If you were browsing Netflix Instant last year and passed on viewing this film based solely on its incredibly generic title and tagline, I don't blame you. "What are you scared of?" isn't exactly the most conceptually brilliant marketing line and the name Darkness was used earlier in the decade in another haunted house film starring Anna Paquin. So it's completely understandable that someone would opt for something fresher sounding and original. But let me retroactively try to entice you into tracking this one down by first offering a few screenshots...
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The film, originally titled T.M.A. (and I have no idea what that stands for, yet it's still better than the unimaginative english release title), was directed by Juraj Herz who was part of the Czech new wave back in the late 60's. Herz's most critically acclaimed film, The Cremator, was made 40 years prior to T.M.A. and is a very unsettling look at a control-freak restauranteur and part-time mortuary employee who finds that he fits right into the late 30's Nazi party. That the protagonist (who is played beautifully by Rudolf Hrusinsky), appears a polite, unassuming, ever-smiling, pleasure loving, family man makes him all the more chilling as he increasingly rationalizes his growing megalomaniacal madness. The film is a brilliant understated work that reminded me thematically of Wolfgang Staudte's Der Untertan (Man of Straw) only with a much darker tone and the blackest of comedy leanings.
Born in 1934, Herz was obviously deeply disturbed by the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during his childhood as it shows up in his work often, not only in The Cremator and his latest film Habermann, but in T.M.A. as well. In fact, the Nazi backstory wasn't in the original T.M.A. screenplay by Martin Nemec, but was subsequently added in by Herz and definitely elevates the movie to something more than the average haunted house tale.
The plot involves a Prague rock guitarist, Marek (Ivan Franek), who decides to return to his childhood home and start painting. This is probably not the greatest idea since he subsequently finds out his house has a worse pedigree than the one in Poltergeist and the townsfolk, with one notable exception of the local postwoman, are none to friendly. As Marek gets the house in order and begins painting, weirdness ensues from every quarter.
The film sports a solid Fulci-esque ocular intro intercut with Marek's band rocking out in a club. It also features some enjoyable sleaziness in the middle when Marek's bandmates visit him with a groupie in tow. Even the ending has a mystery twist, and if not for its haunted house aspects, the movie could be categorized as more giallo than horror. What kept me guessing and off balance, was the multitude of red herring characters and plot devices introduced in the first half of the film. There are creepy townies, a mysterious archivist, a one-eyed, asylum-dwelling woman, a man-tastic singer and her sleazy, party loving boyfriend/manager, a property where ritualistic human sacrifices were purported to have taken place, a house with the world's worst plumbing that was previously occupied by the SS, a haunted radio that only plays the Oh du lieber Augustin song and some gentle, spectral Down's Syndrome kids who appear intermittently. All of these elements may prove one too many for some, but Herz ties it all up at the end, albeit a little too neatly.
The direction is consistently strong and Herz is unafraid to move the camera around even going hand held when appropriate. He also mixes in some dutch angles, overhead shots and lens filtering, but sparingly, and never as an annoying gimmick that wears out its welcome as in much modern horror. There's an unnecessary gore scene in flashback near the end that felt inserted just for the sake of it and an unexplained disappearance of a body but otherwise, the film is a stylish and atmospheric horror/mystery.
For those whose only experience with Juraj Herz is T.M.A., I'd strongly recommend checking out The Cremator and his superb 1978 Czech adaptation of Beauty and the Beast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW519mpOlA8
The plot involves a Prague rock guitarist, Marek (Ivan Franek), who decides to return to his childhood home and start painting. This is probably not the greatest idea since he subsequently finds out his house has a worse pedigree than the one in Poltergeist and the townsfolk, with one notable exception of the local postwoman, are none to friendly. As Marek gets the house in order and begins painting, weirdness ensues from every quarter.
The film sports a solid Fulci-esque ocular intro intercut with Marek's band rocking out in a club. It also features some enjoyable sleaziness in the middle when Marek's bandmates visit him with a groupie in tow. Even the ending has a mystery twist, and if not for its haunted house aspects, the movie could be categorized as more giallo than horror. What kept me guessing and off balance, was the multitude of red herring characters and plot devices introduced in the first half of the film. There are creepy townies, a mysterious archivist, a one-eyed, asylum-dwelling woman, a man-tastic singer and her sleazy, party loving boyfriend/manager, a property where ritualistic human sacrifices were purported to have taken place, a house with the world's worst plumbing that was previously occupied by the SS, a haunted radio that only plays the Oh du lieber Augustin song and some gentle, spectral Down's Syndrome kids who appear intermittently. All of these elements may prove one too many for some, but Herz ties it all up at the end, albeit a little too neatly.
The direction is consistently strong and Herz is unafraid to move the camera around even going hand held when appropriate. He also mixes in some dutch angles, overhead shots and lens filtering, but sparingly, and never as an annoying gimmick that wears out its welcome as in much modern horror. There's an unnecessary gore scene in flashback near the end that felt inserted just for the sake of it and an unexplained disappearance of a body but otherwise, the film is a stylish and atmospheric horror/mystery.
For those whose only experience with Juraj Herz is T.M.A., I'd strongly recommend checking out The Cremator and his superb 1978 Czech adaptation of Beauty and the Beast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW519mpOlA8
Scores
T.M.A. 7.25
The Cremator 8.50
Beauty and the Beast 7.75
The Cremator 8.50
Beauty and the Beast 7.75
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