Darkness Falls review

Not the Ray Winstone/Sherilyn Fenn stinker from a couple of years back, thank God. No, this cheesy horror comes with its own stench - albeit one that gives way to the odd whiff of pleasure.

The title refers to a picturesque coastal town where, 150 years ago, a kindly old hag known as 'The Tooth Fairy' was lynched for a crime she didn't commit. Now she's back to wreak vengeance on any kid foolish enough to leave a molar under the pillow.

Mixing and matching horror staples - a killer's mask, a vampiric intolerance to light - director Jonathan Liebesman attempts to create a new kind of bogeywoman capable of sustaining a franchise. No such luck: from her tortuous case history to her bland killing method (swooping people off the ground and dropping them), this is one hell of a toothless fairy.

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Thankfully, there are enough laughs here (intentional and otherwise) to keep the snores at bay, and the plot has a gleeful, sadistic edge to it. Witness the psychiatrist who locks a frightened child in a sensory deprivation tank to cure him of nightmares...