakers must really be running out of ideas for horror movies.  I can’t believe they actually made a movie about a killer tooth fairy.  The plot is so dumb, it’s hard to take the movie seriously.

     Darkness Falls opens to the brief tale of an old woman who used to live in the quaint little town of Darkness Falls.  Whenever one of the town’s children would lose a tooth, she would give them a small gold coin, lending her the nick name “The Tooth Fairy.”  Everyone believed that she was a wonderful, joyfully fun old lady.  But, this title quickly left her when one night a fire erupted in her house, horribly burning and disfiguring her face.  Her scarred front was so sensitive, that if any light touched it, it would cause her immense pain.  She could only go out at night, and had to wear a thick porcelain mask at all times.  When two of the town’s children were kidnapped one night, they blamed her, immediately.  They burned her in the middle of the day, allowing sunlight to touch her sensitive face.  In her last breath, she cast a curse onto the town:

“What I once took in happiness, I will now take in vengeance."

     And so, we flash forward about a hundred years and see a young teenage boy named Kyle, who just lost his last baby tooth.  There is still an urban legend floating around about the “Tooth Fairy.” It says that on the night that you lose your last baby tooth, if you peek at the tooth fairy when she comes to get it, she will kill you.  So, naturally, Kyle is a little scared that night.  A few minutes after he puts his tooth under his pillow and closes his eyes, he hears strange noises in his room.  Surely enough, there is a demonic creature, wearing a porcelain mask, swooping over him.  Kyle saves himself by grabbing a nearby flashlight and shining it in the creatures face, causing it to shriek in pain and scramble away (don’t ask me how this kid knew that light would hurt the creature).  But, because of this, the Tooth Fairy seeks revenge on Kyle, by killing his mother.  The whole town blames Kyle for his mother’s death, and treats him like an outcast. But, even though everyone else doesn’t his childhood girlfriend, Caitlin, believes him about the Tooth Fairy. 

     Twelve years later, Kyle (Kley) has moved far away from Darkness Falls, but still cannot forget the event that traumatized him in his past.  One day, he receives a seemingly random phone call from Caitlin (Caulfield), who has not talked to him since he moved away. She was the only one who ever believed him about the monster that killed his mother.  She tells him that her little brother is suffering from night terrors; very similar to the ones he had, and was hospitalized for.  The night terrors won’t leave him, and she doesn’t know who else to turn to.  Eventually, Kyle realizes that the creature that attacked him and killed his mom is back for Caitlin’s brother; and it just may be in the mood to slaughter dozens of other people, for no apparent reason. 

      Despite the cheesiness of the horrible story, Darkness Falls did deliver a few good scares. Most of them, however, were caused by the element of surprise, rather than the material actually being scary. I still never could understand why the people being attacked by the Tooth Fairy didn’t just shoot light in her eyes, just like Kyle. And, when they try to do this, the power ends up going out every time. The film would definitely benefit from a better script. The characters in Darkness Falls should’ve tried to understand the wrongdoings of the Tooth Fairy, instead of trying to escape from her. The entire film never really clicks. It’s a stupid, and poorly written film, not even the most intelligent of us will be able to ever understand.

     Darkness Falls wouldn’t as bad if it had been R rated. That way, when someone was killed, we could enjoy the monstrous gore.  But to see a vile creature grab someone, then watch 5 seconds of blood splatter onto a wall next to them, and have the camera pan back to a dead body, just leaves too much to be desired.  And, like other many other suspenseful movies (ex: The Ring, The Sixth Sense), there is a super intelligent, some-what psychic, small child, who somehow knows everything about this creature and keeps the two main adult characters alive. My question is “why?"

     Don’t waste your time with this one.  There are plenty of better horror movies out there that will deliver much better scares, and an actually have a half-decent plot.  I’d choose The Ring over Darkness Falls any day.  Some people may think I’m being a bit harsh with a two bucket rating, but trust me, you definitely don’t need to see Darkness Falls, nor do you want to.

-Daniel, Bucket Reviews