The Horror Show
Dark Touch (2013)
Directed by Marina de Van
Dark Touch is Marina de Van’s 2013 horror release. Set in Ireland, a young girl by the name of Niamh (played by Missy Keating) is plagued by torturous spirits in her family home. The movie begins with Niamh escaping a very violent and ominous scene in her bedroom. She jumps from her bedroom window and runs through the forest, seeking help from the neighbors nearby. We find that Niamh is bruised and cut up, her tongue has been nearly bitten off, and she’s terrified of something. Her parents are called by the neighbors and they explain that she jumped out of her bedroom window and must have injured herself that way. The neighbors, Nat and Lucas, visit the family of Niamh the following day to check in on her. Niamh’s parents, at a loss for what to do, mention taking her for therapy since they don’t understand why she’s so afraid of the house and having night terrors.
Soon after the movie’s opening events, Niamh’s family is brutally murdered in the home by an unknown entity. Their deaths are extremely violent and gory, the house is almost alive with malice as its inhabitants are killed and finally the house goes up in flames. Immediately I was under the impression that there was a poltergeist in the home. There are many scenes in which the viewer is led to believe that Niamh is being both physically and sexually abused by her own parents. From what I’ve read there seems to be a lot of thinking that poltergeists can result from an unconscious form of psychokinesis and typically occurs in young teenagers when they are unable to express themselves in a normal manner due to some sort of trauma or conflict. Poltergeists can inflict bodily harm, for example Niamh’s injuries, cuts and bruises, and they can terrorize homes and families. But upon continuing the movie you realize that Niamh has been through some very traumatizing abuse inflicted upon her by both her mother and father. Nat and Lucas decide to take Niamh into their home and foster her until she can be permanently placed into a home. Niamh’s behavior is withdrawn and she shows severe signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. This is no mere poltergeist. In the fashion of Carrie or even Firestarter, Niamh has special abilities, and they are her only means of expression, and even revenge. Moving objects, fires, collapsing houses, cracking earth; she is a forced to be reckoned with.
Throughout the movie Niamh wanders the streets at night, searching for abused children like herself and playing a dark heroine, saves these children, but it means the violent deaths of their parents. Nat and Lucas are worried when they find that people are dying like Niamh’s own parents did and begin to worry that she is somehow connected to all of this. There is a scene in which Niamh is invited to a birthday party and even amongst other children and no adults, terror ensues. Niamh continues her reign of terror in the small Irish town and very shockingly “takes care” of seemingly all of the town’s children. In an unexpected ending, we find that Niamh has exacted the ultimate revenge and taken on the role she was always meant for, the parent.
I have three words to describe this; creepy fucking kids. But in reality, the movie isn’t scary because of the creepy children, the violent deaths, the blood and the gore, or the raging teenage telekinesis. It’s horrifying because the true monster of the movie is child abuse. And I’m not talking spanking your kids and sending them to bed with no dinner which in our politically correct society would be considered child abuse. I’m talking about the molestation and the closed fist beatings that these kids endure; the humiliation and the lack of emotional connection between parent and child that occurs. The movie is about real life horrors and tastefully disguises itself as a horror movie. What happens when a child is exposed to this type of environment and has no way of escaping or saving themselves? Well, in the world of horror fiction, Niamh happens. And trust me ladies and gents, you wouldn’t want to stand in her way.
Missy Keating does a stellar job of not only portraying a damaged child, but of also exhibiting all the necessary traits required to really portray what everyone should be afraid of: the victim with the necessary means to make things right again. (Or at least make them right in the way she wants them to be.) Marina de Van has done an excellent job not only by creating a great horror film, but by creating a film with true depth. She has taken the terrifying parts of reality and twisted them into a tight, scary package, delivering a satisfying film that punches you in the gut.
Stevie Kopas, Associate Editor HMS
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