Everybody's a critic - 'Darkness Falls'

Half star

There are two kinds of horror films: Awesome and B-movie awesome. "Halloween" is awesome. "The Evil Dead" is B-movie awesome. "Darkness Falls" is neither of these.

It's the most predictable movie I've seen in years.

For example, there are certain things that should be explained in a horror film. If a villain can only be killed in one way, you have to flesh that out and make a concrete point of it. You can't just make a vague suggestion and try to pass it off as foreshadowing. The cinematography is sloppy and the scenes at the end are literally painful as the mostly pitch dark background gives way to piercing flashes of light. Avoid this "film" like the plague and see Gore Verbinski's "The Ring," which in my book is one of the three scariest films of all time.

- Blake Burress, university student

Two stars

What was I thinking when I decided to see this movie alone? It has been years since I have seen a horror film, and I admit, "Darkness Falls" made me jump.

The movie is about a curse that falls over a town appropriately named Darkness Falls. The curse involves a killer tooth fairy who only strikes in total darkness. One of the ways to avoid the curse is to carry a flashlight. The main character had hundreds of them!

As far as horror films go, this movie wasn't too bad. There were a lot of surprises that made the audience jump, and the movie kept me wondering how the spell would be broken. If you enjoy scary movies, I would recommend that you run out tonight and see it. And you might consider taking a flashlight.

- Michele Peters, speech pathologist

One star

"Darkness Falls" begins by explaining the legend of Matilda, the evil Tooth Fairy. Wrongly accused of murder, she lays a curse on the town of Darkness Falls and attacks children when they lose their last tooth. Once this legend is established the characters in the movie spend the rest of their time trying to stay out of the dark because Matilda, of course, can't attack in the presence of light.

The numerous attacks by Matilda that followed reminded me of going to a bad haunted house where you pretend to be scared because that is what you are supposed to do. During these attacks, the screen is pretty much black and music is used to create the feeling of horror, again reminding me of a haunted house. I'm sure this lack of visual imagery was done to secure the PG-13 rating. To say that this movie was mildly amusing is being generous.

- Saira Khan, university student