Margaret Walsh Angus Sampson as Ray "The Drinking Buddy" Soundtrack The film's closing credits feature the song "Gunboat" by Vixtrola. Other songs featured in the film include "Look Out Below" by Closure, "Hand of Emptiness" by Brian Tichy, and "Rock Nation" by Scott Nickoley and Jamie Dunlap. Reception Box office Darkness Falls debuted at number one its opening weekend. Grossing $32,551,396 domestically and $47,488,536 worldwide, Darkness Falls was considered a commercial success at the U.S. box office, recouping its $11 million budget. Critical response According to review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, 9% of critics out of 131 reviews gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 3.2/10; the critical consensus is: "A derivative movie where the scares are few and things don't make much sense". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 23 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews", based on reviews from 27 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. In his review for The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the film "an efficient little horror movie that doesn't waste its time getting down to business." Although the film had a "deliberate sparseness of gore," Holden noted the "demonization of a benign childhood phantom" as the film's "cleverest notion." Jamie Russell of the BBC gave it 3/5 stars, writing: "This is a self-consciously silly, completely disposable multiplex movie that does its best to deliver its fair share of chills while struggling to keep a straight face." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said that although "the filmmakers and their cast strive mightily to work up some thrills and chills," the film ultimately was "not all that scary." Philip French of The Observer called it "a mish mash of horror-movie clichés". Alexander Walker of the Evening Standard wrote: "Bogey-fanciers may enjoy it; others may want to check out long before they all take refuge in the lighthouse." Novelization Joe Harris wrote Darkness Falls: The Tragic Life of Matilda Dixon, a prequel comic, which was published by Dark Horse Comics. Keith R. A. DeCandido wrote a novelization of the film, which was published by Pocket Books in December 2002. See also List of ghost films Tooth fairy Night terror They, a 2002 horror film with a similar premise to this film. References External links 2003 films 2003 horror films 2000s ghost films