Sight of old women knitting send you screaming? Jumpers section in M&S make you soil yourself in fear? If so, then you’re quite clearly potty. But, for those of us not troubled by all things woolen, The Dark is unlikely to alarm because, in a break from knife-wielding maniacs, the baa-dies (sorry) are sheep. Yes, sheep.
Basing it loosely on Simon Maginn’s 1994 novel Sheep, director John Fawcett – as we learn in the DVD interview – sheared the plot down to its key scenes and chucked in a turn for the weird. So, when Maria Bello visits her ex-husband (Sean Bean) in the Welsh countryside, and their daughter (Sophie Stuckey) goes missing, we not only get a tale of Welsh folklore, sub-Wicker Man pagan nut-jobbery and four-legged pullover-producers, but an afterlife that’s a physical place. Yes – it’s Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey with sheep! And Sean Bean! Good points? The extras (cast interviews, alternate ending) are brief.
