Darkness
Description
I’d draw a certain parallel between the horror films Darkness and Hereditary. I first watched Darkness twenty years ago, and it’s still on the list of best films kept by my brain. I think it’s important to note that my brain’s favorite-films list doesn’t always match the one kept by my conscious mind. Perhaps now, many years and many great films later, Darkness wouldn’t make the same impression — but back then its plot really blew me away.
The film features as many as three famous faces (at a certain point in time): Anna Paquin, star of the first three X-Men films and the supernatural series True Blood; Iain Glen, probably best known for Game of Thrones; and the renowned Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini, whom English-speaking audiences probably know best from Hannibal (2001) and Casino Royale (2006).
For years I kept waiting for director Jaume Balagueró to make something similar again, but it never happened. However, in 2007 Balagueró made the zombie horror [REC].
It’s a great zombie horror, but it’s a completely different approach to filmmaking: Darkness is a mystical horror film, while [REC] is shot in the found-footage format. As of 2026, it remains his most famous work, and it has as many as three sequels: [REC]² (2009), [REC]³: Genesis (2012), [REC]⁴: Apocalypse (2014). He co-directed the first two with Paco Plaza, directed the fourth solo, and the third was directed by Plaza himself.
There’s also an American remake, Quarantine (2008), which has its own sequel — Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011).
Let’s get back to the parallel with Hereditary. By the way, I don’t share the universal love for Hereditary. I even rewatched it recently and shared my impressions.
In Darkness there’s a certain problem with one relative, and, if you remember, the main engine of Hereditary’s plot is family ties. And both of these films inspired me to create the collection “Fucked-Up Relatives“. And the title fully lives up to itself. Actually, I had planned to publish it some time after the “Fucked-Up Neighbors” collection — but oh well.
