'The Dark Stranger' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was quite disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do enough with. 'The Dark Stranger' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however a few decent, even good, qualities in 'The Dark Stranger'.Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the decent way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it. A few unsettling moments and horror tropes and the acting is better than average.However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary it got. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense. A lot of the film has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is very little threat here and what there is of it is used poorly, while the psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is pretty leaden.Overall, not a terrible film by any stretch but should have been darker and scarier. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Leah Garrison (Katie Findlay) is a graphic novel artist haunted by the death of her artist mother. She is disturbed by dark visions and The Dark Stranger. She lives with her father (Enrico Colantoni) and brother Toby. She is being treated by psychiatrist Dr. Anne Parsons (Jennifer Dale). Randall Toth (Stephen McHattie) is interested in her mother's art.There are some good standard horror ideas. The indie horror directing is too weak. None of it is scary. It's mostly bright daylight and flat. There are some attempts at creepy but few are good. I like the pen but he fails to find its inherent horror.

I'm following horror scene of Canada since the brilliant Ginger Snaps movies. They always come up with captivating concepts, stories, imagery and really good acting performances.Female lead is something I love in horror movies. The Dark Stranger has a beautiful one... One thing I love Canadian horror movies is the faces are familiar - like people next door but somewhat cuter and more charismatic. Everything they do, say, expressed feels natural.I totally LOVE the story. As an "artist" myself it resonated with me in many levels. Coming back and forth between fantasy world and the "real" world gave the movie a modern world fairy tale feel which is something I also love very much.I have to admit I discovered Katie Findlay with this movie. She reminds Katharine Isabelle to me but not because they are similar in any way - they are not. But because Katie Findlay is bedazzling and bewitching like Katharine Isabelle in her own unique way.Enrico Colantoni is one of my favorites since the sitcom Just Shoot Me. He performed his character far from being pretentious - very modest and understanding father figure and very real. Actually he acted exactly like a real father act in real world in situations like this.Stephen McHattie is very charismatic guy and does the job well. Rest of the cast with Jennifer Dale, Mark O'Brien, Alex Ozerov, Emma Campbell played their parts extremely well to support the story of the leading character and created very much believable atmosphere around her. After sometime with that type of cast and acting, the story totally takes you in.The only thing I personally didn't liked so much in this movie is overall look and cinematography. Shots are very well done compared to the budget but I'd expect a bit more dark, moody, gloomy atmosphere, colors and lights for a story like this. Other than this I enjoyed everything they done with this movie.I'm glad I didn't passed this one and I actually rarely write that much detailed reviews but I really enjoyed this flick and I wanted to show my support and appreciation to obviously hard work they put in this movie.Again the story was just wonderful. This even could be a wonderful bedtime story for me when I was a little kid...I have to note that I have no relation with this production whatsoever and this is not a "paid review" - nor anything like that. I had to say this because I'm seeing from other movie reviewers that when they see a good critique on a less popular, budget movie they tend to think the good reviews are paid. Check my other reviews and general look of my account and you'll see I'm legit.Enjoy!

This movie tells the tale of a highly troubled teen who suffers from chronic hallucinations. Whether those hallucinations are the product of her traumatic past or a curse is not really clear. Apart from the fact that the protagonist has a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy she also seems to suffer from agoraphobia (which is the clinical term for someone who is afraid of the outside world).What really irked me about the movie were the totally random "2D dream sequences/daydreams" which if I had to guess were supposed to add some sort of artistic element. Kind of a given choice considering how the movie is about an artist but not quite solid in it's execution. It ended up being really silly. After all this is supposed to be a Horror movie and not a children's playbook.Furthermore, the antagonist of the movie (the dark stranger) is basically an old man who is blackfacing/grayfacing. I know, this is supposed to be a scary movie but when I first saw the "dark stranger" I laughed out loud. It just seemed way too bizarre.To conclude: Was the movie scary? No, not really.