Beneath the Darkness and Stealing the Show: A Movie Review

Directed by: Martin Guigui.

Written by: Bruce Wilkinson

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Tony Oller and Aimee Teegarden.

Beneath the Darkness stars Dennis Quaid as a crazed mortician dancing with corpses in Smithville, Texas. Released theatrically January 6th, this film would be considered a thriller, but there is very little excitement to be found here. Quaid outclasses the other cast members in acting. However, the script from the now deceased Bruce Wilkinson does not contain enough tension to keep one film fan's interest.

Quaid plays Ely, a man with strange visions. His deceased wife becomes live again with a little self-delusion. While dancing in the windows with her corpse, a group of friends decide to find out what is really going on. Their break and enter does not go well. One youth is killed, the others are threatened and soon Quaid is delivering crazy one-liners like: "stairs can be very dangerous." Meanwhile, the local authorities are completely oblivious to Ely's murderous ways until the final climax. Even the locale of a graveyard cannot inject any adrenalin into this undeveloped story.

Ely is definitely the villain in this film. Yet, some of the other characters are equally despicable. Few of the minor characters are likeable across the board. Quaid as Ely is a bit of a treat to watch as this actor rarely portrays black hat characters. His lines sometimes come across as more humourous than the writer might have intended. And with a mortuary as cover, Ely has the perfect location to pile the bodies up. Travis (Tony Oller) is really the so-called hero, but even this comes into question. He leaves his love interest Abby (Aimee Teegarden) behind after a second break and enter goes bad. Some film fans might see him as more the cowardly lion than knight in shining armour. Therefore, Abby must use her wits to get herself away from the lunatic. None of the characters mentioned here and others are given any real attention or complexity.

And a thriller should have some thrills, right? There is very little excitement here and the film simply feels inane or the crew has taken a mediocre approach to filmmaking. The pacing is slow while the music is appropriate and forgettable. There are high production vales here and so is some weak acting. There is almost nothing shocking in the film and Beneath the Darkness seems very middle of the road.

This title will release on DVD and Blu-Ray February 28th through Image Entertainment, but you might want to stay away. Quaid's performance as a lunatic is the only reason to see the film and viewer's will want more than this solitary element. Horror fans will be completely disappointed by this film while thriller fans will be wanting more tension. This film could really have used a few more dancing corpses to keep things interesting.

Overall: 6 out of 10 (the script is alright, pacing is off, acting is so-so, minor characters are despicable and cowardly, predictable).

The film's fan page is here:

Beneath the Darkness on Facebook

A second review of this film is available at Monsters and Critics (Ron Wilkinson):

Beneath the Darkness at Monsters and Critics

 |  |  | 

Advertise Here - Contact me Michael Allen at 28DLA

Subscribe to 28 Days Later: An Analysis Email Subscription

Posted in: 2012,dennis quaid,dvd artwork,image,image entertainment,movie poster,movie review,serial killer,thriller