Very well-made, atmospheric and at the same time mostly unbloody horror films, in which sought out shock effects tell and that perform the art of creating an ever increasening tension are also and especially pretty rare in the last ten years - at least in relation to all the other films of the genre, which come bold and simple, stale and boring. "Darkness" is definetly one of these nice "exceptions". The single parts of the story might be known from numerous other horrorflicks, but the nice mixture still tells a nice, clear horrorstory that unravels over time and ends in a sweat-inducing finale.
The eponymous darkness is depicted convincingly creepy without any unneccessary camera-humbug or overdrawn special effects, the story entertains from beginning to end, where it keeps one or more little surprises; only the actors are a little too pale here and there - with main actress Anna Paquin (Rogue from the "X-Men"-trilogy), who makes her character believable but pretty flat and shallow (originally, Natalie Portman was considered to play the role and would have probably also been the better choice). Still, the flick is worth a recommendation in any case.

While "Darkness" - as far as known - recieved its theatrical release uncensored in the rest of the world and the DVD-releases happened according to that, there was one version made specifically for he US-market in favor of a PG-13 rating to be released in theaters. This version was released on the US-DVD alongside the unrated version. Aside several, in the sum massive, plot cuts, which are certainly owed to a "movie theater-friendly" runtime of near 90 minutes, more than 40 pure censorship-edits have been made (marked red in the following report), to secure the rating. This means that pretty much every single drop of blood was systematically removed from the, as mentioned above, already unbloody flick. In addition to that, this cut version was darkened, so that in scenes you cannot remove/change without causing problems in the narrative you cannot make out injuries and the like that easily.
That this US-theatrical cut misses a lot of atmosphere surely is pretty self-explenatory, on the other hand this version is the least spread resp. known one, so the discontent with this should remain within certain constraints.


Runtime designations of the cut scenes relate to the uncensored and unrated version.
The rest of the runtime difference results from the rounding of the runtime of single cut scenes to whole resp. half seconds as well as slightly different countingspeed of the opening- resp. ending credits in the cut version. The modified US-theatrical version (Rated PG-13) has been compared to the uncensored Unrated Version, both released by Dimension as single DVDs.

112 alterations in total, of which

103 cut scenes = 13 min. 5 sec.
(60 Plot- / 43 violence-cuts)
2 alternative shots (1 censorship-related)
7 dialogue-cuts

0:00
The PG-13 theatrical version first shows the Dimension- and then the Filmax International-Logo, in the unrated version it's vice versa.
No time difference

0:27
Alternative shot
The short shot of the hand at the window shows no color in the PG-13 theatrical version, the unrated version does – therefore you can make out the blood.
No time difference

PG-13 Kinofassung:	Unrated:

0:28
The first credit fade-in differs slightly.
No time difference

PG-13 Kinofassung:	Unrated:

1:08
The shot of the boy running away is extended by a very short, slightly closer shot; he turns around.
Few frames

1:12
Dialogue censorship
The man's voice asks the girl "Do you think they have been....hurt?".
No time difference

1:22
The few frames containing scene continues a little: The hand hits the glass, is being drawn away again and leaves a trace of blood at that. In an additional shot, blood drips past the camera.
Few frames

1:37
A shot of the boy running away is missing.
Few frames

1:38
A blood-smeared hand leads a carpetknife to a child's neck.
Few frames

2:00
The shot of a wind chime has been removed.
5.5 sec.

2:20
Mark fixes some fresh orange juice for Paul. He first doesn't want to drink it, but his father urges him to, so he does.
19 sec.

3:08
The shot of Maria entering the house starts earlier, she closes the door and puts away her purse.
7.5 sec.

3:44
Mark asks Maria if she knew where the toaster was. She laughs and says she didn't have an idea – it should be in one of the tons of carboard boxes they'd still need to unpack.
11 sec.

4:00
Regina closes the mirror cabinet and looks at herself shortly.
2.5 sec.

5:21
Alternative shot
The PG-13 theatrical version cuts earlier to Regina, the unrated version shows Maria a bit longer.
No time difference

5:24
Regina remarks she doesn't know if she would stay. Maria seems baffled and replies that they had discussed this a few times before. Reggie insists on first finishing school at resp with her friends in the states and that this must not be an abnormal wish.
20 sec.

6:13
After her swimmingunit, Reggie is being surprised by her boyfriend Carlos in the dressing room. He wants to talk to her, but she is in a hurry and obviously this whole situation is embarrasing her (especially when a few other women pass by and look nosily/listen in on them). They decide to talk later, Carlos leaves the locker room again.
40 sec.

7:09
One of the partyguests says a bit ironically, that Mark and his family had a great house. He replies that, with a hammer, a few nails and a bit of colour they can do this, besides, he still has a month until the term start. Maria joins and gives away champagne.
29.5 sec.

8:41
Mark joins Maria and Albert, he hugs his wife and tells his father it was good to see him.
12 sec.

9:06
Somebody clears away some dishes from the tables in the rain.
5 sec.

9:23
Maria is relieved the party is finally over, Mark replies that this was the rain's work.
6 sec.

10:21
Additional shot of Paul, who focuses on his drawing again. Cut-away to Mark and Maria (looked at from outside the window), he gives her a kiss on the neck.
7 sec.

10:45
Reggie puts something into her locker in the dressing room.
6 sec.

11:08
The two policemen put up the sign longer. The camera moves upwards, the traffic jam is getting clearer.
8.5 sec.

11:56
Paul asks his father he he and Maria wanted to get divorced, too. Mark laughingly responds that only families, who don't get along any more, seperate, and that they did get along. Paul hesitatingly says yes.
20 sec.

13:19
The hand hits the window and leaves a trace of blood.
Few frames

13:30
A pretty similar rest of this shot is missing.
Few frames

13:45
The excited car driver walks longer to Mark's car, who again is being shaken by cramps.
3.5 sec.

13:52
Dialogue censorship
The car driver's "Fuck!" was removed from the PG-13 theatrical version's soundtrack.
No time difference

14:18
The beginning of the frantically cut sequence about Mark's rescue is missing.
4.5 sec.

16:30
Maria ennervedly adds to Reggie that she could pack he things and go if she couldn't stand the house of the family at all.
10 sec.

16:54
Reggie talks to Carlos about her mother. He sides with Maria a little and says that people sometimes say things they don't really mean. Reggie doesn't care; she thinks her mother is cruel and feels unhappy. Cut to an outside view of the family's house.
45.5 sec.

17:44
Paul interrupts his drawing shortly and takes another pen.
4 sec.

18:49
A short dialogue part of Mark is missing.
2 sec.

18:54
Mark tells Paul to forget about it and not to worry about his father.
8 sec.

20:11
Maria applies some lip-balm before putting on some lotion on her hands.
9 sec.

20:56
This shot starts earlier, too, the camera first moves from the house down to the car.
9 sec.

21:40
The shot of Reggie starts a little earlier.
1.5 sec.

22:04
Reggie looks at more of Paul's drawings.
6.5 sec.

22:42
The electrician first says he didn't know what else it could be.
1.5 sec.

23:24
The bruise on Paul's neck is shown a little longer; Reggie asks, if he hurt himself.
0.5 sec.

23:39
Paul takes his books from the table. Reggie asks him not to go too close to the street outside, Paul says OK.
5.5 sec.

25:09
The shot of Reggie is a little longer; the short piece of this shot was cut out to remove the "fucking" from Mark's line "This is a fucking nightmare!" from the PG-13 theatrical version.
0.5 sec.

25:12
Mark shouts at the electrician "In other words fuck you, right. In my own house, in my face, fuck you!", who flinches twice. Intercut to Reggie, who drags herself up the banisters a bit.
5.5 sec.

25:42
Another shot of Reggie after she walked past Paul's room; the following shot of Mark starts earlier, too.
6.5 sec.

25:49
Umschnitt auf die Strasse vor dem Haus zur Abendzeit, Maria fährt mit dem Wagen vors Haus.
The shot of Mark runs a little longer. Cut to Reggie, who enters her room and is surprisingly photographed by Carlos. The flash of the camera shows a few children behind her for a fraction of a second. Seeing how depressed she is, Carlos asks what was going on. Reggie answers she was going to stay because she just cannot go away now. Carlos replies he'd rather not ask why.
48.5 sec.

28:36
Reggie is shown lying in bed in an additional shot. The following shot of her going down the steps starts much earlier.
17 sec.

30:19
The shot of the wound starts a little earlier and is shown more clearly here.
1.5 sec.

31:09
Reggie swims a little in the indoor swimming pool, then she talks to Carlos earlier: Now, she would wish for Carlos to ask her why she wanted to stay.
28 sec.

32:27
Reggie tells Carlos that Paul already woke up two times with bruises on his body. As Carlos wants to ask if she wanted to suggest her father had something to do with it, she interrupts him and says he acted weirdly and talked hardly.
13.5 sec.

33:25
Reggie goes to the house in a blurry shot.
6 sec.

37:01
Two additional shots of Maria as well as an intercut to Mark are missing.
5 sec.

38:49
Mark continues to doggedly cut potatoes, Maria asks him if he took his medicine.
5 sec.

39:21
The known, ultra-short shot of the bloody hands at the window is missing.
Few frames

39:26
A bloody reverse-cut from the past analogous to the close-up of Mark's cutting potatoes is missing.
Few frames

39:27
In a respective, very bloody flash back, Mark's accident with the knife is suggested.
0.5 sec.

39:33
A shot of the blood-smeared washing facility is missing.
0.5 sec.

39:34
Maria grabs Mark's bleeding hand in a close-up. The following shot from outside the window starts a few frames later in the PG-13 theatrical cut, because the take already started to blur.
0.5 sec.

39:45
Another shot of the bloody hand at the window.
Few frames

40:03
Maria holds Mark's bleeding hand.
1.5 sec.

40:07

Maria holds up Mark's bleeding hand and, like this, gives it to Reggie, who continues to hold it up. Additional close-ups of the bleeding hand resp. of a drop of blood falling on the ground.
3.5 sec.

40:19
Reggie is furthermore content to hold up her father's bleeding hand; more shots of the bleeding hand resp. of a drop of blood falling on the ground.
3 sec.

41:05
Reggie holds Mark's bleeding hand in a close-up. Then she looks up as she hears Paul scream again.
2.5 sec.

41:49
Mark continues to hammer against the door, his bloody hand can be seen. Also, he shouts at Reggie.
1.5 sec.

41:50
The following shot of Mark hammering against the door starts a little earlier.
0.5 sec.

41:55
Mark continues to hammer like one posessed against the door while Reggie tries to hold him back.
4 sec.

42:05
Reggie shouts at her father to stop, he shouts back at her to shup up. Then he hammers sooner/longer against the door.
2.5 sec.

51:21
The architect asks who would have believed an old muddler, who was already half dead.
4.5 sec.

50:28
The shot of Reggie is a little longer. The architect says he could have told somebody but didn't because he was too scared. The hamster start running around in the excercise wheel, shot of Carlos resp. Reggie who asks what he meant with that.
12 sec.

52:31
The door of the ambulance is being close, the following shot of the house starts earlier.
4.5 sec.

54:17
In a cutscene, Carlos develops a photograph in his dark room.
13.5 sec.

55:09
Carlos continues to develop the photograph – on the picture he shot of Reggie in her room, the six disappeared children mysteriously appear, too. Carlos turns on the light; at the intercut to Reggie's bedroom, there is a pretty well done shock-effect: a few of the children are being intercut including thunder sounds. Reggie hears the telephone ring earlier in an additional, slightly further away shot.
35 sec.

56:38
Dialogue censorship
The "fuck" from Reggie's question "What the fuck do you want?" was removed from the PG-13 theatrical version.
No time difference

59:45
Carlos and Reggie are sitting at a PC and find out something about the symbol she discovered unter the floow in the house's living room; it is called Ouroboros and means something like Darkness (where you find the reference to the film's title) or chaos. Carlos prints out the information.
Cut to the architect's bureau, who looks through some documents and find the original plans for the house's design.
39 sec.

1:00:45
The camera pans over the opened book page, which, in detail, shows an image of a ritual of seven children – the heads seperated from the bodies.
2.5 sec.

1:04:22
The shot runs a moment longer; Carlos starts noting down the address.
The recording of the answering machine is played a little later in the unrated version, so the last words of the architect implement themselves into the prolonged part of the scene.
4 sec.

1:04:49
In an ultra-short, bloody flashback, a carpet knife is lead to a child's neck.
Few frames

1:04:50
The flashback misses the bloody handprint on the window as well as a very bloody throat-cut of one of the children.
Few frames

1:09:05
An intercut to the house is missing; Maria turns on the lights in the kitchen and asks Mark what he was doing there in the dark. Then she turns to him, massages his back a little and kisses his neck. While Mark gets himself a beer, he asks Maria about Reggie. She answers she didn't hear anything from her yet and hadn't expected to. Mark replies she should let Reggie do as she liked, after all, Maria knew how she was like lately. Both laugh a bit.
Cut to Albert's house, where the scene starts earlier with a shot of Reggie's tied-up hands.
35 sec.

1:10:02
Albert adds that that the studies were about the oldest, most rational form of fears: the fear of darkness. He leads the hands across his face and for a moment, the image gets respectively dark, then there is a slow fade to the house – first to Paul's room, who is lying on the ground, drawing. In the meantime, Maria tells Mark in the kitchen that she was going to lay down because she was finished. Mark replies this was a good idea, Maria gets up, gives him a kiss and leaves. Mark looks sinisterly into the camera.
Cut to Albert's house, who opens a little glass-vessel with a black liquid inside and says that now, after so many years, they were finally ready.
47 sec.

1:11:05
The PG-13 theatrical version shows Mark a moment longer. In the unrated version, there is an intercut to Maria in return, who just came out of the bathroom and now puts some lotion on her arm as she walks to the window.
7 sec.

1:11:32
The freshly drawn-up syringe is shown in an additional close-up.
2 sec.

1:15:08
Carlos breaks down a little longer on the ground, Albert pulls the sheath of a second syringe and leaves. Another shot of narcotized Carlos.
9 sec.

1:15:46
The TV set in the house goes out, shot of the dark living room. Maria lays down on her bed and falls asleep.
17 sec.

1:17:17
Paul lifts his head, his face-injuries are shown clearly.
4 sec.

1:17:26
Dialogue censorship
The beginning of Mark's line "What the fuck..." was removed from the PG-13 theatrical version's soundtrack.
No time difference

1:17:48
Two more shots of Paul resp. one of Maria turning to him scaredly.
4.5 sec.

1:18:34
Dialogue censorship
In the PG-13 theatrical version, the "fucking" from Mark's line "Open the fucking door!" was turned into a "freaking".
No time difference

1:19:40
Dialogue censorship
Here pretty much the same.
No time difference

1:19:41
Maria shouts longer at Mark, he draws some breath before the bathroom door.
6 sec.

1:19:51
Mark shouts this was a lie and hits the door another time.
4.5 sec.

1:20:00
Additional shot of desperate Maria who tries to explain to her husband that he was sick.
2.5 sec.

1:22:18
Before each a shot of Reggie resp. Albert.
7.5 sec.

1:23:32
Dialogue censorship
The "Fucking pills!" were made "Freaking pills!" in the PG-13 theatrical version.
No time difference

1:24:18
Mark cramps earlier on the "Ouroboros"-symbol, Maria sits down next to him and tries to help. Shot of Paul.
4.5 sec.

1:24:33
Paul first doesn't want to run, Maria shouts at him he should.
2 sec.

1:25:07
Paul runs longer at the camera and steps a little more out of the shadow.
1 sec.

1:25:11
Paul is also shown a little longer in the shot in which he gives Maria the ballpen.
0.5 sec.

1:25:15
Maria takes the ballpen out of her mouth again, shot of Paul.
3 sec.

1:25:19
Another shot of damaged Paul.
1 sec.

1:25:23
Shot of Paul, the darkness pulls away the ballpen-shell earlier. Maria shouts at him to leave already, the following shot of turning Paul starts earlier.
5 sec.

1:25:50
Maria wrangles a little with herself and holds the knife shadowy at Mark's neck.
3 sec.

1:27:12
Raggie stabs her father's neck in a close-up, blood is splattering out of the wound.
1 sec.

1:27:13
Reggie tries to put the hand on the neck-wound from which still blood splatters out. She fidgets around desperately, while her mother in the background tries to remain calm.
5 sec.

1:27:20
The shot of Mark's bloody neck is shown longer.
1 sec.

1:27:23
The opening of the shot, in which you see Mark's bloody neckwound very clearly, is missing.
1 sec.

1:27:27
Reggie asks a few frames longer where the ballpen-shell was.
Few frames

1:27:28Reggie shouts an ear-splitting no at her mother.
1.5 sec.

1:27:39
Reggie continues to desperately ask for the ballpen-shell, Maria looks helplessly. Two intercuts to the blood-bubbling neckwound.
7 sec.

1:27:48
Reggie shouts at her mother as the darkness continues to take her over.
1.5 sec.

1:29:04
Reggie already walks up the steps in an earlier shot, the shiny walls are blood-splattered.
4 sec.

1:29:13
Reggie walks in two more shots past blood-splattered walls and calls Paul at that.
3 sec.

1:29:29
The quick-edited flashback-sequence misses the very bloody throat-cut as well as convulsing Mark.
0.5 sec.

1:31:29
The shots of the blood-splattered kitchen as well as a short flashback to Maria and Mark were removed just there.
2 sec.

1:31:32
Another shot of the kitchen is missing, this time, the swing-frame is also in the middle.
2 sec.

1:33:00
Carlos enters the house earlier resp. longer.
5 sec.