From the Dark (2015) Not worth your time! 3/10⭐

From the Dark (2015) A horror movie that's not worth your time…

Written/Directed by Conor McMahon

3 out of 10 ⭐ Time to read: 3min

 

BASIC PLOT: 

Mark & Sarah are on a road trip in a remote part of Ireland. Their car breaks down, and when they go for help, they encounter an ancient evil, that's nearly unstoppable. It only has one weakness - it hates any form of light. This creature has been roaming across the Irish countryside, turning the locals into vampire/zombies. Can Mark & Sarah survive till sunrise?

Stephen Cromwell & Niamh Algar play Mark & Sarah

WHAT WORKS: 

*IF YOU LIKE JUMP SCARES, IT HAS QUITE A FEW   To me, that's the lowest form of horror, but it does have them.

Niamh Algar as Sarah

*THE FILMMAKING IS ADEQUATE except for the opening scene in the car. It's clunky, you can't see them, and it feels awkward. But the rest of the movie is adequately shot. It's often done from a weird perspective, it's ALWAYS too dark, and hard to tell what's going on. Maybe this belongs in the "What doesn't work" category after all...

A few decent shots, but overall hard to watch

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:

*CHARACTERS ARE VERY UNLIKABLE

From the whole speech at the beginning, where Mark says he'll never get married (which ends up not being true), to the way they fight when things go wrong, there's nothing remotely likable about either character. Not that we really know enough about either of them to make up our minds. Mark is a mewling baby, and needs to suck it up (he doesn't represent the Irish people I know, including people of Irish heritage like myself). Sarah is a fighter, but she can be kind of a b*tch. You don't really empathize with her, the script never gives you anything to hold onto.

I genuinely didn't care about these characters

*NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT     Other than the brief, unlikable short speech in the first five minutes, there's no character development. I don't know these people, and what I do know, I don't like. So, why am I supposed to care if they live or die. 

I don't feel triumphant with Sarah, I just don't care

*NOTHING BUT JUMP SCARES  There's no real development of the monster, so there's no real scare factor. When you do see glimpses of it, it's not frightening. What is this thing? Why should I be scared of it? (After watching the trailer, I think it may be a bog body, but I'm still not sure). 

Sarah feels super human, and it furthers the suspension of disbelief

*IF THIS THING WAS ROAMING THE IRISH COUNTRYSIDE, THESE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE MORE PROTECTIONS but other than a motion light, there's nothing. The monster easily breaks the light bulbs (it doesn't like light). Don't you think these people would have cages around their bulbs? It's that type of stupid misstep that makes this movie silly instead of scary. I DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING!

This movie is cliche ridden! Vampires, zombies, oh brother!

*CLICHE AND DEUS EX MACHINA RIDDEN   From the car breaking down on a lonely road, to the zombie and vampire references, it's just ridiculous. Could we have one original thing in this movie? I guess not. Also, the monster looks like the vampire in Nosferatu, there's literally nothing original here.

The monster looked just like Nosferatu, lazy.

*SARAH WOULD GO GET HELP After Mark turns the light off of Sarah, no reasonable person would go back for him. You would assume he had died, or the monster got him. Most women are sensible, I would not go back for my partner because I would assume if I did go back, my one chance to save us both would be destroyed (and that's what happens).

No woman would go back for a partner who was already dead

*IT WOULDN'T BE MODERN HORROR IF WE DIDN'T HAVE SOME DEGREE OF TORTURE PORN Of course there's a scene where Sarah cuts off body parts. We don't really understand why, because she has no one left to talk to. Does she think she's infected? Who knows? Who cares? Why does the younger generation live to see people tortured in movies? I'm a Gen Xer, and to me, it's just lazy.

It wouldn't be modern horror without torture porn

*WHY DOESN'T SARAH EVER START A BONFIRE? There's crap everywhere, she could start the barn or house on fire. A bonfire would draw attention, and help might come. The fire would keep the creatures at bay, but she never even tries to light a large fire! Again, you would have to suspend all of your disbelief to watch and enjoy this movie!

Alternate poster

*SARAH SETS HER TRAP... RIGHT BESIDE A LAKE OF WATER, by this point I so want her to die. She's so stupid! Let's light the monster on fire, using our last match, and let's do it right next to a huge puddle of water, so the monster can easily put itself out! WTF?

Sarah sets the monster on fire, right next to a lake of water

*TOO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS What are these things Sarah finds at the end? What are we supposed to understand from this scene? Much like everything else in this movie, it's just nonsense.

What are these things? Does anyone care?

TO RECOMMEND OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:

Unless you just really like jump scares, I'd give this a pass. There's nothing here, just nothing! 

If you want a really creepy Irish monster tale, I much preferred The Hollow. It didn't have the problems this movie is rife with. It had character development, you understood what the monster was, and the effects were terrifying. You genuinely cared for the characters in that movie, this one, I didn't.

-Blondiee10 (aka Vans -Vanessa Hooper, please leave comments about this review, especially if you disagree. I love discussing movies!

Don't waste your time on this movie

CLOSING NOTES: 

*THIS IS A LOW BUDGET MOVIE, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. Low budget indie films have a much lower budget, and so you expectations should be adjusted. 

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. I'm not writing this as a favor, or because I was paid.

*CERTIFIED HUMAN WRITTEN REVIEW This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.