Dark Touch, available on DVD this week, first appeared to me to be another paranormal flop. Despite the fear that I might be disappointed, I decided to give it a shot. Besides, it’s Irish and foreign horror rarely disappoints me.
I mustn’t forget to mention that Dark Touch was written and directed by Marina de Van who made In My Skin, one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen in my life.
I will admit that I have some trouble understanding accents so I did have to pop on the subtitles, but once I understood what was being said, I really enjoyed what I was watching.
Little Neve (Missy Keating) is found by her neighbors after having jumped from her bedroom window. Her tongue is injured from what appears to be a bite. When her parents come to pick her up, it is obvious something isn’t quite right.
Soon we learn that Neve has been physically and sexually abused by her parents and her baby brother has bruises on him from the abuses done to him. The injury to Neve’s tongue is obviously an injury sustained from one of her parents, perhaps to keep her from tattling.
Late one night, an unseen force murders Neve’s parents and sets the house on fire. During the attack, her baby brother dies from unknown causes, leaving Neve the sole survivor.
Despite her insistence that the house attacked her family, no one believes Neve and assumes it was just a gang of attackers. To avoid her going into the system, Neve’s neighbors take her in until they can find a permanent home for her.
It isn’t long before things start to happen in the new home, proving that something evil has followed Neve and everyone around her is in danger.
Little Neve is like a young Carrie White. Unlike Carrie, Neve does not have telekinesis but whenever she is abused or upset to the point of tears, things begin to move and people get hurt. Maybe it isn’t her intention for these things to happen, but something is protecting her and punishing those who deserve it most.
I may not agree with certain happenings in the film, like the torture of people who really didn’t deserve it, and I do believe it could have benefited from an alternate ending but, overall, it is a pretty good film. I wouldn’t call it scary but it certainly was disturbing.
This film has a lot to say about child abuse. A lesson could be learned from this by all of the parents out there. Child abuse causes more severe issues than you could possibly imagine and, someday, you may be facing the consequences. Neve’s parents sure did.
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