I went down to my local movie house yesterday with a group of friends. Not wanting to spend $10 to watch Meet the Fockers again or wait another hour till Oceans 12 started, we decided to go see Darkness.

Judging from the comercials and trailers I thought it would be standard horror fare. With some herbal aid and the presentation of the theatre i expected it might be worth $10. How very, very wrong I was.

This film is the worst film of the year by far. For those of you unfamilier with the plot it goes a little something like this(posted from imdb): A teenage girl moves into a remote countryside house with her family, only to discover that their gloomy new home has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy the family.

Now, I'm gonna get spoilerish in this review so turn away now if you intend you actual see this steaming pile of crap of a horror flick but I cannot think of a worser mistake than to see this film, it really is that bad.

This film is a standard horror flick and is so much by the rules that it almost becomes a spoof or satire of the haunted house genre as Scream is to slasher flicks and Shaun of the Dead is to zombie flicks. Honestly, during some points in the movie I could not understand how the film was taken itself so seriously, it just seemed like it wanted us to laugh at it. And many people in the audiemce were laughing during the whole thing.

There is so many things wrong with the film, I don't know where to start but I guess I'll start with the most agrivating problem, the plot holes. This film has so many plot holes that you could form a drinking game around it and by the end of its running time, you would be hammered. Now with movies, I'm perfectly fine if theres a plot hole or two, that's just the editing process but this film is unbelievable with the gaps in logic. At one point, the daughter and her spanish would-be bf end up at a libary to investigate the house and just some how they find a book in that particular libary that details the exact ritual that the film centers around. Another point later in the film, the grandfather, revealed as the mastermind has the most bizarre change of heart in a movie I have ever witnessed, I mean after all that time and trouble of killing the bf would and setting up the ritual the way he did, why would he let her go? It just makes no sense. The Mother of the film never once actually listens to her daughter, even after it becomes quite clear whats going on in that house, she just seems out of it the whole film. This mother character was as cliched as they get and frustrated me every time she appeared on the scream. The informatant of the story, a crazed old spanish construction worker, has the most plot holes in the entire film. He build the house and somehow he knows that the layout is exactly like the layout of ancient temples used for ritual sacrifices? He says that he stayed in the house for a timeon some business, that is never made clear, and that when the original children go missing he knows it had something to do with that house. How would he even know? Than he spends the rest of his life hanging around the house? He is just a terribly written character, even his death is muddled and he appears to die twice. See the film and you will know what I mean.

A major plot hole in the film is the lack of revelation about what is actually in the house. Besides a few ambigous comments about the nature of darkness and evil, we are never told what exactly these evil beings are and what they can do. Judging from what's witness in the film these beings have the ability to transform into any person while also changing into some kind of monster, that we never even see. They also can create automobiles as evident in the final scene. Theres also a set-up of these old women or men in dark glasses who seem to repersent these creatures but we are never told what they are and what part they have in the ritual. We are also never told what the ritual will even do when its preformed.

The ending is the worst part of the film. There is no 0 confrontation and it is very anti-climatic. Also the way those to edit the finale just leaves the audience scartching there head. And the twist ending is just laughable and lazy and is perfect for this laughable and lazy horror film.

Another nail in the coffin of this film is the preformaces. The father, played by Iain Glenn is the worst preformance in awhile. He plays a mental ill father who after encountering the darkness just becomes insane. But not frightening in anyway, just laughable. Everytime he comes on screen he becomes more and more funny and that is not what you want with a character like this, you want him scary and intimidating but Iain Glenn could not pull it off. The Grandfather and Mother were the two other poor preformances, both seemed out of it during the whole film. The two children, the daugher played by the very attratcive Anna Paquin and the son by Stephan Enquist were the only main characters who weren't terribly portayed. Paquin's Regina seemed trapped in a bad dream, where everyone around her were complete morons.

The direction and production of the film were up to par. I like the directors style and use of darkness and light. I would not mind seeing what Jaume Balagueró does next as director but he is also credited as writing this film so I can't give him much credit, this film was the worst written piece of trash I've seen in a long time.

In conclusion, the film is a lazy piece of work. I should of known it was going to that bad when all the character development of the family(except looney toons dad) all takes place within the opening credits which would not be a problem if they followed it up with some interesting and scary scenes which they didn't. The film grows more absurd and lazy as it progresses, ending in a slight wimper than a rip roaring finale that I hoped would at least garner the film some respect. This film is the worst of the year, albeit Super Baby Genuies 2 I have not seen, but I think Darkness would give it arun for its money, or lack there of judging by the box office returns.