Dark Circles
Written and directed by Paul Soter
A couple starting out with their first child chooses to move away from the city to a great big house that looks super expensive but they got for a really good deal. That really good deal comes with a price naturally. A murder usually occurred there at one time. The neighbors gossip about the house. You know so on and so forth. They are having trouble sleeping. The insomnia that comes from their baby having what appears to be colic is driving them to their breaking point.
They believe they are seeing a dirty and deranged woman. They feel like they are losing their minds. As a new parent, this feeling is perfectly normal. You're not entirely prepared for the amount of sleep deprivation that you will compile. You can try to mentally prepare yourself for it with oodles of research. However until you truly live it, you are not prepared.
The reason I mentioned colic is because my son had it. It was a nightmare to deal with. He would cry for long periods of time and for no discernible reason. He would barely nap and never slept through the night. When you couple that to working a regular job, it can become overwhelming. The movie never calls it colic. I think the movie attributes it to the general uneasiness of the house and the crazy lady lurking around.
The movie certainly tries to wring some suspense out of the situation. It invokes the dark lighting and the loud sound ques. It tries everything it can in the handbook. Paul Soter is doing his directorial best to get the necessary fear from this premise. He is not successful. The script lets him down when he needs it the most. The funny thing about that is he also wrote the script. You can't just win for losing.
I had too many questions about the couple's behavior. They were not acting like real people. This is not always a bad thing. Adherence to reality is not an automatic positive or negative. I have to believe that they believe in their situation. Once that connection is lost between you and the material, I truly believe you're out of the movie. You just watch as an observer. It's not enough to overcome the terrifying generic nature of this film and these characters.
I give it a tiny amount of props for some of the set design. It does try to turn a regular fairly large suburban house into something spooky and otherworldly. It tries to convey what not sleeping does to someone. It doesn't do a good job of it but it does try. This is the only reason it doesn't get an F for the film. I can see the filmmaker attempting to inject some life into the proceedings. But the story was also written by the filmmaker. An auteur this gentleman is not.
I give this movie a D.
A couple starting out with their first child chooses to move away from the city to a great big house that looks super expensive but they got for a really good deal. That really good deal comes with a price naturally. A murder usually occurred there at one time. The neighbors gossip about the house. You know so on and so forth. They are having trouble sleeping. The insomnia that comes from their baby having what appears to be colic is driving them to their breaking point.
They believe they are seeing a dirty and deranged woman. They feel like they are losing their minds. As a new parent, this feeling is perfectly normal. You're not entirely prepared for the amount of sleep deprivation that you will compile. You can try to mentally prepare yourself for it with oodles of research. However until you truly live it, you are not prepared.
The reason I mentioned colic is because my son had it. It was a nightmare to deal with. He would cry for long periods of time and for no discernible reason. He would barely nap and never slept through the night. When you couple that to working a regular job, it can become overwhelming. The movie never calls it colic. I think the movie attributes it to the general uneasiness of the house and the crazy lady lurking around.
The movie certainly tries to wring some suspense out of the situation. It invokes the dark lighting and the loud sound ques. It tries everything it can in the handbook. Paul Soter is doing his directorial best to get the necessary fear from this premise. He is not successful. The script lets him down when he needs it the most. The funny thing about that is he also wrote the script. You can't just win for losing.
I had too many questions about the couple's behavior. They were not acting like real people. This is not always a bad thing. Adherence to reality is not an automatic positive or negative. I have to believe that they believe in their situation. Once that connection is lost between you and the material, I truly believe you're out of the movie. You just watch as an observer. It's not enough to overcome the terrifying generic nature of this film and these characters.
I give it a tiny amount of props for some of the set design. It does try to turn a regular fairly large suburban house into something spooky and otherworldly. It tries to convey what not sleeping does to someone. It doesn't do a good job of it but it does try. This is the only reason it doesn't get an F for the film. I can see the filmmaker attempting to inject some life into the proceedings. But the story was also written by the filmmaker. An auteur this gentleman is not.
I give this movie a D.