The Darkroom (2006)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The acting in this movie is really good.

I had not heard of this one before, and was pleasantly surprised. There are horror elements, and blood and gore, but more important, the story is involving. The Actors credible, and the exposition pulled me right in. A good story of a man with amnesia, fighting off his own private monsters, and given a test medication to help him remember his bloody secret. It seems that many movies today seek out a "twist" in the plot to surprise the audience. I can honestly say that I did not see this one coming, until it was finally revealed. The plot device led to a satisfying conclusion.I gave the film an eight out of ten, Professional all the way, from acting, editing, production, and direction. It worked, and I liked it.

The people who have ripped this movie so far are the brain-dead sort who only rent flicks by genre, and then get all p----d off if a film deviates one jot from their preconceived least-common-denominator concept of that classification that has been drilled into their little pea-brains by FANGORIA or some other source of pubescent wisdom. The problem is that in their rush to share their ignorance with fellow know-nothings, folks of this ilk are often the first to comment here at IMDb, poisoning the well for fine "genre-benders" such as DARKROOM during those crucial first weeks and months on the rental spaces, before titles are steeply discounted or disappear altogether due to lack of appreciation by the general public for their true nature. It would be tempting to attribute comments by the likes of "moonfog_sof2" and "learagent" as part of "dirty tricks" campaigns on behalf of rival film distributors, but 1)most movie companies are not that savvy about the business world, and 2)clowns like the two mentioned above usually seem sincere in their hyperbole-filled wrong-headedness. If you recognize a friend with these annoying tendencies, please gently twist their arms to include some clear-cut disclaimer in their movie "summary" lines (such as "Haters listen up:" or "To my fellow dimwits:").Even people who have seen a representative sampling of more than one hundred movies in their lifetime (including at least 10 of IMDb's 100 most popular of all-time) are unlikely to see DARKROOM's twist coming any earlier than they guessed the turn in CRYING GAME or SIXTH SENSE. Clairvoyant people who say they ALWAYS see twists coming probably should refrain from movie-watching, and certainly not bad-mouth passable flicks with ratings of "1" or "2" out of 10 and exaggerated carping to those of us that don't have their gifts of ennui and negativity.

I watched this movie not expecting anything too good since i had never heard of it before, but after viewing it i wasn't disappointed. The plot is easy to follow and the mostly unknown actors execute pretty well. I was majorly impressed by lucy lawless's performance expanding out of her usual role as the "badass, don't need a man to get crap done" type and taking on a more vulnerable character that shows indeed she is one of the most underrated actresses out there. The movie kind of does seem to slow down a little bit and if you have seen enough of these types of movies, the twist shouldn't come as a shocker. So if you have a free night and nothing to watch, check this out. You might actually like it.

That might be a bit harsh for me saying that, but sadly so far in his directing career its true. Just have a look at what he as done so far. They barely make it past the 3 star mark.Why did I watch this movie? 2 reasons. Lucy Lawless and Heroes star Greg Grunberg. Lucy was outstanding in this movie, her performance carries the whole movie. I do hope she gets a "blockbuster" and breaks into the bigger league of actors, she clearly has the skills. Greg was not so impressive, typical TV acting style.The movie is oddly categorized as a horror. The only "horror" is short flashbacks, and they last a max of 2-5 seconds with a little blood in them. I personally would call this more a "drama/thriller".But no matter how interesting the story actually is, bad directing, editing and acting (appart from Lucy) destroys it. You get no real connection to the actors, something which is very important in a story like this one. You just sit there watching feeling nothing. Its like watching a bad TV soap....actually I think the TV soap would be more interesting.My advice: Stay away from this movie...or better yet just stay away from anything Michael Hurst is involved with.