The Darkness
BH Tilt | Release Date: May 13, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
27
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
4
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 13, 2016
It’s vaguely endearing to watch Bacon and Mitchell actually try to act their way through the film’s family drama, as though it weren’t a perfunctory pretext to jump scares. The Darkness needs their chops. It needs anything to distract horror fans from the fact that there’s nothing new here. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanMay 13, 2016
Bacon, Mitchell and especially young Lucy Fry are all quite effective in these dramatic scenes. But this isn’t a drama. It’s a dumbass, inexpensive horror flick which means anything real is thrown away so that poorly rendered CG ghosts can hover about and smash up windows. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasMay 13, 2016
The Darkness offers very few new scares, mainly because it's so haunted by the ghosts of far better horror movies. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMay 13, 2016
While McLean and company admirably aim for some relevance by tying the Taylors’ haunting to their personal demons, ultimately The Darkness is just the same old show: things that go bump in the night, and the tasteful decor they defile. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 17, 2016
The scariest thing about The Darkness turns out to be the trailers to this summer’s more promising horror offerings, “Lights Out” and “Don’t Breathe.” Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMay 18, 2016
It’s like being haunted by outsized chimney sweeps that never bathe. And for the most part, it’s about that scary. Read full review
30
VarietyScott TobiasMay 17, 2016
At some point in the production process, co-writer/director Greg McLean must have believed he was making John Cassavetes’ “Poltergeist,” but this odd fusion of psychodrama and supernatural hokum gets away from him. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMay 13, 2016
This enterprise is so listless that one can't even work up a proper head of self-righteous steam over the spooky Native American clichés that drive the plot. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMay 13, 2016
The Darkness is pretty much a total bust—it isn’t scary, it isn’t exciting and it plods along at such a snails pace that even though it clocks in at just over 90 minutes, it plays like it runs at least twice that. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 14, 2016
Amid the rarely very creepy buildup to the Amityville-ish showdown to come, the screenplay piles on more unrelated domestic drama than the picture can take. Read full review
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