Beneath the Darkness

The only scary thing about Beneath the Darkness is that its screenplay was given the green light for production in the first place.

This psychological thriller set in small-town Texas tries to fool viewers into thinking they haven’t seen many of these serial-killer elements before, taking itself too seriously all the while.

The plot follows a handful of teenagers who decide to investigate some murders in their otherwise quiet town, suspecting a respected mortician (Dennis Quaid) who has tried to cover up his psychotic tendencies while coping with the recent death of his wife.

One of the youngsters, the book-smart Travis (Tony Oiler), also lost his sister under mysterious circumstances, and a cheerleader (Aimee Teegarden) agrees to help him sneak into the stranger’s house to snoop around, since the clueless authorities don’t seem very interested.

Among the clichés along the way are trips to the bowling alley and a Friday night football game (it is Texas, after all), and a late-night make-out scene on a porch. A classroom discussion of “The Tell-Tale Heart” offers some obvious foreshadowing.

The one bright spot is Quaid, who seems to have fun chewing the scenery as though he’s acting in a campy comedy. None of the other actors seems like they’re even in the same movie, even when they share scenes with Quaid, who gets to gleefully utter lines such as “most accidents happen in the home” just before he rolls a victim down a staircase.

He has the right idea. But director Martin Guigui, working from a screenplay by the late Bruce Wilkinson, employs strained attempts to heighten the tension.

The rest of the cast, consisting mostly of young up-and-comers, isn’t a disgrace but hardly distinguishes itself either.

Perhaps the film could have used a hint of mystery, or a red herring or two, surrounding its murders. A more polished script might have had some insight into guilt or grief. Instead, the perpetrator is obvious and the motive is silly. By the final half-hour, it’s gone completely off the rails.

The result is a compilation of contrivances and absurdities that is right off the teen-horror assembly line. Beneath the Darkness has nothing beneath the surface.

Rated R, 95 minutes.