I Will Follow You Into the Dark

In the last moments of this movie i was thinking: "the only thing that could save this film is if it was a troll, a huge joke..."

but it wasn't. Someone seriously thought that this would sell. I don't know if the budget for this film was spent on Barton (the Only recognizable name on the credits) or if this was a troll, and the "Gotch-a" is at the end of the credits and i left too early. either way, whether or not the movie was a joke- it was bad... ...now, One could rant on and on about what was wrong with this movie, but i'll summarize; -It was too dark, you could not see anything but a beam of light coming from a flashlight 30% of the movie. -the acting was horrible. acting is easier said than done, i realize that, but if you aren't good at acting, then why are you in the film? and such... save some money, skip this film, see The Fog....or better yet. save some sanity...don't see either...

Mischa Barton was considered a rising star after her TV show "The OC" but ran into some personal issues in 2007 that derailed her. She has some good film credits, a stage background and a pretty face, but after seeing "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," I'm predicting a so-so career. Or maybe it was the director or the script.

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark" is about a young woman, Sophia, who loses both her parents within six months of one another. Her father was a minister, and right before he dies, he tells her that he's decided that there is no life after death. When she speaks at her father's church, she repeats this, tells the congregation she has come to the same conclusion, and challenges God to prove her wrong.

Bizarre little things begin to happen to her, but one day she meets a funny, charming young man, Adam (Ryan Eggold). She's afraid of losing anyone again, so she resists him, but they wind up falling in love. One day Adam disappears, apparently into this haunted building, and Sophia is determined to get him out.

My biggest problem with this movie is that it was photographed in the dark and I couldn't see anything for a large portion of it. My second problem was the story didn't make a lot of sense to me. There's a famous building that's haunted. People have disappeared from there. There are no stairs. So why would anyone live there? Why does Adam live there? Who would live there? That being said, the last 30-40 minutes are scary and made me nervous. The acting throughout was only okay. I thought the script was bad and the photography worse. As far as the romance, it wasn't developed enough so that anyone cared.

A waste.

It's one thing to judge this just by the message it is transporting or by the way the movie realized that same idea. I think the idea behind the movie is really good. And while this is one of the better efforts the former OC girl is involved with, this still lacks a lot of things great horror movies have.

Mischa Barton and the other actors in this look good, the framing and shooting of the movie does not need to enhance anything there. Some scenes could do with some enhancing in the acting area though. The dialog could be a bit better too. If you can overlook all those things, you may be able to see this in a better light than it actually represents though ...

Mischa Barton plays a young woman whose parents both die. Aggrieved, she renounces God's existence and challenges him to prove there's something more to life than what we know and see. I guess he does. He seems to send legions of things that bump around her flat to haunt her. Then he gets these goolies to kidnap her new - unbelievable perfect - boyfriend. The moral: never mess with God.

So, poor newly-atheist Mischa must look for her stolen bloke in a haunted apartment block where she reckons he's been imprisoned. Now, most horror films like this are about ninety minutes. This one runs at nearly two hours. And here lies the first problem. Namely, that much of the film is either pretty establishing shots/montages, or Mischa walking slowly around one empty hallway or another - sometimes something jumps out at her, sometimes not.

This film is slow. And how you perceive it will depend on how much you like it. It's the very definition of a 'slow burner.' If you're desperate for something to happen, it may well drive you mad and you'll find that absolutely nothing happens for long periods of the film. However, if you like your horror slow, creepy and tension-building, then you'll probably enjoy this.

Just don't go expecting a roller-coaster of a ride style horror film. Unfortunately, although I like to think I can appreciate a slow-burner or two, I found there was nothing new enough here to warrant watching it again. It falls into that 'seen in all before' category.

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I can honestly say my expectations were set too high for this film. I was expecting a supernatural love story and instead I got a big mess of a film, with a plot so vague I hardly know what to make of it.

The film starts off promising with a present to past reflection leading up to the current events. No doubt this tactic was to keep the audiences' attention to the end of this film. I feel without it all interest would have been lost, because there is nothing within the first 20 minutes to indicate anything supernatural about this film otherwise. That said, there isn't too much of anything ghostly until the last 40 minutes or so of this film.

The love story isn't strong enough either to make an impact on the viewer. The love story never really develops and the main story focuses more on the main protagonist dealing with some eerie events which begin to plague this young woman following a eulogy challenging anything supernatural to prove to her there is something beyond death. These events are what lead her to find refuge and love with a man she basically just bumped in to.

Into the Dark has a few things going for it, a talented cast, and a successful atmospheric tone. The only weakness is the screenplay itself; it is much too ambiguous for my liking and there is never a clear explanation for anything. Excluding our lead, all of the other characters are underdeveloped and certain events occur to all of them that just leave you scratching your head asking "what was the point of that? ".

I recommend this film only to those who are willing to ignore a weak screenplay, and are looking for a mindless supernatural romance film. Into the Dark runs roughly 110 minutes, and does have a bit of everything, but the film just can't seem to keep it's focus on any one thing.