Dark Touch (2013)
Directed by: Marina de Van
Written by: Marina de Van
Starring: Catherine Walker, Charlotte Flyvholm, Marcella Plunkett, Marie Missy Keating, Padraic Delaney, Richard Dormer, Robert Donnelly
Dark Touch (2013)
Running time: 90 minutes
On DVD now
Director: Marina de Van
Writer: Marina de Van
Cast: Padraic Delaney, Robert Donnelly, Charlotte Flyvholm, Marie Missy Keating, Marcella Plunkett, Catherine Walker, Richard Dormer
Reviewed by: Matt Wavish
Dark Touch was introduced at FrightFest as rumoured to be better than the upcoming Carrie remake, and with acclaimed director Marina de Van (In My Skin, Don’t Look Back) in charge, fans were extremely excited to see this new horror. The story of a girl with telekinetic powers which come on when she is angry or scared were a recipe for some dark, scary fun, or so I thought.
The film opens with every cliché known to horror as a storm rages, a young girl runs through the woods at night screaming, something bad has clearly happened, and the girl arrives at her neighbours house covered in bruises. Is she running from her own uncontrollable powers, or is there something much more sinister going on at home with her parents? The girl is Niamh (Keating, daughter of Ronan) and it appears that she has all sorts of Carrie type abilities, and while she believes her massive country house is alive and trying to kill her, it is her powers that are causing all the chaos. However, there is a sinister story of possible child abuse running through Dark Touch’s veins, and it would seem that Niamh has not quite come to terms with it yet.
The film makes things way too obvious, but the build up is pretty impressive. Bruises and scratches on both Niamh and the new born baby indicate foul play from the parents, and the way they react around Niamh in front of their neighbours (whom they consider friends) is a little creepy. Niamh’s parents are well respected in the small Irish village, with her Dad being the local Doctor, but all Hell literally breaks loose, and Niamh goes into a savage rage of anger, killing her parents. This early scene is impressive and actually very violent, and up until this point Dark Touch was living up to my expectations, and I was really enjoying it. The Irish setting gives the film a creepy feel, and haunting whistling coming from the woods creates a wonderful spooky atmosphere. There is a mystery surrounding two local kids whom Niamh continues to see in the fields around the woods, and later on she saves them from their abusive mother in a brilliant scene of revenge and violence. Niamh has been taken in by her friendly neighbours after the death of her parents, and yet another mystery surrounds her new Mother who suffers pains in her head whenever Niamh gets scared or angry.
However, much of the mystery in this film is never developed, and after such an impressive build up things go downhill, fast. One major issue with Dark Touch is the poorly written script, and this rears its ugly head after the barrage of horror clichés during the first half hour. Once all the visuals are done with and we settle down to Niamh coping with her parents death, her new parents and settling in at school, dialogue becomes more prominent, and the film suffers. A pregnant social worker does her best to help Niamh, but her poor acting and badly written script tipped the film over the edge into realms of stupidity. The film was bordering on being terrible, and the FrightFest audience just needed that one final push so that the film was lost completely, and this character did it. Her lines conjured up laughter from the audience, and even later on when Niamh’s new Mother slaps her (an unpleasant plot design showing how abuse can follow someone around) instead of being shocked, the audience laughed. Dark Touch was lost forever, and while some have said it was good, I hated the second half.
The film moves into some daft plot ideas of violence and mayhem, and Niamh becomes a ridiculous character which is first hinted at during a laugh out loud birthday party. All the menace, tension and mystery is lost as the film falls into a category aimed to please those looking for nothing more than cheap thrills. The intelligent story, the sinister child abuse, and struggling to deal with such violent powers is all lost as the film attempts its best Carrie rip off and falls totally flat. Really daft moments like kids acting evil at a birthday party, or Niamh commanding followers just went too far for me, and the ending is baffling, confusing and just incredibly dumb. It was as if the writer just had no idea what to do to finish the film, or didn’t care. All respect I had for the film was lost past the halfway point, and I didn’t expect the ending to save it, and it didn’t. I would have walked out had I not intended to review the film.
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