Darkness is a 2002 supernatural horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró, and starring Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen, Giancarlo Giannini, and Fele Martínez.

The family's home is plagued with recurring electrical problems, resulting in power outages that further exacerbate tensions, especially between Regina, Mark, and Maria.

They discover that the home was constructed for a supernatural ritual requiring the sacrifice of seven children (each sacrificed by "hands that love them") to coincide with an eclipse that only occurs every forty years.

With the next eclipse quickly approaching, and now armed with the knowledge that the earlier occult ritual needs one more death to be completed, Regina fears Paul will be the next victim.

[27][28] The Los Angeles Times's Kevin Thomas awarded the film one out of four stars, deeming it "trite and flat," and "too mechanical to be persuasive or scary.

"[29] Ned Martel of The New York Times noted: "Darkness, which crept into theaters nationwide on Christmas Day, tries to spook holiday revelers with a guessing game about which member of a handsome American family, relocated to Spain, will kill another.

"[30] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said the film is "a horror movie so vague about the nightmare it’s spinning, it seems scared of its own shadows... Darkness was clearly tossed together like salad in the editing room, since it’s little more than the sum of its unshocking shock cuts.

"[32] Bilge Ebiri of The New York Sun similarly noted the film as containing elements of a "a disturbing family drama," adding that it is "at its best when exploring Dad's bouts with his inner demons - but it's quickly stifled by tired attempts to jolt the audience and more narrative dead-ends.

[34] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's cinematography, but criticized its script: "Although director Balaguero displays a talent for spooky visuals and creating an atmosphere of quietly simmering tension, his screenplay (co-written by Fernando de Felipe) is a compendium of barely connected scenes that ultimately lapse into incoherence.

"[35] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle called the film "Eurotrash for the new millennium," comparing it negatively against Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981) and Dario Argento's Inferno (1980), summarizing: "Despite the very occasional shock...  Darkness is a god-awful mess, the kind of monstrous misfire that makes your mind ache and your teeth grind.

"[36] Jennifer Green of Screen Daily conceded that the film features "cleverly crafted" and "haunting" visuals, praising the work of cinematographer Xavi Gimenez and editor Luis de la Madrid, but felt the performances were lackluster "considering the caliber of the cast.

"[37] Michael Gingold of Fangoria gave the film a rare favorable review, noting that "the dynamics among the various family members are plausibly played out, even if specific scenes between them don’t always ring true," and concluded "It’s once he’s gotten past the exposition that Balagueró really gets cooking, and the final 10-15 minutes are full of genuine shivers.

The movie’s title isn’t just a random scary moniker; the plot ultimately proves to actually hinge on darkness, and Balagueró and Gimenez’s use of light and the lack thereof is expert throughout.

"[38] Professor Ann Davies wrote that Darkness shares similarities with the Edgar Allan Poe story The Fall of the House of Usher (1893).

[39] Davies also sees the film's representation of a haunted house as "part of a wider Gothic mode" both in Spanish cinema and beyond, which "tap into memories and reflections of traumas that are unconfined by national boundaries.