The Dark

The Dark may refer to:

Film and television

Literature

Music

Other uses

The Dark (Metal Church album)

The Dark is the second full-length album released by Metal Church. It was released on 6 October 1986 and was the last album featuring the group's classic lineup of David Wayne, Kurdt Vanderhoof, Kirk Arrington, Duke Erickson, and Craig Wells. 1999's Masterpeace album reunited the former four, with John Marshall replacing Wells.

Album information

The Dark talks of somber themes, such as assassination, death, struggle, rituals, and the supernatural: the lyrics from "Line of Death", for example, were based on Libyan hostilities in the Gulf of Sidra. "Watch the Children Pray" became the band's first music video. The album was dedicated to the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who died nine days before its release. In order to promote The Dark, Metal Church supported Metallica and Anthrax on the Damage, Inc. Tour. They also opened for King Diamond.

"Ton of Bricks" appears as the opening track in the Charlie Sheen movie No Man's Land.

Reception

Reviews for The Dark have been mostly positive. Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia awards the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, and states that it "contained some of the group's best material." In 2005, the album was ranked number 389 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

The Dark (film)

The Dark is a 2005 British-German horror film, based on the novel Sheep (now out of print) by Simon Maginn.

Plot

While in Wales visiting her husband James (Sean Bean), Adélle (Maria Bello) tries to fix her relationship with her daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey). By the side of a cliff, they see a strange memorial with evidence of a plate missing and with the name "Annwyn" marked on it. A local man Dafydd (Maurice Roëves) explains that, according to traditional Welsh mythology, Annwyn is a sort of afterlife.

Later, Sarah vanishes on the beach, and another similar looking girl, named Ebrill (Abigail Stone) ("Ebrill" is Welsh for "April"), appears in her place. Ebrill is the long-dead daughter of a local shepherd who also served as the town's pastor fifty years prior. When Ebrill, who was a sickly child, died, her father gave her to the ocean, sending her to Annwyn. He then convinced his followers to throw themselves into the ocean, claiming that it was the way to Paradise, while he privately hoped that their sacrifice would return Ebrill to him from Annwyn. Ebrill did come back, but, something came back with her. Her father tried to draw the evil out of her, through trepanning and locking her in her room. Dafydd was one of the followers who did not throw himself off the cliff, though both his parents did. Ebrill's father took him in, and when Dafydd could no longer bear witnessing the shepherd hurting Ebrill, he set her free, which in turn allowed the evil within her to lash out and shove her father over the cliff.