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THE DARKNESS

"Self-Sacrifice Overcomes Demonic Forces"

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What You Need To Know:

THE DARKNESS opens with the Taylor family enjoying themselves during a vacation near the Grand Canyon. Peter and Bronny Taylor’s autistic 12-year-old son, David, wanders off into a cave and picks up five strange, smoothed rocks with primitive designs on them resembling animals. Soon, David and his family, including his older sister, Stephanie, are haunted by the five demons connected to the rocks. The family consults a mother-daughter team of “psychic healers.” They tell the Taylors the rocks belong to an Indian tribe destroyed long ago when they somehow unleashed the demons. The psychics prove ineffectual against the demons. Can the father stop the demons destroying his family?

THE DARKNESS has its scary, heroic and touching moments, but it’s still sometimes silly. The good news is that it has a light redemptive, moral worldview promoting good over demonic evil, family and self-sacrifice. That said, the movie’s scary moments, occult references to psychic healing and foul language warrant extreme caution, especially for susceptible viewers. THE DARKNESS would have been improved greatly with a more focused script and more overt Christian content and references.

Content:

(C, B, OO, FR, LL, VV, S, N, A, M) Redemptive, moral worldview overall as father and self-sacrifice overcome four evil demons trying to invade the world, mitigated by strong occult content that includes autistic boy seems to be demonically possessed or controlled sometimes, and family gets help from “psychic healers,” but psychic ultimately turns out to be ineffectual against demons, and the demonic influence is seen as bad/evil; 16 obscenities (including one “f” word), four strong profanities, one light profanity, and bulimic teenage girl forces herself to throw up, keeping her condition secret from her parents; strong and light scary violence with sometimes a little blood includes demons haunt family, demons start fires, teenage girl attacked by snarling dog in her bedroom, invisible demons rush at characters, demons try to kidnap boy and take him to demonic realm, demons hurl shards at glass at a couple people to cut them, demons cause a chandelier to crash, demons set fire to a wall, a demon leaves paw prints on people and things, and demons blacken a wall, which eventually comes a portal; some light, brief sexual references include brief talk about a past affair, and husband is enticed by a new female assistant, but he backs off from letting the relationship go anywhere, though his boss expresses disappointment in one scene that he hasn’t taken advantage of the situation; upper male nudity in one scene, plus some female cleavage, and woman wearing bikini is shown swimming; alcohol use, and it’s implied but not really shown that woman seems to be drinking too much because of the problems the family is having with demons haunting them and causing problems, but there is no drunkenness shown; no smoking or drug references; and, light miscellaneous objectionable content such as children keep secrets from their parents.

More Detail:

THE DARKNESS is a scary horror movie about a family being haunted by demonic forces that want to let loose satanic forces around the world. Unlike most horror movies in the supernatural sub-genre, THE DARKNESS has a redemptive, moral worldview and a positive premise promoting good over evil, family and self-sacrifice, but it has some foul language, occult behavior and could have been better.

The movie opens with the Taylor family enjoying themselves at a desert picnic during a vacation near the Grand Canyon. Peter and Bronny Taylor’s autistic 12-year-old son, David, wanders off into a cave and picks up five strange, smoothed rocks with primitive designs on them resembling animals.

Soon, David and his family, including his older sister, Stephanie, are haunted by the five demons represented by the rocks. The wife of the father’s boss refers the mother to a mother-daughter team of “psychic healers.” The team tells the Taylors the rocks belong to an Indian tribe that was destroyed long ago when they somehow unleashed the demons. Their autistic son is especially susceptible to the demonic powers behind the rocks.

The mother and daughter psychics eventually prove to be ineffectual against the demons. Can the father stop the demons from destroying his son and family, not to mention their house? Or is it too late?

THE DARKNESS has its scary, heroic and touching moments, but it’s still sometimes silly and could be better produced. The good news is that it has a light redemptive, moral worldview promoting good over demonic evil, family and self-sacrifice. That said, the movie’s scary moments, occult references to psychic healing and some foul language warrant extreme caution, especially for susceptible viewers. THE DARKNESS would have been improved greatly with a more focused script and more overt Christian content and references. THE DARKNESS tries to reflect a more positive approach to the supernatural horror movie genre like THE CONJURING movies, but it ultimately fails.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.