3 Star

A Ghost Story Through Time.

Writer/director Tharun Mohan (Purgatory State of Mind (Short)), brings us his first feature film. A tale that spans a hundred years, and the lengths a person will go to in order to keep that love alive. The Darkness is a story that throws everything in this genre at it, death, demons, deception channelled through changelings and witchcraft, it takes all of these and brings them together in this dark tale of love.

Back in the day Brian O’Connor (Adam Bond, Mary Queen of Scots) loved a woman, but she went missing in the woods where the fairies lurk in their cave. However  Brian believes in the witchcraft that his Mother Roisin (Michelle Archer, The Viking War) does. And that is why he is in the garden in the middle of the night with a spade in hand.

Mother she’s back!

Present day and hard-working Londoners Dave (Cyril Blake, The Waiting Game (Short)) the entrepreneur and Lisa (Amelia Eve, Shadowland, Big Boys Don’t Cry) the romcom writer have come to David’s new inheritance from his grandmother. It’s a country cottage that he knew nothing about, but as a country bolthole it is perfect for Lisa to get down to writing her new book.

It doesn’t take long for the house to realize that there are new occupants and  things start to go bump in the night, with Lisa seeing a woman walking about at night and having some very disturbing dreams. This leads Lisa to search the house and when she is in the attic she finds a large chest with clothes from a hundred years ago, and more importantly to this story a diary.

The diary belonged to Niav O’Connor (Katherine Hartshorne, Chaos in the Spectrum), the thing is there is no record of Niav in Davids family history, all that is known is that Brian was married to Mary and only Mary. Who is this Niav?

The mystery is set, will Lisa uncover Davids family secret and has it transcended time as Lisa gets embroiled in Niav’s story?

There is plenty to see in this first time feature, and it is a start down a long road to master a craft but the Darkness is a good footing for the future.

Something to hide behind the cushion for.The Darkness is available on iTunes, Amazon, Virgin and Sky Store