The Dark(2005)
2005 · John Fawcett · 87 min
In an attempt to pull her family together, Adèlle travels with her young daughter Sarah to Wales to visit her father. The morning after they arrive, Sarah mysteriously vanishes in the ocean. Not long after, a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to their missing daughter reveals that she has retuned from the dead — and that Sarah has been taken to the Welsh underworld.
Horror · Thriller · Mystery
5.7298 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
1/5
Gore
3/5
Stays with you
How The Dark scares
There's a heavy, waterlogged sadness hanging over every scene, more like a grief-soaked mystery than a horror ride. The pace is slow and moody, built around a mother's confusion and dread rather than shocks or chases, with the Welsh coastline giving everything a cold, lonely feel. Its scares come from unease and strange, dreamlike logic rather than gore or jump scares, and the supernatural stuff stays vague and folk-tale-like rather than explained. It's best for people who like quiet, sad, unsettling horror over loud thrills.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Dark rates psychological 4/5, visceral 2/5, gore 1/5, lingering effect 3/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 1 of 5
- Lingering: 3 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 15 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 65 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, melancholy build of mounting unease that gradually tightens into a tense, unsettling back half.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4.
How scary is The Dark?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Dark rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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