A Darker Reality (2008) Reviews

• Powerful and creepy; harrowing stuff

  stsinger2011-08-14

  A few years ago Chris Kazmier and Christopher Hutson put out a film called "Dark Reality." It was a very different type of film; mostly improvised, it dealt with several women who had been captured by a lunatic and imprisoned. It focused almost entirely on the women in captivity. Strong stuff that was difficult to watch -- the IMDb page now claims the cast and crew thought it was "a joke," but if you watch the film and see what the actresses put themselves through, it's no joke. Now a few years later, Kazmier is back with an expansion of the original film called "A Darker Reality." Caught it on VOD recently in advance of its DVD release. The film takes the original premise and expands it. It shows us the actual psycho (played by Daniel Baldwin -- no spoilers there, that's his entire character) and shows the police attempts to find and capture him and save the women. Let's get the problems out of the way first -- the police stuff is bad. Pretty much "Movie/TV Police 101" -- gruff detective gets a partner he doesn't want, etc. But much of the movie focuses on the trapped women and the narrative of an escaped survivor, and holy crap, it is harrowing. You really feel the utter helplessness of these women and it's legitimately disturbing. And somehow, having Daniel Baldwin as the psycho makes it even a little creepier. It's not perfect and there are things that stretch credibility even in this type of film (for example, the psycho manages to have an absurd amount of victims in one area) and while the ending is a punch in the gut, it's a little confusing. And as you can tell from this review, it is definitely not for everyone. But it is very well done, and I am definitely looking forward to purchasing this film when it comes out on DVD so hopefully get some "Behind the scenes" things.

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• Utter garbage bordering on a snuff film

  Robert_duder2012-01-07

  The SAW franchise had a lot of brilliance to it including a great storyline for the most part. However, it also spawned a myriad of copycat films that have to keep pushing the envelope further and further so that they aren't even your typical horror film but something in a different genre altogether. There is grotesque, and horrific and then there is just too much gore especially when you're aiming for realism. One of the things that made films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre so popular was the fact that it used imagination to further the horror. You didn't see limbs and body parts being hacked off or people being literally tortured in front of you, it left it up to the viewer to imagine what was happening. Sometimes you just don't need to see the torture. A Darker Reality is exactly that...horrific torture...a weak story and just gory murder after murder. The description of the film says its about the girls finally rising up and fighting against the killer but for the four minutes that happens its unsuccessful and the killer just chops them up before they get away. Stupid, trivial, grotesque and hard to watch. The only reason I score this slightly higher than a big fat zero is the performances in the film aren't a complete waste. Daniel Baldwin actually plays the twisted, psychopath pretty well. He is deeply disturbed, twisted, and actually carries the film pretty darn well considering. He might be the only reason I didn't just turn it off in the first fifteen minutes. Sunny Doench and James C. Burns are practically useless as the two cops chasing down the killer. The story is barely on them and there is no great chase or mystery unravelled. I think they are put into the story because it would seem strange to not have someone trying to catch the killer...but they are truly useless. All the girls, the victims in the film do a great job of being terrified and tortured however unfortunate that claim to fame might be. Co-creator and director Chris Kazmier is heralded by some fans as being a 'dark and brilliant' horror creator but I think he uses violent images as an excuse to be entertaining. I am a huge horror fan, I love slasher flicks but horror is taking an unfortunate turn into this reality driven blood fest and that's unfortunate. Even if you are a fan of SAW this is just utter garbage. Its an hour and a half of girls being tortured which in my book is a snuff film not entertainment. Dump this one!! 2/10

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• too much exploitation nowhere near enough quality

  r_goodwin2014-08-10

  With the recent flow of found footage and torture porn movies flooding the market I thought the genre may be receding and we might,just might return to genuine scary and well thought out horror. Well I was wrong.They're still churning em out I.m afraid.Tha sad thing is that this film could have actually been SO MUCH BETTER!!! Daniel Baldwin,never being an Box office draw shows why...overacting creates what should have been a menacing character but results in a totally laughable villain.The tension was non existent and the long long drawn out torture scenes are so exploitative and quite sick,it just leaves an empty pit in the stomach and you have to ask yourself,Why I am bothering?Well I did and I wasn't wrong.Film runs out of ideas.logical ending and sadly fails in every dept.Don't waist your time.Don.t say I didn't warn you!!!

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• Disturbing..love it!

  andishorrorblog2014-02-01

  Some movies are just down right disturbing. The imagery is so dark it sticks with you and not easily forgotten. This is one of those movies. Daniel Baldwin does a decent job playing the sadistic killer. The only reason I didn't give this movie higher marks was the acting by the cop and forensics lady, everyone else's acting was pretty good. It's odd to just have a couple of bad actors…either they are all good or all bad. Anyway, these two were bad enough to stick out. The story itself, a sick killer who kidnaps, tortures and kills woman isn't as clichéd as it sounds. The imagery and torture is very intimate, in some scenes it felt as if your right there in the same room. Not many movies can boast such a quality. If you got a strong stomach and can handle torture movies, I recommend this one!

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• Not nearly as disturbing as some would have you believe

  Reaper-of-Souls2013-08-03

  While A DARKER REALITY is the very definition of what many would call "Torture Porn," it is not nearly as disturbing as many would have us believe. I was expecting much worse, and in all honesty, hoping for much worse. To me, A DARKER REALITY is very far from reality. That is the main reason I don't view it as a very disturbing film. I'm not saying that some of the content is not disturbing, it's just not portrayed in a real way. Yes, women are tortured and they do suffer, but much of the suffering is them just chained up together trying to figure out how to survive. I'm not trying to take anything away from this film, or for that matter I'm not trying to lessen the disturbing parts. Many people will find this film quite disturbing, but for those of us who have "seen it all," so to speak, will not be that disturbed by its content. In my eyes, it's neither a bad film nor a great film. It's just a bit above average, especially considering it was only made for an estimated $500,000. So in conclusion, A DARKER REALITY is not for everyone. If watching women being tortured will disturb you, then stay clear. While I have seen much more disturbing films, a lot of people have not and will not like this film, hence its 3.6 rating at the time of this review. Remember...it's only a movie. If you have sat through films such as HOSTEL or SAW, then you shouldn't have much trouble sitting through this one. Not that A DARKER REALITY is as good as either of those films, because it's not, but...well, you get the point (hopefully). I think I've rambled on long enough. A DARKER REALITY is a decent film in the "Torture Porn" category, better than a lot of others. I give it a solid 6 out of 10. Worth at least 1 viewing, if you like these kind of films.

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