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Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: February 28, 2012.
Director: Martin Guigui
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Tony Oller
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
“Some people would kill to keep a secret†is the tag above the description of this movie on the cover. Given that it's more a testament to how far Dennis Quaid's star has fallen, I'd say perhaps he himself would do anything to keep this secret...
Quaid plays Ely, a creepy mortician in a small Texas town. The film plays its hand early, with the first scene showing Ely forcing a man he thinks has wronged him into a coffin, alive, which Ely then buries. Cut to 2 years later and the idiotic teen heroes get introduced, during their literature class, discussing both The Tell-Tale Heart and Macbeth (yes, this film's about as subtle as a punch to the face). Four friends, centered on troubled kid Travis (Tony Oller) and his pined-for cheerleader Abby (Aimee Teegarden), are interested in Travis' previous ghost experience and, upon hearing of possible ghost's appearance at creepy Ely's house, decide to venture out to witness it.
Ely's a widower and assumed that his dead wife was having an affair with the guy who he took care of at the film's opening. Ely keeps her corpse around, keeping meticulous care of her body to keep it as fresh as possible. Quaid tries his darndest to sell this creepy psycho but it's pretty plain early on that he's just trying way too hard. Rather than chewing scenery, he kinda just gnaws at it a little, leaving a wet residue of incompleteness.
Their lack of planning, ability and sheer stupidity runs rampant as Ely catches them in the act and, naturally, kills one of them. No one in town believes it was anything but an accident but our spunky teens clearly know better. So, because parents still just don't understand, they set out to trap the psychotic Ely and end his terror spree. That is, they would if they weren't completely inept at every attempt to do so - it's by sheer luck and slack-jawed stupidity from the local law enforcement that they succeed at all, capturing Ely red-handed and giving him the film's final scene in an insane asylum, going direct-address to the camera with the oh-so-insightful line, “Love sucks.†Cue horrific same-titled song over end credits and you'll wonder if you haven't hit a time warp to 1985...
What's so maddening about a film like this is how clearly unfamiliar the filmmakers are with how many things work - like 911 calls, taxidermy, morticians, corpse decay, Texas heat, or teenagers. It's rather an insulting assault on the senses on display here, the lone saving grace is that the film looks really sharp.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Oh, they pulled out the stops on this one: An unnarrated behind-the-scenes featurette that's just a compilation of clips, all apparently from the same day or two of shooting, mostly focusing on Quaid. It's presented with zero context or commentary so, um, yeah - thanks for the Facebook video. The film's trailer is included and makes the film look actually watchable, which is the real horror here. The 2.35:1 ratio is pretty much wasted since the film's shot like a TV movie and while the disc says it's in 1080p I noticed some choking whenever there was movement out of dark blacks (it looked a bit choppy but just a few times). The DTS 5.1 Master HD audio keeps everything clean and audible so you don't miss a moment of the action (even if you wish you had). Spanish and English SDH subtitles are available as another token gesture as well.
Summary:
While the film tries to build sympathy around these characters the script and action are so bad that it's clear that the filmmakers have no love for any of these characters. Framing Beneath the Darkness as a classic suspense tale with a touch of the supernatural a'la Poe is a respectable idea but having no idea of what that actually means or how to tell a story out of it is just pathetic.
