The Darkness sees the return of Australian director Greg McLean (Rogue, Wolf Creek) after his work on the Wolf Creek television series. Originally titled 6 Miranda Drive, the film focuses on the standard upper class white family as they return home from a little vacation at the Grand Canyon. The mother (Radha Mitchell) immediately notices a change in the children: the daughter is flipping out more than normal, while the youngest boy Mikey (who has autism) tries to kill his grandma's cat and starts a fire in his room.

It's not long before strange things begin to occur around the house as well, like faucets suddenly turning on (take that water bill!), doors mysteriously open (how original!) and hand prints are seen on bathroom mirrors and blankets. To make things even more peculiar, the teenage daughter is caught throwing up in containers and storing them under her bed (a little snack for later?) and the boy keeps talking to his new invisible friend named "Jenny."

Naturally the father is oblivious to all the happenings and just shrugs it off, leaving the mother to do her own internet sleuthing and determine that all the weirdness may have something to do with ancient Native American spirits that they brought back with them. Now she must find a way to stop these pesky spirits before they take away her boy, whom they seem to be most interested in thanks to his autism (according to the movie those with autism are susceptible to seeing ghosts).

As you might've already gathered after seeing the trailer or from reading the premise, The Darkness brings absolutely nothing new to the table. While the folklore behind the Native American spirits is kind of an interesting concept (and they look neat when they're shown), the rest of the movie is just one cliché after another. Sadly it's even lacking in scares, which are almost non-existent aside from a couple cheap pop-ups. It's unfortunate because there is actually a decent story somewhere in there, but clearly nobody seemed to give a shit about how to utilize it.

The Darkness offers nothing we haven't already seen, delivering one cliché after another, even down to it's common title. Even the "scares" are poorly thought out, proving that the filmmakers didn't even try to make a good movie. Do yourself a favor and avoid this mess.