Dark Touch

There are worse ways to spend your time. 'Dark touch' maintains an unsettling atmosphere throughout its length, and is filled with intermittent moments of violence and blood. And... that's a movie!

Moments of acute fright for the characters are supposed to inspire the same in the audience, but we just don't feel it beyond the maintenance of the spooky-ooky atmosphere. It's just interesting enough to keep us watching, to see what happens, but it's not especially engaging.

The thing is that 'Dark touch' relies heavily on a trope we've seen many times before. For most of its length, that's about all there is to say. With about 15 minutes left it takes that familiar narrative thread in an extra dark, surprising direction - but then ends rather abruptly.

This isn't bad. But nor is it noteworthy enough to specifically recommend. 'Dark touch' is the sort of supernatural thriller to view if you can't decide on anything else, or want to watch something with limited time and aren't very particular.

Well the movie does have an alluring poster / cover, but as the saying goes; don't judge a book by its cover. As was the truth with this movie as well.

The movie started out at a tremendous pace, and promised to be really interesting, especially if it could manage to uphold that level of intensity and interest. Unfortunately, it couldn't. The movie got winded and lost breath half way through, slowing down in pace tremendously, but still, it had potential. Perhaps the middle part of the movie was just building up to another intense part towards the end. That was not to be, sadly. And the movie shattered into fragments of ridiculous storytelling once the story took the audience to Maud's house, from thereon the movie just spiraled and got worse.

I will say that the mood in "Dark Touch" is really good, it is dark, brooding and gloomy, and have all the right ingredients for a true horror movie. And it was well on the way, if it wasn't because of the storyline that lost breath halfway through and ran on an fumes towards the end.

The acting in "Dark Touch" was quite good, and the lead role played by Missy Keating was quite well-played. A rather good performance by such a young actress. Perhaps she is one that will carve a name for herself in the movie business in the years to come?

It was a shame that the movie failed to uphold the intensity and spooky atmosphere that it started out with. "Dark Touch" really had potential, it just went in a very wrong direction.

Dark Touch looks like a rework of Stephen King's Carrie, except it's more keen at the themes of suffering with abusive parents. Even though that this is a horror movie, it is at its most interesting when it deeply focuses on the main character dealing with her trauma. The supernatural elements only becomes the allegory of her feelings against the violence she faces at home. The narrative can get a little clunky and once it gets hateful at the third act, things felt sort of incoherent. Still, Dark Touch offers a compelling core that keeps it from being like any generic horror film we usually get these days.

The movie is pretty slow, while it satisfyingly shows enough disturbing violence, the movie is more concerned at the traumatized young girl who is unable to overcome on what she was treated by her family. We often just see the motions of her new life trying to fit in to a normal new family and visiting some therapy. The final note of the movie seems to indicate that this is a personal message against child abuse from one of the filmmakers. It's quite compelling when it keeps things grounded, the girl's supernatural abilities is only a symbolism of her anxiety and a growing tension of harming the people who cares for her. Apart from that realism and analogy, the movie becomes sort of clunky at its horror movie elements. This as well sets up to an ending that has an obvious meaning, but felt a little unfitting to what has accomplished. As a result, it looks glorious to those who agree with its sentiment, but also disappointing for how much better it could have been.

The movie still deserves a lot of credit. As much as there are characters dying violently, the movie doesn't try to make that the whole point of it all. It doesn't even bother explaining the origins of Niamh's curse. What's important here is to portray the terrible effects of abuse to a child. The movie brings a stunning cinematography that reflects their world's melancholic atmosphere. Young Missy Keating does fine as Niamh. Her limited expressions do work for hiding the pain of her character. Better are the supporting who decently back her up.

Dark Touch is alright, there is a potential of a better movie that may become an excellent allegory, but it's still difficult to explain what to exactly feel about the third act. It's probably to add more camp since it doesn't offer much horror within its storyline, or the filmmakers just hate child abuse too much that it has to take it that far. Wasn't her telekinetic powers already enough for their consequence? And it's also a pretty compelling one if you think about it. The point is, the conclusion just doesn't quite fit in the process, as it largely shifts the tone. But the movie has a clear statement, and I think that's enough for it. Horror fans may appreciate its bloody death scenes, though that's not exactly what this movie is about, the movie just could have been tighter in its messaging. There is an absolute reason why we must hate child abuse, but out of caricatures, too much hate really affects the experience.

**Spoilers ahead**

It's clear from many of the other reviews, as well as the film's unfairly low rating, that a good percentage of today's audiences remain uncomfortable with ambiguity and lack of closure. I for one think these qualities are sorely lacking in modern film, and desperately needed in greater abundance in the horror genre in particular. Yes, it might have been nice to get some "origin event" or background on/explanation of her powers (and what's the deal with that whistling trick?), but this is not a film concerned with plot. Instead it is much more focused on capturing the horror inherent in its primary POV--the paranoid, emotionally detached, and deeply disturbed perspective of an abused girl. Leaving the audience in the dark, so to speak, with regards to exactly what is going on and why is in perfect keeping with that aim. With that said, I did think it went overboard in the final scenes, and that the addition of her two sidekicks was unnecessary. Nevertheless, I still rate it a worthy addition to the sub-genre of horror ("Carrie", "May", "Alice, Sweet Alice", etc.) that successfully evokes extreme unease from the fragile and volatile psyche of a damaged little girl.

Dark Touch takes the audience into an uncomfortable place, one with psychologically disturbing ground. It dabbles in the matter of child abuse with stylish yet subtle approach, but the slow pacing and lack of resolve might deter some viewers. The film isn't a harrowing encounter, at least not in usual adrenaline rush inducing way of horror or mystery genre, it's more of a thoughtful process to instill doubt and sympathy. However, this endeavor is probably not one audience would like to take part of.

Neve (Missy Keating) is a little girl who may or may not be abused. There's a stifling air about her, but her fragile self also instinctively draws sympathy. After a while there's a series of incident around her, which may harm her parents and anyone who tries to help her. What great about this premise is the acting of the lead child actor, Missy Keating. Not many young actors could perform as well as she does.

She embodies an interestingly frail persona, but it's still unclear whether she's the origin of misfortune or the victim, or even disturbed in an entirely supernatural way. Keating looks like a genuine troubled child, yet occasionally possessing daunting confidence. With her convincing performance, the movie at least accomplishes half of its goal.

The child abuse aspect needs to be addressed delicately, and the movie has done so with a good restraint. Unfortunately, the pacing is troublesome. There's really little suspense at the buildup, furthermore it only gets momentum after about halfway. At this point there are some random events that haven't been cleared, and ironically despite its more engaging approach the film sometimes resorts into cliché tactics.

Dark Touch is a display to bring emotions, parts of it are open to interpretation, although this might not deliver as strong message as it would like. It still has an unsettling aura with a good lead performance and relatable theme, even though the foray there is exhausting.