O.K. I'll be the first to admit that the movie could have been better, and in the process of cutting corners to "Americanize" it, many things were left a little too much to the imagination and interpretation. However, there is one very important thing you have to realize when first going into this film that most people don't seem to get. This is a foreign horror movie with foreign sensibilities, and more than anything it tries to be an "Artsy" horror film...which is a very rare breed indeed. The entire film, and especially the ending, is meant to be a bit ambiguous. That is all part of the "Art House" nature of this horror film. Granted the blend between the horror/suspense and artistic mystique is not the most perfect of any film, but this movie actually does give you just enough insight to let you know all the key elements of the main plot points to be able to realize what is going on, despite the fact that a few small points are barely touched upon and just thrown out without any in-depth explanation. But if you really want to nit-pick about every little detail of a horror movie...then you can find little pieces like this in most every horror movie, even some of the classics. You've got to give this movie a little credit though for trying to be something more, even after being re-tailored for American audiences. I really don't even know why studios bother re-packaging foreign horror films or any foreign films anymore though, especially with the latest Japanese and Korean Horror film crazes. Now horror fans are hailing the praises of the foreign horror films' original visions. When I first finished this movie, I was getting ready to say it was mediocre and not worth my time...that was until I saw the very ending which was totally a "NON-HOLLYWOOD" ending that leaves the viewer with some sense of "INTENTIONAL" uncertainty. After I saw that, I soon realized that I had just watched more than a standard horror flick...and the differences were so subtle and underscored all throughout the film that I didn't even realize it. This makes this film, in my opinion, lie somewhere between "ingenious" and "not fully realized". Despite my final revelation by the end of the film though, the effect of the whole storyline was hurt quite a bit still by unsteady plot pacing. Also, ultimately the whole thing with the children always standing around in the shadows seemed to bare resemblance to a lot of other recent horror films, though it may not have seemed so much that way a couple of years ago when this movie was first released. Lately most horror flicks have a bunch of freaky ghost children and the like...and quite frankly it's getting old...though it was good the first half a dozen times or so.

In the end, your overall outlook of this film will be greatly determined by two things...1) How you initially approach the movie upon first watching it (either as more of an artsy movie or standard horror) & 2) How the ending strikes you and whether it makes things fall into place better for you or just leaves you with more questions (unfortunately the ambiguous nature of it that some will love will also be the very reason that just as many will hate it...which is probably why this film will never get much more than an average review on this site) In closing, I'd like to say that I did like the overall concept of trying to have the film be more about classical concepts such as Light and Dark...the pure essence of Good & Evil...in this case mostly Evil. The title "Darkness" fits perfectly. I feel that this movie tried to be some kind of metaphor in itself, but once again, due to the underscoring of many of these basic ideas...the viewer tends to lose this idea somewhere in the basic plot that the film sets up to convey this idea. The film unfortunately tries to be very general in its presentation of Good vs. Evil while also presenting a rather convoluted and intricate plot that is supposed to set up this very idea but rather loses it in the mix for the most part.

You've got to give the filmmakers credit for this Ultra Bleak and Hopeless Ending as well. Hollywood won't put out a movie that ends like this, so you've got to at least acknowledge the fact that this film has the balls to end on the lowest note possible.