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OF DARKNESS OVERVIEW:

While cleaning out their recently deceased grandfathers belongings, Brian & Jeff Chaisson inadvertently stumble upon an ancient book; one of mysterious and malevolent origin.

Later that same evening, while entertaining friends during a sleepover, Jeff unveils the recent discovery in an effort to impress the group. Seizing the opportunity, the gang uses the book as a scare tactic against their favorite target and youngest member, Charlie.

Succumbing to peer pressure, and the trusted reassurance of his older brother Tank, Charlie opens the book and unwittingly unleashes a malicious entity. An unseen force that has chosen to target the boys...an evil that has chosen the form 'of Darkness'.

Ill be completly honest here, when I got this in the mail and popped it into the DVD player I wasnt expecting much at all. I had heard some good things about it from people who had heard about it but that was about it. When It began there wasnt much at first that changed my mind. The story starts with 2 pre-teen guys taking their grandfathers trunk into the basementand I was thinking great here we go with another short film shot in a few hours by a bunch of kids......but something was different as the camera work was really good but maybe the kids had their parents help and a really good camera. Then a book that looks alot like the necronomicon falls out of the trunk and the quality of the work that was done on the book was quite striking and very well done and it was at this point that I started to realize I should open my mind a little and give this thing a chance.

The story follows these kids as the one brother goes out for the night and bribes the younger brother to not say anything by giving him $20. Of course the younger brother has a bunch of his friends over and one of them brings his easily frightened little brother who they love to terrorize. So of course they bring the book upstairs and start to mess with it effectivly creeping out the kid. From this point out is where I saw this film in a whole new light, the kids start to read the book and one accidentaly spills his drink on the book and its holy hell from this point on with a sort of creeping darkness. What I was most suprised about was the moments where there is an actual creepiness and tension, I havent experienced that in a film for ages much less an indie film.

The director (Gary Irwin) really shows that he knows how to make a film that is actually scary and with a meager budget at that. Im in awe of the fact that he is able to create that much tension using in reality nothing at all. This is a film that prays on all of our deepest childhood fears of being alone in the house and what unknown horrors lurk in the dark! The best way I can explain this film is a mix of a non bloody Evil Dead/The Gate/The Fog(original)/ and a good episode of the classic Twilight Zone! I think the reason I get that is what I believe were the homages to Evil Dead (The floating camera from the Darkness view/ The Necronomicon) Something else I want to touch on as well is the fact that the young leads can really act, the reaction shots of them as well as the hanging out scenes are well acted and shoot beautifully. This film would work really well as a feature length as well....heres hoping he finds the time to do one.The best thing is you can actually play this film and watch it with the younger horror fans in your life as it is blood free but the scenes may still be too scary for younger children.

Do yourself a favor and watch this film really late at night with all the lights turned off, no distractions at all and tell me you dont get goosebumps and glance at those dark corners in your house! You may even have to check under the bed before going to sleep that night!

Be sure to check these guys out at their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/ofdarkness

Or buy the film at the official site: http://www.eventideproductions.net/ofdarkness/index.html

RATING:

3 of 5 Severed Heads