MovieChat Forums > Darkness Falls (2003) Discussion > Excerpt From an Article I Wrote: Spoiler...

Excerpt From an Article I Wrote: Spoiler Alert

posted 13 years ago by ncrawford82
2 replies | jump to latest

It may seem a little bit unfair to expect a "happy ending" from a horror movie to begin with. After all, a common staple of the horror movie franchise is to throw an open ended shot to the slasher as he raises a hand, opens his eye suddenly, or does something to let everyone know that yeah, he was dead, but he got better.

Now, of all the films on this list, Darkness Falls was the one I wish I hadn't paid money to see. Granted, like 98% of it's intended demographic, I only went to see Emma Caufield. The other 2% were definitely interested in the Tooth Fairy. (I assume)

In the town of Darkness Falls, a kind and wealthy woman named Mathilda was accused of killing two children. In an episode of mob mentality that makes the LA riots look like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, poor Mathilda was burned to death in her home.

Now she stalks the ambiguously named town of Darkness Falls, killing anyone who sees her, but specifically targeting children who have lost their last baby teeth. Unfortunately this includes young Kyle Walsh. Walsh survives, but his mother is brutally killed in the bedroom down the hall. And because the gene pool in Darkness Falls is so shallow, the police fail to notice the fact that there is not a drop of blood on his pure white pajamas, nor signs of defensive wounds on his body, before assuming he's the one who killed her.

Years later, Mathilda returns to harrass Emma Caulfield's little brother and from then on hilarity ensues. Everyone but Kyle, Emma, and her little brother is killed off and the ghost Mathilda is temporarily defeated in a fiery climax at the top of an even more ambiguously placed light house.

Why Isn't this a Happy Ending?

Well, lets get the obvious aside. Mathilda isn't dead. As mentioned, we get one last scene at another little boy's house that the poor old spinster has moved on to harrass.

Now, lets look at the situation. Kyle Walsh has returned to Darkness Falls to help his girlfriend's little brother, who has become the target of Mathilda's, ahem, affections. Everyone in this backwater hick town still believes he killed his mother. Everyone who was seen with him last, except for Emma and little Michael has been killed by this ghost.

And the last place Michael and Emma were seen was at the hospital, where Michael was being treated for his irrational fear of the dark. Translate, his perfectly rational fear of being torn apart like a wet paper bag full of minced sausages, that no one else believes. So add that to the fact that no one the town finds credible believes in Mathilda Thompson.

Walsh is going to be a wanted fugitive at worse. At best, he'll be sharing a brightly lit padded room with Liev Schriber and the two of them will meet Cole's mom Lynn in the dining area of the mental hospital the three of them will be staying at.

[–] jeffyoung1 13 years ago

There's questions that answer your questions.

If Mathilda was being hanged, there is no way she could have spoken with her 'last breath' to curse the town. Hanged people typically cannot speak. She would have had to expressed her curse just before being hanged.

It's not explained well how a friendly spinster or widow can suddenly morph into a vengeful revenant. Good people don't suddenly turn evil. Even when good people are wrongfully killed, they usually don't leave curses but instead move on to Heaven. (yeah, I believe that)

It's not well explained how the people in the town of, Darkness Falls, after so many years of entrusting their children to receiving a gold coin from Mathilda can suddenly suspect a friendly spinster or widow of being a child murderer. More likely the townspeople would have suspected the local crazy or the local weirdo or loner. It's too easy to suspect someone like that. Mathilda was supposed to have been a part of the community even if on the loner side.

In the 19th century, a gold coin is worth a LOT of money, just as it is today, and even more so, given the rising value of gold. It's not likely Mathilda would have handed out a gold coin to a child for the last child tooth. A gold coin in that day and age would have been worth at nominal value, about 20 dollars. Twenty dollars in the 19th century was a LOT of money. Even in 2011 with inflation, people still don't pull out a twenty dollar bill without thinking about it. More likely, Mathilda would have handed out quarters, which could buy a lot of candy back then, or if she was really generous, handed out silver dollar coins, which also was worth a lot and could buy lots of candy and toys at the time. But not a gold coin. I don't know anyone who would hand out gold coins for any reason.

[–] TheManInOil 12 years ago

You don't understant horror films, nor this one.

First of all, she didn't die in the fire. The fire disfigured her and made her an outcast, which is why the townspeople hanged her when two kids went missing. If you want to understand a movie, you have to pay some attention to what's going on.

Also, only movies setting up sequels have the killer come back at the end. The point of the horror genre has always been to manifest the fears of the audience in the form of a 'monster'. The story draws out the fears and gives them form so they can be confronted and overcome. Traditionally horror movies always had 'happy endings' because defeating the monster is cathartic. That's why horror is supposed to be enjoyable. It evokes your fears but then dismisses them. The idea of the monster winning is a fairly new one - and even in movies where it comes back usually the protagonist at least does overcome it, even though it may go on to attack others.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."