Out of the Dark

This supernatural tale begins with a man being killed in a spooky old house deep in the jungle in Colombia, South America. Years later, Sarah (Julia Stiles) and husband Paul (Scott Speedman) move into said house with their young daughter, Hannah (Pixie Davies). Sarah has relocated to Bogota from London to help run the Harriman paper manufacturing company belonging to her father (Stephen Rea). Since Paul is a children's book illustrator, he can work from home. But there are the strangely bandaged children hiding in the bushes surrounding the garden where Hannah plays—kids who seem to have a bizarre connection with the annual Festival of the Saint's Children, which commemorates a horrific event 500 years earlier when the village's children were burned alive in a local church by ruthless Spanish conquistadors. The first mishap to befall Hannah is when her favorite stuffed animal disappears and she gets trapped in a dumbwaiter shaft trying to retrieve it. Shortly afterward, she develops a mysterious skin rash that the company doctor cannot seem to treat. And then Hannah is spirited away, presumably by the menacing children—who may be ghosts. It's ultimately up to Sarah to question villagers, as she unravels a murky background story of environmental contamination and corporate malfeasance. Director Lluís Quilez opts for style over substance here, and none of the bland characters—aside from adorable Hannah—are compelling, which results in little emotional involvement on the part of the viewer. Optional. (S. Granger)