Afraid of the Dark
Afraid of the Dark
R | 24 July 1992 (USA)
Afraid of the Dark Trailers

A little boy, obsessed with blindness and violence, slowly gets trapped in his own delusions.

Reviews
Matrixston

Wow! Such a good movie.

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Nonureva

Really Surprised!

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BeSummers

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

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KnotStronger

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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MarieGabrielle

I do agree with several of the reviews, in that the story is choppy, and the perspective of the boy, played by Ben Kwyworth, is often disjointed and patchy.However, there are a few intriguing scenes, and interesting cinematography. What does the world look like to a blind person? What does it feel like? I imagine that was a point the director was attempting to get across.Yes, the scene with the golden retriever, Toby was awful. But can a blind person imagine that, the dog jumping through the window was possibly a menace? If he were indeed blind, this could be possible.The wedding scenes were annoying and not really essential to the film. A few strange scenes where the boy is friendly with the young bride Rose, and he sees how she is patronized, as the ice cream man stares down her dress and tells her to eat all her ice cream as it will fill her out (She, being blind, is unaware her blouse is partially open).This is not a bad film, if you are patient. Do not expect action and American explosions and violence 8/10.

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bandw

I asked myself what kind of comments I could make on this movie without having them contain spoilers. It is a challenge and the following paragraph is what I could come up with.This movie is a thriller, but don't expect a thrill a minute. It has an austere feel, with even pacing punctuated by moments of horror. There are scenes that made me wince, scenes that I found repugnant, and a couple of scenes that made me gasp. But, as with most movies in this genre, the tension builds in anticipation of the intense scenes; the music aids in creating this tension. The action is seen primarily through the eyes and imagination of eleven-year-old Lucas (Ben Keyworth) who is rather withdrawn and reactive. How you respond to the one major plot twist will determine whether you think this is an interesting movie, or whether you think it is confusing with enough improbabilities and plot holes only to irritate.**Spoilers here** The revelation mid-way that what we have seen are dreams or hallucinations that Lucas has been having in response to his potentially going blind give meaning to the title beyond what one initially thinks. I knew only what I had read in Maltin's book before seeing the movie, but the mid-story revelation was not a total surprise, since we had been living in an unreal world until then. There were never any indications of normal life going on - an unreal world where no cars were on what should have been busy streets, and no people to be seen but those directly involved in the scene at hand. Lucas transforms his fear of the surgeon's scalpel into the razor of a serial slasher praying on blind people. His mother is blind (signifying her inattention to Lucas' agony?) and his father is a policeman who is unable to locate the slasher (signifying his impotence to deal with Lucas' problem?) In the final episode of this first-half mad sequence Lucas tracks the slasher down and kills him in a symbolic attempt to exorcise the eye surgeon from his life.After that catharsis we supposedly return to the real world, but things get a little confusing then. We come to feel that not only has Lucas been driven to fantasy by his fear and anxiety but perhaps he has also been driven a bit mad. Children can certainly respond in exaggerated and irrational ways to perceived threats (well, adults can too), so I could believe the first half as that kind of reaction, but in the second half, when Lucas hallucinates in real time, I began to question his sanity. I suppose fear and anxiety can drive one to madness, but the way Lucas would drift in and out of reality (usually being in when he had his glasses on and out when not) struck me as borderline schizophrenia and I believe that that is a more organic disorder than a response to fear and anxiety. But, in the final scene, after the operation, Lucas seems to have returned to normal, even questioning if he had killed the neighbor's dog. So, go figure.If there is a message to be taken from this it is that people should try to be a little more in tune with what is going on in the minds of others. We are inclined to put a smiley face on situations where there is clearly something bad going on. It is clear that Lucas is having some serious problems, but his parents are more than happy to take him at his word when he says that things are just fine, even when they can sense at some deep level that that is not the case.

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billium99

This one can be a bit challenging, but it's well worth the ride. Written and directed by Academy award nominee Mark Peploe. Without including a spoiler it is difficult to describe too many elements of this surprising film. Sufficed to say, as the revelations begin, you can see layers of complexity and psychology that you weren't expecting at the beginning. There are many original things in this movie; not the least of which is numerous interpretations of blindness and helplessness through the eyes of a child. Now that probably makes you recoil - too artsy/fartsy, but I assure you this is a thriller. Genuinely creepy and the young actor Ben Keyworth that plays Lucas is outstanding.

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callanvass

this movie had a lot of potential but it didnt come close to hitting the mark the acting was mediocre and it was kinda dull and hard to pay attention at times and the kid kinda annoyed me it did have some creepy moments though but falls victim to a mediocre script and uninteresting story not recomended (*) out of 5

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