Beneath the Darkness

"Help me prove he killed Danny." After thinking they saw a ghost a group of friends start to snoop around the home of local mortician Ely (Quaid). When they get caught something happens that changes their lives forever. Now with only their word it is up to them to convince the cops that the well liked Ely is actually a murderer. I had pretty high expectations for this movie. I really liked "Mr. Brooks" and I like Dennis Quaid and seeing him play a psycho I thought would be cool. Once again though like most movies the idea is better then the real thing. While Quaid was creepy the movie itself was very very slow moving and it took over 30 minutes for the movie to really begin. This is another movie where the ending is neat and worth it, but getting to the end is a struggle. This movie doesn't compare at all to "Mr. Brooks", but I would like to see Quaid in a better movie playing a character like this one. Overall, very slow and disappointing movie that had a lot of potential. I say C.

I hate seeing a great actor like Dennis Quaid trapped in a load of crap like "Beneath the Darkness" which just diminishes his talents. It is the "psychotic mortician" part where two teenagers (Aimee Teegarden and Tony Oller) are aware of his murder of their friend, stumbling upon a wicked secret he holds (he dances with his wife's corpse at night). Quaid's Ely is a former star quarterback and remains a recognizable figure in his Texas town, so the kids will need to put themselves in danger in order to expose his loony ass. You have seen this a million times, and if you are expecting the miracle of something original in "Beneath the Darkness" then you will be sorely disappointed. Quaid tries to teeter along the edge of insanity and mock the kids who realize he's bonkers but have trouble proving it. He's an actor with an impressive resume behind him, but this kind of film is a blight on his career. Ugh. The kids are determined to involve the police and take Quaid down for his crimes, which includes the burial of his wife's lover which led to his downward spiral. The plot is one big ass yawn. When Quaid looks right at the camera at the end and repeats, "Love sucks", I think he should have said instead, "This movie sucks."

At the end of the movie it is easy to see this as an attempt to be Psycho meets Mr. Brooks. Dennis Quaid plays against type as Eli a mortician with a secret, and a dark compulsion. He can kill with no remorse and he has the body of his deceased wife in his house. Unfortunely Quaid is one of the weaknesses of the film. He lacks the chilling menace that Costner had in Mr. Brooks and just comes across as a psycho. The story is lacking in exposition and caused me some annoyance as the movie progressed. Why wait to the end and shoehorn in a ton of explanation in an unnatural fashion, which takes away from the twist at the end. The twist should be the penny that drops to link all the treads together ala The Sixth Sense (the best example of this). The best part of the film would have to be the young cast. The four friends are great together, very believable as friends. The lead, Travis, is great and reminds me of a young Christopher Gorham (Harpers Island). The story itself is good and entertaining, unfortunately it is lacking in the execution.

The movie tells the story of an undertaker who works too much, almost in the evenings. Some young grown ups wonder why this is so and step into great trouble, take a look what he is doing there, but... all Adults in the movie are stupid, except Dennis Quaid he is mad, especially doing this movie. And it's "Kind of Wonder" running like an athlete with a gunshot in the leg. I think i don't have to write more than this 10 sentences;-) Movie is complete waste of time. Ciao Wolfi

Despondent and depressed over the untimely death of his sister, teenage Travis believes that the local shady mortician (played with much ham by Dennis Quaid) is responsible for her murder. So he and his three friends decide to gather some evidence from the morgue with disastrous consequences for one of them. Now Travis and his two remaining friends must bring the murderer to justice while also contending with cops that don't believe them Almost every Tuesday Instant Netflix has at least one film streaming on same day as released on DVD, this week it's three films (this one, The Myth of the American Teenager, and Wolf Town) And while this is a marked improvement on the supremely atrocious Wolf Town, Not by much. The movie is nothing we haven't seen a million times before, the acting is all right in an over the top way. But the ending is utter dog excrement, the film just kinda sputters to a conclusion. My grade: D

I've always been a big fan of Dennis Quaid's but my God, what was going on in his head when he agreed to do this B-movie horror/chiller?! If you thought Ray Liotta was bad in "Turbulence" with his over the top, maniacal character...Quaid beats him hands down in this one. I admit he keeps an amusing swagger to his insane character throughout that just about saves him, but the whole concept is not only ridiculous, it's been done a thousand times before. Scorned husband punishes all who stand in his way blah blah blah..... The adjoining cast of relative unknowns aren't much better and very unconvincing in their respective roles. I wouldn't even classify this movie as a bit of fun, it just plain stinks!!!!! I gave it 3/10 because Quaid did make me laugh once or twice with his one-liners but the ending sums up the stupidity of the entire film.

Dennis Quaid plays a creepy mortician in a central Texas town. A group of teens decide to trespass his abode for thrills and everything goes awry. Quaid and cutie Aimee Teegarden head the cast, but it's Tony Oller who shines here as the troubled protagonist. He's reminiscent of Robby Benson. As noted in my title blurb, the story is akin to a Scooby-Doo yarn, but realistic and without the dog. Although Quaid is over-the-top and somewhat campy as the villain the rest of the cast play it straight. I was surprised by the dramatic score and a few really touching scenes. Some complain that the subplot of a dead sister and a ghost sighting goes nowhere, but it's there for a reason, just think about it. Although there's some realistic cussing there's zero raunch. I was pleasantly surprised by this little film. It's classy, sometimes moving, mysterious and thrilling. The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and shot in Bastrop & Smithville, Texas. GRADE: B+/A-

The film opens with an angry man confronting someone he apparently knows and there's a murder. We're not let in on who it is or why the person is being murdered. We have to wait till the end of the film to find out. Meanwhile, 4 teenagers decide to break into the home of the local mortician (who happens to be the same man who murdered the mystery person at the beginning). Their reason to break into his home in the middle of the night, in Texas where intruders can legally be blown away---is because they think they saw a ghost in his upstairs window. Yes, that is actually the lame reason they decide to break into this man's home---to see a ghost they thought they saw in a damn window. Get lives kids! The man returns home to find them in his house and winds up killing one of them. This is where it gets comical....because the other teens are now angry he killed their friend...WHEN THEY BROKE INTO HIS HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT IN...TEXAS!! What did they expect?! An invitation to dinner?! The rest of this mess is the teens actually going BACK to the house in the middle of the night, and breaking inside AGAIN because they have to prove their friend was murdered by the owner of the house that THEY BROKE INTO!!....In Texas! Who in their right minds would break into the home of someone living in gun loving Texas?! Only idiots like these who apparently don't value their lives. You can't help but root for the owner to kill these kids slowly and painfully, but it's not that kind of film. No.... They actually want you to root for these stupid kids instead. I don't care if the guy is a murderer (we find out in the end that he actually had good reason to kill that man in the beginning of the film). And he also has good reason to off these kids too because they violated his property (twice!) all because they thought they saw a damn ghost in his window. Who's the crazy ones here?! The scenes also drag on too long and the acting of the teens isn't all that great. Dennis Quaid seems to have had a fun time playing the killer mortician chewing the scenery with abandon. He's the only reason this sad mess of a film gets 2 stars.

In Smithville, Texas, the teenagers Brian (Stephen Lunsford), Abby (Aimee Teegarden), Travis (Tony Oller) and Danny (Devon Werkheiser) are classmates of the Smithville High School and best friends. One day, they are reading Macbeth for a class and they decide to investigate the rumors that the house of the mortician Ely Vaughn (Dennis Quaid) is haunted by ghosts. They see shadows in the upper window and they break in the house to see what is happening and they see a corpse lying on the bed; however, they are surprised by Ely that kills Danny, pushing him to fall off the staircase. Nobody believes in the teenagers since Ely is a respectable citizen, but Travis and Abby decide to prove that the undertaker is a psychopath. Will they be successful in their intent? "Beneath the Darkness" is a totally forgettable and absurd movie full of clichés about a deranged man that lives with the corpse of his dead wife Rosemary. Four teenagers investigating ghosts in the Twentieth-First Century is a lame premise for the story. Dennis Quaid is not a bad actor, but he is awfully ham with grimaces. However Stephen Lunsford and Aimee Teegarden have good performances and show great chemistry. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "Além da Escuridão" ("Beyond the Darkness")

Movie is quite good. Do not see why most people react so badly. Most characters are played reasonably good. There is normal amount of thriller in here. Do not compare this to the other movies. It is great all by itself. And DQ makes it even better. It is watchable and not boring. There are much worse movies out there. Script has some unevenness but nevertheless this is not notable while watching the movie. Those are kids you know. What do you expect them to do? And they finish it all quite successfully at the end. And besides, many movies now have many stereotypes in them, because there are so many movies made to he day, that it is hard not to repeat something from the other... IMHO.