Darko; thrills, chills and unleashed madness: That's entertainment!

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2005)

This movie was well directed and edited. In fact, aside from the writing,these were the film's strongest features. Richard Kelley pulls tremendous open performances out of the actors and assembled a complete vision of a deep and thought provoking story. His vision is peculiar enough to attract one's attention but still general enough in his underlying themes to enable some level of connection with a wide range of movie goers.
There is something for everyone here. The casting was superb. There were terrific actors from the late 80's and 90's, as well as rising stars that did not gain widespread fame until after this film. The parts were well suited to each chosen actor. the biggest stretch was Patrick Swayze as a creepy motivational speaker, (who has the lesser minds in the community under his thrall) but he pulled it off rather convincingly using his good-guy image to lend substance and credibility to the character.
Finally I would like to publicly thank Ms. Barrymore for investing her time money and talent into a risky notion such as this script. You have come a long way from the days of Stephen King's Firestarter and ET. You should be exceedingly proud of your participation and influence(as well as your performance) in this project. It is more than a film or a movie, it is indeed, from the writing all the way through post-production, a work of art.