Thora Birch stars in the dual roles of Karen and Susan in this low budget British chiller. When Susan sleeps, she dreams of Karen, a dark haired version of herself. Her boyfriend David and friend Elaine put it down to the stress of trying to conceive through IVF treatment. However, when she consults a hypnotherapist about her dreams, we learn that at the same time, when Karen sleeps, she dreams of a blonde haired version of herself named Susan. What exactly is going on in the dark corners of Susan’s mind?
I quite enjoyed this film thanks to some sweet nightmare visuals and a few good performances. Thora Birch is likeable as always and Toby Stephens is well cast in his role too. Joanna Hole made me wet myself when she said ‘After three children, my vagina has the elasticity of an over washed tube sock’ and Lorraine Bruce from creepy as fook ‘Eden Lake’ always scares me. I was a little sad however that they made the Brit actors put on American accents. Especially when you could tell this was filmed in London just by looking at it.
The film has lots of positives in terms of aesthetics, with some well shot (nice cinematography by Paul Sadourian) and acted moments of dread (all about the bad guy filing his teeth down) and some of the locations rival those frequently found in the Saw series.
However for every positive there’s a negative, such as poor sound, dodgy accents, Thora’s brunette wig and ultimately the conclusion. Whilst the film does offer an explanation as to what is going on, it ultimately leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Dark Corners is a decent attempt at a mind-bending psychological horror thriller. It’s not as confusing as say Triangle, but it won’t appeal to everyone.
