Beneath the Darkness
A small-town mortician finds his darkest secret revealed in director Martin Guigui's edge-of-your-seat thriller. Everyone in Smithville, Texas, knows the name Ely Vaughn (Dennis Quaid). A former star quarterback on the high-school football team, amiable Ely went on to become the town mortician. Ely's always got a quick smile ready as he cheers on the hometown team, but two years after his wife's untimely death, he's grown increasingly reclusive. He lives in a sprawling mansion that also doubles as the local funeral home, and rumor has it that the house is haunted. For curious teens Travis (Tony Oller), Brian (Stephen Lunsford), Abby (Aimee Teegarden), and Danny (Devon Werkheiser), the temptation to find out for themselves if the stories are true prove too powerful to resist. Gazing into Ely's windows, the teens witness the silhouettes of the grieving widower and an unidentified woman dancing together, and decide to get a closer look. But it may be the last mistake they ever make, because beneath Ely's friendly facade dwells a murderous sociopath capable of unspeakable evil. more..
Director: Martin Guigui
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Aimee Teegarden, Tony Oller, Stephen Lunsford, Devon Werkheiser
Beneath the Darkness has nada on Don Coscarelli's epic "Phantasm" saga or, for that matter, Norman Bates' clear-eyed if psychotic shenanigans. It's strictly a guilty pleasure.
Someone involved with Beneath the Darkness has either watched too many horror movies or not enough. There is not an original thought in this story, written by Bruce Wilkinson, or in the way it is directed by Martin Guigui.
Yet that deeply strange and agitated performance by Quaid is the only thing that makes the film remotely bearable.
A malformed, would-be horror shocker with a deliriously deranged performance by Dennis Quaid, who unfortunately seems to be the only one onboard who thinks he's in a comedy.
A teens-in-trouble thriller with barely enough momentum to make it to the end credits. Performances and script are made-for-cable grade.
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