Dark Touch

The tale of Niamh (in the move it sounds as though they are saying Neve) and the sexual molestation and child abuse she deals with is chilling. This movie grips you from the very beginning. The actress who plays the abused child is well remembered and captures your attention completely. To see the physical abuse manifest into a psychic ability of self-defense is astounding. As Niamh flees from the death of her parents and baby brother, into the arms of another family, you see her protectiveness take shape. Albeit in an extremely violent fashion. As she learns what it is, and how to control it, Niamh faces what will be the biggest challenge of her life. Herself I highly recommend watching this movie. Beware, however, the director does not play to those who are sensitive.

Not going to lie, this movie was a piece of CRAP. It started off okay but as the story progressed questions were unanswered and the movie just got confusing. the main character killed her parents who (abused her)by crying. Basically she was a crying killer who mindlessly killed those nice or mean to her. She was constantly slapped by her new foster parents. (only when she did something bad) (sarcasm). Overall I would not recommend this movie unless you are bored out of your mind or just want to waste time. The main character ruins this movie, she might as well should have been on an oxygen machine since she couldn't keep her moth close and breath out her nose like a normal human being. I repeat DO NOT watch unless you are already bored and drained of life.

I should have known when I figured out this was a foreign film that it was going to be a long, boring, drawn out, waste of time. The acting sucked. And whats with kids touching adults and adults touching children the way they did. That was way over the line. Talk about low budget. Who wrote this anyway? They should be beat with a stick. How did this manage to get 4.5 stars? This makes American B rated movies look like Oscar nominees. Give the story line to an American writer, so they can make it into a good suspenseful thriller. What was this a foreign Carrie? Nice try, but give up the career and do something you are good at.

I watched this at the Fantasy Film Festival in Stuttgart and the director was attending. I stayed through the movie (which was not easy at all) and was curious to see what the director had to say. Unfortunately (but somehow to be expected) she only confirmed what I already knew. It's unfortunate for the child actors, if they have to go through an (bad acting) experience like this. On the other hand, as others have already stated here, there is not much acting going on in the whole movie. The clichés and the bad lines follow each other hand in hand. It is offensive to its own characters and to the viewers nerves and stomach. Yes horror movies have people do stupid things, but denying yourself (and the audience) even what you saw with your own eyes goes too far. A shame, because underneath it all, there is a Carrie like vibe, that could've been a really good movie ...

I'm gonna work hard here not to spoil this one. If you are a fan of Suspense/Horror not the jumpy jolty horror the deeper stuff that needs to be ripped to the surface, then you will most likely want to check this movie out. The acting is very good, a cast of mostly kids doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Not to say that the acting was not just as good by the adults there were just less of them. You will be kept wondering for the first 45 minutes or so, but there is something deeper that you might not catch. The main story though is good if convoluted, and speckled. There is a great story and this would be such an easy movie for any other country to take, and make there own as we see them do. I do have a really hard time recommending this movie to the average movie watcher though, and it is only because most people will not have the patience to really understand, but if you do you may like the direction that this movie takes, and Enjoy it as much as I did. (Spoiler I have to. If they were not guilty wouldn't they have said so at some point? They were all guilty of something that was completely deserving of the consequences. The rest speaks for it's self. Except maybe: How did no one hear the girl screaming if only the neighbor heard the noise. OK that's out of my system.)

Contains *spoilers* I think Niamh was telekinetic and also an empath and both abilities manifested by her own childhood of abuse. She could have even been considered a messenger of God. I think she had the ability to sense the true intent in people regardless of the face they showed the rest of the world. Most abusers are able to hide it well and live normal lives with it only being a dark secret in the families. I think when she buried the children in the building, it was because she knew which children would grow up to become abusive adults and that was her way of preventing the vicious cycle that also usually occurs in families of abuse. I think her parents were abusive. You could tell their true nature by their initial actions. When her father woke up and seen her with the baby on the stairs, he didn't ask her in a gentle manner why she was up or if she had a nightmare or did the baby wake her up crying as most caring parents would have. his first instinct was to yell at her and moved towards her aggressively before the furniture stopped him. The same for her foster family they appeared to be good caring parents but if you notice their behavior over minor offenses was one of abuse and not understanding that come from truly good nature parents. Such as when she refuse to bathe she physically forced her to and when she didn't want to be touched they both would do it any way even holding her by her wrist tightly until she submit. The foster mother slapping her just because she wouldn't go to bed quietly is not the normal behavior of a good parent. The same for the foster father when she wasn't behaving the way he though a child should he would grab her roughly by the shoulders and shake her. I think in her way she was trying to give the foster parents the opportunity to become better parents, with warnings such as the loud ringing in the ears as means to getting them to calm down and think before they act. I think when she and the twins gave her foster family the bath she was reenacting their hurtful words and action that they had taken against Mary and their children in the past. I think their daughter that had cancer tired them out and they abused her when they got angry and it was all blamed on the side effects of her cancer. However Niamh knowing what is inside people knew what they took their frustration out on Mary anxious for her to go ahead and die because she was an unwanted stress on them and their marriage. I think the point of the story and the plot is Niamh wasn't just a child with unrealistic gifts or curse. She was more of a reincarnated version of the archangel "Michael" sent to exact God's vengeance on seemingly mean spirited people, adults and children with no saving grace. She knew good when she sensed it. Look how she was very gentle and demonstrative with the pregnant teacher and again with the teachers boyfriend and baby's father. She knew they were good inside and out and they would be good parents. She basically gives them her blessings with her touch. I think they wanted to leave the lingering thought in your mind that He's watching even if no one else is and your child could be a Niamh sent with a message and a mission.

Exactly what a horror movie needs to be. Provocative, different, unpredictable, makes you think... basically goes deep. People that love mainstream movies in general are too sensitive. Do not like to talk about big problems in the society. Because is to easy to avoid. Amazing actors. Specially the kids. The adults are just normal. If all the horror movies were like this they would be truly scary... Are you seek and tired of "saw" movies and that kind of stuff you forget after a week? This one I can guarantee you you will not forget in the near future.

Compared to your blockbuster box office American love story the conjuring there where you get demons exorcised AGAIN by a 2000 year old crucifix wielding amateur couple who does it in the name of 'god' and where love saves the day because mummy can just hold her own against the armies of hell by remembering a day at the beach they once had ... To me, this movie, low budget compared to that and all, way less sfx in it, owns right down to the end. spoiler yea : no one lives, no happy ending, no hope , i think its called HORROR as opposed to lets all give each other a hug and everything will be fine its a shame for the other movies but that one had its ending ruin the whole movie as happens all too many times maybe they should get some special 'ending ghostwriters' for this? authors seem to suffer from burnout a lot OR ... American cinema (i don't think this one is) suffers from some kind of moral majority board ... you know this thing they do in china to make the movies look like more acceptable to the needs of the people but stuff like that doesn't exist in the mighty states, right?

OK... The movie started out good. Creepy, dark and left me sitting wearing my nerves on the outside. We soon learn something is off.. The little girls parents are abusing her. Got it. She kills them using telepathic powers. Got it. How did her brother die? Did her parents crush his ribs before they died? Did the girl smother him? How? Never answered... Girl moves in with a nice couple and their two children. (They used to have three children, but the oldest girl died some years ago from cancer) The foster parents are really trying to help this little girl. Good people. At night, the little girl wanders around, whistling, until she finds herself outside the house of some schoolmates that are, you guessed it, abused by their mother. Cue the "Carrie"-powers, dead mother to follow. Almost understandable. Then the girl is invited to a birthday party. Oh joy. When the other girls are mean to their dolls, our little protagonist uses her mind to set fire to the dolls, and then tries to hypnotically get the children to touch the burning heap of plastic. Does she want to do this? Is it unwilling? Who knows... The next time this girl wanders out at night, she somehow summons all the children in the town - leads them into the school, and makes the building collapse. OK, she just killed a bunch of kids. Why? I get the abusive parents (kind of), but these kids? As if that wasn't enough, she (and the two abused kids from earlier) barbecue the foster parents (why??) and perhaps themselves. We'll never know, the movie ended like that. What's the deal? Demonic possession? "Carrie"-spinoff-powers? Why kill the foster-parents? Did they give their daughter cancer? Had they "lent" her out to the crazy girls parents? I don't know... I have a LOT more questions, but I don't even thinks it's worth spending my time writing them. When the movie ended I was left with all these questions, and not the good kind. We got no apparent motive for why the girl was behaving that way. We don't know how she could do what she did... Nothing. What started out as something good turned out to be one of the worst films I've seen this year.

**Spoilers ahead** It's clear from many of the other reviews, as well as the film's unfairly low rating, that a good percentage of today's audiences remain uncomfortable with ambiguity and lack of closure. I for one think these qualities are sorely lacking in modern film, and desperately needed in greater abundance in the horror genre in particular. Yes, it might have been nice to get some "origin event" or background on/explanation of her powers (and what's the deal with that whistling trick?), but this is not a film concerned with plot. Instead it is much more focused on capturing the horror inherent in its primary POV--the paranoid, emotionally detached, and deeply disturbed perspective of an abused girl. Leaving the audience in the dark, so to speak, with regards to exactly what is going on and why is in perfect keeping with that aim. With that said, I did think it went overboard in the final scenes, and that the addition of her two sidekicks was unnecessary. Nevertheless, I still rate it a worthy addition to the sub-genre of horror ("Carrie", "May", "Alice, Sweet Alice", etc.) that successfully evokes extreme unease from the fragile and volatile psyche of a damaged little girl.