Darkness Falls
Release Date:
January 24, 2003
After seeing American Zoetrope and MGM/UA open a low-budget little horror film called Jeepers Creepers to astonishingly strong box-office results, a number of other studios and production companies have started to follow suit. Upcoming features from the genre include Dimension's They, Ring from DreamWorks, and just in time for the Christmas holiday, a Revolution Studios project known as The Tooth Fairy.
Though the title sounds innocuous enough, The Tooth Fairy is actually a scary movie about a supernatural, malevolent creature. It's the story of a young man (Chaney Kley) who is considered crazy by everyone in his small town, with the only exceptions being his childhood girlfriend and her younger brother. Not only that, but Kley's character is the only person who can prevent a legendary evil from getting to his girlfriend's sibling.
Like many of the other films of this type, the cast is comprised primarily of lesser-known actors, though the female lead will be played by Emma Caulfield, who is probably best known as Anya on the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nonetheless, comic buffs may be interested to know that the screenplay was written by Joseph Harris, whose comic-book credits include X-Men: Search for Cyclops, Bishop: The Last X-Man and Slingers.
With a budget that is falling somewhere in the $6 to $8 million range, if The Tooth Fairy can be marketed as cleverly as Jeepers Creepers, it will have an excellent shot at being a fine moneymaker for the studio. That 2001 release had a terrific theatrical trailer along with a very intriguing television advertising campaign that drew surprising numbers during the Labor Day holiday weekend, which provides ample evidence that a low-budget horror film can do well regardless of its placement on the calendar. It will just need a hook, and from the looks of the story and some of the spoiler photos that can be uncovered around the Internet, the film has precisely that. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
July 17, 2002
The title of the film has been changed, though honestly it's not really much scarier or evocative. The MGM project will now be called Fear of the Dark, which is appropriate to the plot-line, but deadly dull. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
October 10, 2002
There has been another name switch though this one is less dramatic. The film is now titled Darkness Falls, but if BOP got to vote, we'd still be in favor of the original name. There's something indescribably menacing about an invisible creature who steals your teeth in return for pocket change. Darkness Falls has a nice Mulholland Drive-ish feel but it simply can't match the creepiness factor of unrequested dental work. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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