Darkness (2002)

Darkness is a 2002 supernatural horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró, and starring Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen, Giancarlo Giannini, and Fele Martínez. It follows an American family who move into a house in the Spanish countryside, where six children disappeared during an occult ritual forty years before; the teenage daughter and young son of the family are subjected to increasing disturbances in the house.

The film was an international co-production between Spain's Filmax and the American studio Dimension Films, and co-produced by Julio Fernández and Brian Yuzna. Development began in late 2000, and the film was shot on location in Barcelona in 2001.

Darkness premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain on 3 October 2002, and was released in theaters across the country eight days later on 11 October 2002. It was released in United States in an edited, PG-13-rated cut on 25 December 2004. The film was widely panned by critics, but was a commercial success, earning $34.4 million worldwide. Some film scholars have compared it to the works of Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft, and noted it for its theme of family dysfunction set against paranormal events.