A suburban family comes home from a Grand Canyon trip. Their autistic son took sacred stones from a cave. Anasazi-linked demons attach to the household. The demons exploit each member’s fears and secrets, including infidelity, alcoholism, bulimia, and family strain. A spiritual cleansing and the boy’s fearlessness finally end the haunting.
The leads are a white nuclear family. Supporting faces include an Asian coworker and a Latina healer who arrives with her granddaughter as interpreter. That texture reads as ordinary modern Los Angeles life more than a diversity-first ensemble. Autism is plot-central because the boy’s lack of fear helps reseal the stones. Native lore and disability mainly work as genre devices rather than activist identity messaging. There is no LGBTQ storyline and no representation-politics push in the film’s framing.
Community feedback
Was our 12% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Darkness.
Woke representation / casting
The main cast is a white suburban family. Supporting roles add light diversity, including an Asian coworker and a Latina spiritual healer. The autistic son is prominent because he is the fearless key to the plot. That reads as inclusion texture, not a quota-style hero lineup or identity-first marketing.
15%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. No activist, DEI, or identity-politics dialogue. Talk stays on family secrets, fear, and the haunting.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Personal family damage such as an affair, drinking, bulimia, and autism drives the scares. Autism is given a special spiritual edge that some may see as soft disability framing. The film is not built on modern race, gender, queer, or systemic-identity messaging.
10%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. Absentee or work-focused dad and household strain are ordinary family-horror fuel. They are not an activist attack on patriarchy, whiteness, capitalism, or Western institutions.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is an original story, not an identity rewrite of established characters or history.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Not present. No sustained right-leaning or anti-woke complaints that the film pushes a woke agenda. Discourse is about bad scares and clichés, plus some opposite-side stereotyping critiques.
0%
Creator track record context
Author-director Greg McLean and the co-writers score very low on activist patterns in commercial Australian horror. Blumhouse producers sit low to moderate. Assistant-director credits with higher personal scores do not shape the film’s authorship or messaging.
12%
Production
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