From Scream, to I Know What You Did Last Summer and even the Friday The 13th series, revenge-based horror films have been around for a long time terrifying audiences around the world.  Unfortunately, most of them follow a similar story. And they offer nothing new to the genre other than different characters and different reasons for wanting revenge. Still, people flock to see them. This is simply because they like the scares that come when the lights are down. Dark Windows is the latest horror movie in the genre to come out. And it is a rehash of what others movies show with very little new to offer. 

Tilly (Anna Bullard, Your Color) and her friends Monica (Annie Hamilton, Hawkeye) and Peter (Rory Alexander, Pistol) were part of a horrific traffic accident that killed one of their friends. She was left mentally scarred by what happened. And the family of her dead friend very clearly blame her and her friends for the accident. To take their mind off of things and to try and regroup, the survivors decide to get away for a weekend at a remote summerhouse far away from society. Unfortunately for them, a masked man follows them to their retreat to terrorize them and get revenge for what happened. 

After reading the above description of the film, you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect with Dark Windows. In fact, most of the things you think will happen, probably do. The film does have a few twists and turns along the way, but mostly it’s filled with the same old, same old, including stereotypical characters. What’s worse, is the choice of actors seems odd. They are all supposed to be playing teenagers, but the way they talk and act make them feel at least in their mid-20s.

It’s one thing to cast older actors in younger roles, other movies do this with varying results. But in this case it’s more than just their looks that seem out of place. None of them act like their characters’ age groups neither. Another big problem is that revenge movies are supposed to make you feel at least a little sympathy for the lead characters as they are hunted down, but you don’t really get that in Dark Windows because most of them seem like they are too self absorbed to accept their responsibility in what happened. 

Not everything about Dark Windows is bad. They do a good job of building suspense and putting you on edge. The acting is decent too, much better than your typical revenge horror movie. This is true even if the actors are playing characters that don’t match their age. The makers of the film try to be different too, which I appreciate. But in the end it doesn’t really feel different. It’s too predictable for that.

Dark Windows does have an audience, and those who enjoy horror films will find reasons to like it. Unfortunately anyone has seen a lot of them will know exactly where this one is going, too.