As a society we are overly concerned with the rich and famous. There is a billion dollar a year business surrounding and feeding this infatuation and it shows no signs of slowing down. It has come to the point where a celebrity cannot leave their homes for a cup of coffee without a small army of photographers hot on their heels snapping thousands of pictures. It used to be a person became famous for having some talent to set them above the common throng but now there are hundreds of people famous for being famous. This obsession with the famous has spilled over to all other forms of entertainment including the movies. It it is not that these tabloid idols are staring in the films, which they do, but that celebrity has become a theme for various genres of film. One recent example of this is ‘Dark Secrets’ by Frank Falco. If you are up on the independent film world you might have heard about this flick under its original title ‘Cold Earth’. He uses celebrity as a plot point in gripping psychological thriller. In many ways the basic story would have worked without the addition of the celebrities but it adds little touch that make it seemed ‘ripped from the headlines’ and provides a greater degree of acceptability from the audience. Our culture loves a story about celebrities, apparently even fictional ones. This movie pulls back the public persona of this fictional famous couple to show their real lives with the kidnapping of their daughter. Evidence begins to point to a known serial killer and the film is in full swing. If there is one thing the American audience loves to watch more than celebrities it’s a serial killer. These men systematically murder innocent people flaunting their deeds to law enforcement. A well constructed movie about a serial killer allows for the introduction of pure evil into the mix without having to go down the supernatural creature. Well, at least not initially that is. All of this serves to ground the film more than the usual horror flick helping it to work as a taut psychological thriller. After the barrage of one slash and dash flick after another it is reassuring to see there are still filmmakers that care about the quality of their work. Some who are indoctrinated to what passes for a thriller today may be disappointed with this movie. It moves slower than you might be used to and it demands the audience devote more than a modicum of their attention to the proceedings. While watching I had a similar feeling to what I experience while reading a good old fashion mystery novel.

For Frank Falco this is his second time out as a writer and first as the director and he does well in both fields. The story has more than enough plot twists and turns to keep things interesting throughout. Just when you think you have things figured out Falco throws a curve at you. This is exactly what you want in a story like this, something that doesn’t travel down the hackney path. Life seems good for Darryl (Gary Daniels and) Lori Van Dyke (Kate Thurlwell). They are rich, famous and adored by millions. Beside their fame they are also the proud parents of a daughter. It would seem to anyone that they have the best possible life. As the film opens we see a young woman, barley more than a girl leaving a playground. She stops to play with a snow globe and suddenly she is lying dead on the ground, the globe still in her hands. We teased with shots of a man, Detective Sergeant Farrell (Steven Elliot) knelling down at a grave site; back at home he is restless, unable to sleep. It seems that he is having a bad time of it. Lights burn out when is near and his electic razor breaks as soon as he touches it.He walks through his empty house lost in his memories. The scene then moves on to a woman preparing breakfast as a pretty blond hair girl walks in. When a film maker juxtaposes two such scenes you know that something is going tog happen. We have all seen this many times before but here Falco gives us a visually different and interesting presentation. This can be said about a lot of what s contained in this film; the presentation sets it above others in the genre. Falco appears to enjoy playing with the lighting. The man is in shadows while the sun streams in on the girl. This is a visual clue to the coming conflict between good and evil that will tear apart several lives. Darryl walks into the bathroom where his wife is applying her makeup. He is looking for their daughter but Lori thinks she is with the housekeeper and is unconcerned. When they realize that little Dallas is not there they call he police. Farrell and his partner Detective Constable Radcliffe (Ben Shockley) are dispatched to the Van Dyke home to investigate. They begin to gather the meager clues including the words ‘help me’ scrawled on Lori’s mirror. Farrell soon comes to the conclusion that a serial killer who has struck a couple of times before is responsible.

The celebrity element adds to the roster of usual suspects by introducing potential red herrings among the house hold staff and fans but thankfully Falco stays on track and doesn’t let this plot device take over. To be fair there are some points in the film were it starts to drag especially noticeable in the expository flashback but it managers to get back on track. This is a British production and it is not unusual for them to take more leisurely approach to a thriller. It is a refreshing change from those films that feel obliged to have some shock in every shot. When the story begins to take a more supernatural tack it does so slowly. Little hints and clues unfold teasing the audience nicely.

Overall the film works as a moody, atmospheric piece but one major distraction can be found with the soundtrack. It sounds like it was ripped from on old BBC mystery flick and pulls away from the otherwise contemporary feel of the film. The movie crosses several genres ranging from thriller to mystery but works best as the later. Faclo builds up to the conclusion well keeping the audience engaged and wondering what will happen next. This is a strong enough movie to be entertaining and is better than a lot of Indies that have come out lately.