Fairy Tale and Film

The Dark 
(John Fawcett, 2005). Set in rural Wales, James (Sean Bean) 
is visited by his estranged American wife, Adele (Maria Bello), and their 
daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey). A girl emerges from the water soon 
after this reunion, intent on taking the place of the daughter, whom 
she bears an uncanny resemblance to. Mining elements from 
Ringu
, the 
backstory provided for Ebrill (Abigail Stone) is one of extreme paternal 
abuse. Her mother died when she was young, leaving her in the care 
of a monstrous father. As an elderly local informs us, Ebrill was a sickly 
child whose body was given to the ocean, yet her father – the local 
pastor – persuaded his congregation to kill themselves at the cliff-side, 
hoping this would enable her return. A marker is situated at the site of 
this mass suicide, inscribed with the word ‘Annwyn’ – the term for the 
afterlife in Welsh mythology. Although Ebrill did return, ‘something 
came back with her’, and her father became convinced that she was 
evil. After performing primitive brain surgery he tries to drown her yet 
falls into the same waters as his doomed flock. Ebrill obviously does 
not wish to remain beneath the waves and is intent on making James 

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Fairy Tale and Film
her new father. Her lack of interest in a mother is seemingly explained 
by the fact that a father is all she knows, yet Adele is also shown to be 
flawed, admitting to lashing out at her daughter when alone with her 
in America, creating an evident rift between them. Her remorse is clear, 
yet any chance of atonement is harshly repudiated. Despite sacrificing 
herself at the cliff, thinking this will save her daughter, Adele is captured 
by the evil father and daughter in their watery domain. Begging for a 
second chance at life with Sarah, Adele is allowed to return, yet the 
bleak ending reveals that this is only as a spirit, leaving her unable to 
prevent Ebrill taking possession of her daughter. The last scene is of this 
fake child smiling happily at home with her new daddy while Adele’s 
ghost can only watch, vainly tapping the window in anguish. 
Any sense of injustice at this finale is supposedly mitigated by the 
fact that Adele has shown herself to be a ‘bad’ mother, having hit her 
daughter. Although this is shown to be an isolated incident, which 
she deeply regrets, nothing can apparently redeem it. The resentment 
Sarah bears towards her mother seems to provide the way in for the evil 
entity, eliminating both mother and daughter to recreate Ebrill’s ideal 
family. Like 
The Daisy Chain
, a remote location is used to interrogate 
the dangers of local myths and superstitions, only to leave a tragically 
restructured family. An abused female spirit successfully manipulates a 
caring mother in order to set up home with her husband, cruelly taking 
possession of their daughter. Once again, the suggestion made is that 
mistreated offspring will simply replicate what adults teach them. Ebrill 
even attempts to assist her father in trepanning Adele in the same hor-
rific way that she was abused, unable to evince any sense of empathy 
(or understanding of appropriate behaviour) because this was denied 
to her. Adele’s judgement as a mother, and her ultimate punishment, 
is frustratingly cruel. If the burden of singlehandedly looking after her 
daughter caused her to momentarily snap, she has no opportunity to 
make amends. As with fairy tales of old, the father is absolved of respon-
sibility for his child’s fate, an innocent to the end, while the mother is 
disproportionately blamed. Adele is cursed with knowing that she has 
failed to keep her daughter from harm and cannot undo the damage she 
has caused. As Tatar notes of ‘The Juniper Tree’, ‘in the end the mother-
less household becomes the happy household’ (1992: 224) – and Ebrill’s 
happiness in her new home is undeniable.
Horror has a tendency to judge mothers harshly, reflecting dominant 
cultural expectations that routinely question maternal failings, often 
criticising ‘over-involvement’ as well as neglect, although a reprieve is 
also offered at times.