The Dark (2005)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

John Fawcett

Writers (WGA):

Simon Maginn (novel)
Stephen Massicotte (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 2005 (Canada)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

One of the living for one of the dead.

Plot:

In mourning over the tragic drowning of their daughter Sarah, James and Adèle are visited by Ebrill, a young girl who claims she died 60 years ago ... and bares a startling resemblance to Sarah.

Plot Keywords:

Wales | Sheep | Father Daughter Relationship | Guilt | Afterlife

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Maria Bello	...	Adèlle
Sean Bean	...	James
Maurice Roëves	...	Dafydd
Sophie Stuckey	...	Sarah
Abigail Stone	...	Ebril
Richard Elfyn	...	Rowan
Casper Harvey	...	Young Dafydd
Eluned Jones	...	Doctor
Gwenyth Petty	...	Librarian
Robin Griffith	...	Police Inspector
Mike Keggen	...	Rib Skipper
Tonya Smith	...	Main Stumblehead Martyr

Directed by
John Fawcett

Writing credits (WGA)
Simon Maginn		(novel "Sheep")
Stephen Massicotte		(screenplay)

Produced by
Paul W.S. Anderson	....	producer
Jeremy Bolt	....	producer
Steve Christian	....	executive producer
Robert How	....	co-producer
Robert Kulzer	....	executive producer
Paul Tamasy	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Edmund Butt

Cinematography by
Christian Sebaldt		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Chris Gill

Casting by
Robyn Ray
Suzanne Smith		(as Suzanne M. Smith)

Production Design by
Eve Stewart

Art Direction by
Andrew Grant		(supervising art director)
Ed Walsh

Costume Design by
Ffion Elinor

Makeup Department
Erin Ayanian	....	makeup artist: Ms. Bello
Zoe Brown	....	hair stylist: dailies
Sue Ignatius	....	chief makeup artist
Sarah Monzani	....	hair designer
Sarah Monzani	....	makeup designer
Elizabeth Phillips	....	makeup trainee
Maralyn Sherman	....	prosthetic makeup artist
Simon Thompson	....	chief hair stylist
Christine Whitney	....	hair stylist: dailies
Christine Whitney	....	makeup artist: dailies

Production Management
Candice Fonseca	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hana Backland	....	assistant director: crowd (as Hannah Backland)
Oscar Beuselinck	....	second assistant director
Simon Downes	....	second assistant director
Lucy Egerton	....	third assistant director (as Lucinda Egerton)
Mark Egerton	....	first assistant director
Henry Forsyth	....	third assistant director: second unit
Grant Harvey	....	second unit director
Andrew McKewan	....	second assistant director: second unit
Steve Newton	....	first assistant director: second unit
Richard Onions	....	assistant director: crowd
Nickie Sault	....	second assistant director
James Truelove	....	assistant director: crowd

Art Department
Mark Adams	....	scenic painter: dailies
Mark Agbaba	....	scenic painter
Nurey Al-Kahzrajie	....	art department trainee
Steve Allaway	....	carpenter: dailies
Stanley Apperley	....	plasterer (as Stan Apperley)
Ron Bead	....	stagehand: dailies
Marc Beros	....	scenic painter (as Mark Beros)
Lee Biggs	....	chargehand carpenter
Roy Biggs	....	stagehand: dailies
Dennis Bovington	....	carpenter: dailies (as Dennis Bovingdon)
Dave Bowman	....	carpenter: dailies
Alan Briant	....	prop storeman
Peter Brown	....	carpenter: dailies
Temple Clark	....	storyboard artist
Jamie Davies-Evans	....	scenic painter
Gary Davies	....	stagehand
Philippe Delestre	....	scenic painter: dailies (as Phillipe Delestre)
Gary Evans	....	stagehand
James Fennessy	....	scenic painter: dailies (as Jim Fennessy)
Juan Fernandez	....	carpenter: dailies
Andrew Forrest	....	stand-by props (as Andy Forrest)
Mary Gibbs	....	art department trainee
Andy Good	....	carpenter: dailies
Claire Grainger	....	prop buyer
Richard Grant	....	scenic painter: dailies
Les Hall	....	carpenter
Kate Halsall	....	trainee prop buyer (as Kate Elizaberth Halsall)
Darren Hayward	....	chargehand carpenter
Gary Hedges	....	carpenter: dailies
Kenny Hill	....	stagehand: dailies
Nick Holmes	....	scenic painter: dailies
Mike Houseman	....	construction manager
Geoff Hubbard	....	carpenter: dailies (as Martin Hubbard)
Mark Kinrade	....	stagehand: dailies
Nigel Kirk	....	scenic painter: dailies
Rowanna Lacey	....	assistant art director
William Lawlor	....	carpenter (as William Lawler)
Terry Law	....	carpenter
Shay Leonard	....	stand-by props
Jo Littlejohn	....	assistant prop buyer
Kevin Lloyd	....	stagehand: dailies
Anthony Lyle	....	stagehand: dailies
John Malham	....	scenic painter: dailies
Dan Maslen	....	storyboard artist
Leon McCarthy	....	stand-by carpenter
Matthew McDonnell	....	art department trainee
Dave McGill	....	stagehand: dailies
Nathan Middleton	....	scenic painter: dailies
Richard Miller	....	stagehand: dailies
Richard Mills	....	property master
Stephen Morris	....	plasterer
Mark Overall	....	carpenter
Justin Overhill	....	stand-by painter
Neil 'Dulux' Palfreman	....	carpenter (as Neil Palfreman)
Robert Parks	....	carpenter: dailies
Jo Riddell	....	art department assistant
Lester Rowbotham	....	stand-by carpenter (as Lester Rowbottom)
Guy Rutter	....	chargehand painter
Don Santos	....	dressing props
Russell Sargent	....	carpenter: dailies (as Russ Sargent)
Dave Stachini	....	stagehand: dailies
Paul Stewart	....	carpenter: dailies
Sam Stokes	....	stand-by art director
Graham Thomas	....	carpenter
Andrew Tombs	....	plasterer (as Andy Tombs)
William Treend	....	carpenter: dailies
Gareth Weames	....	carpenter: dailies
Frazer Williamson	....	carpenter: dailies (as Frasier Williamson)
Mark Williamson	....	carpenter: dailies
Andrew Wilson	....	dressing props
Bradley Woodbridge	....	scenic painter: dailies
Colin Woodbridge	....	carpenter: dailies
Leslie Wylie	....	carpenter: dailies (as Les Wylie)

Sound Department
Stuart Bagshaw	....	additional foley recordist
Howard Bargroff	....	sound re-recording mixer
Courtney Bishop	....	adr recordist
Owen Bleasdale	....	additional foley editor
Richard Conway	....	sound facility manager
Matthew Desorgher	....	boom operator
Dan Green	....	dialogue editor
Tirso Guinon	....	theatre assistant mixer
Miha Jaramaz	....	theatre assistant mixer
Dan Johnson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Melissa Lake	....	foley artist
Ben Meechan	....	sound effects editor
Zak Melemendjian	....	adr recordist (as Peter Melemendjian)
Michael Miller	....	adr recordist
Bernard O'Reilly	....	sound effects editor
Joseph Paines	....	sound trainee
Jeremy Price	....	senior sound supervisor
Simon Price	....	supervising dialogue editor
Jess Richards	....	sound trainee (as Jessica Richards)
John Rodda	....	production sound mixer
Lionel Selwyn	....	foley artist
Matthew Skelding	....	adr recordist
Barnaby Smyth	....	foley supervisor
Andrew Stirk	....	adr recordist
Graeme Stoten	....	adr recordist
Jason Swanscott	....	foley artist
David Turner	....	sound technical manager (as Dave Turner)
Lauren Ana Walker	....	dialogue editor (as Lauren Walker)
William F. MacPherson	....	sound mixer (uncredited)
Timothy Pearson	....	foley artist (uncredited)
James Perry	....	adr recordist (uncredited)
Noel Vought	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
David Harris	....	special effects supervisor
Graham Hills	....	special effects technician (uncredited)
Carolyn Matini	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Peter Bach	....	head of production: Clear
Andy Burrow	....	scanning and recording manager: Framestore CFC
Melissa Butler Adams	....	lead digital compositor: Clear (as Melissa Butler-Adams)
James Clarke	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Joe Cleave	....	systems development: Framestore CFC
Paul Doogan	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Chris Eborn	....	visual effects technical operator: Clear
James D. Etherington	....	lead digital compositor: Clear (as James Etherington)
Adam Gascoyne	....	visual effects supervisor: Clear
Joe Godfrey	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Dianne Gordon	....	data operator: Framestore CFC
Charlie Habanananda	....	data operator: Framestore CFC
Aeon Henderson	....	digital compositor: Clear
Simon Hughes	....	digital film supervisor: Clear
Simon Hughes	....	senior lead digital compositor: Clear
Jack James	....	digital cleanup artist: Framestore CFC
Jayson King	....	3D animator: Clear
Kevin Lowery	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Grant McKean	....	digital compositor: Clear
Maria Michalopoulou	....	data operator: Framestore CFC
Stuart Nippard	....	data operator: Framestore CFC
Dan Perry	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Laura Ricketts	....	visual effects line producer: Clear
Jeremy Sawyer	....	compositor: Framestore CFC
Adam Seeley	....	3D animator: Clear
Matina Skouteri	....	scanning and recording: Framestore CFC
Marcus Wood	....	digital compositor: Clear
David J. Zimmerman	....	data manager: Clear (as David Zimmerman)
Alistair Hamer	....	film mastering engineer (uncredited)
Adam Hawkes	....	digital clean-up (uncredited)
Jan Hogevold	....	production executive: Framestore CFC (uncredited)
Ryan Knowles	....	digital film recordist (uncredited)
Paola Varvaro	....	digital cleanup artist (uncredited)
Stephen Willey	....	systems engineer (uncredited)
Annabel Wright	....	digital cleanup (uncredited)

Stunts
Gary Connery	....	stunt performer (as Garry Connery)
Kali Connery	....	stunt performer
Ruth Jenkins	....	stunt performer
Kim McGarrity	....	stunt performer
Gareth Milne	....	stunt coordinator
Ray Nicholls	....	stunt performer
Wally Crowder	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Levan Doran	....	water stunts (uncredited)
Luke Kearney	....	water stunts (uncredited)
Peter Pedrero	....	water stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Eva Arnold	....	camera assistant
Inderpreet Bahia	....	camera trainee
Howard Baker	....	camera operator: second unit
Dave Baylis	....	stand-by rigger (as Dave Bayliss)
Harry Bowers	....	focus puller: dailies
James Bradshaw	....	electrician
Phil Brookes	....	gaffer
Chris Clarke	....	clapper loader
Ginger Colin	....	crane grip
Benjamin Croce	....	clapper loader: dailies (as Bengy Croce)
Steve Cussell	....	electrician (as Steve Cussel)
Mark Day	....	electrician
Charlie Dillion	....	stand-by rigger (as Charlie Dillon)
John Donoghue	....	rigging gaffer
Charlie England	....	clapper loader: dailies
Dai Evans	....	grip trainee: FT2 (as David Evans)
Bill Geddes	....	grip: dailies
Sam Goldie	....	focus puller: dailies
Tom Guy	....	electrician: underwater, second unit
Tom Harding	....	camera operator: second unit
Justin Heath	....	rigger
Dermot Hickey	....	focus puller
George Hobbs	....	rigger
Joe Judge	....	best boy
J.P. Judge	....	electrician: dailies (as Jon Paul Judge)
Giles Keyte	....	still photographer
John Lockwood	....	electrician
Paul McGeachan	....	electrician
Mark Milsome	....	camera operator: second unit
Lenny O'Brien	....	electrician: second unit (as Lenny O'Brian)
David Odd	....	camera operator: second unit
Jay Jay Odedra	....	focus puller: dailies (as Jay Odedra)
Jim Philpott	....	grip: dailies
Barney Piercy	....	focus puller: dailies
Bernie Prentice	....	electrician: underwater, second unit
Ben Pritchard	....	focus puller: dailies (as Benjamin Pritchard)
Mark Richards	....	rigger
William Richards	....	rigger (as Biull Richards)
Derrick Ritchie	....	electrician: second unit
Kevin Roberts	....	electrician: dailies
Howard Roe	....	electrician: dailies
Chris Samworth	....	clapper loader: dailies
Colin Simkiss	....	electrician: dailies
Ron Skinner	....	rigger
Sam Smith	....	clapper loader: dailies
Niall Smyth	....	electrician: second unit (as Nial Smyth)
Anthony Swaby	....	camera trainee
Alex Tate	....	grip
Ian Townsend	....	crane technician
Andrew Trewartha	....	clapper loader: dailies
Gerry Vasbenter	....	Steadicam operator
Gerry Vasbenter	....	camera operator "a" camera
Robert Walton	....	electrician: dailies
Simon Ward	....	crane grip
Dennis Watson	....	rigger
Dave Wells	....	grip trainee: FT2 (as David Wells)
Glen Whorrall	....	camera trainee
Mark Wolf	....	underwater camera operator: second unit
Danny Young	....	electrician: dailies
Adam Cowan	....	camera loader (uncredited)

Casting Department
Vanessa Baker	....	adr voice casting
Thomas L. Carter	....	casting assistant (as Tom Carter)
Brendan Donnison	....	adr voice casting
Belinda Blight	....	casting assistant (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Maxine Brown	....	costumer: dailies
Vikki Illing	....	costumer: dailies (as Vicky Illing)
Leigh Nicol	....	costume supervisor
Nicola Rodd	....	costume assistant

Editorial Department
Marcus Alexander	....	digital intermediate producer: Framestore CFC
Anna Bolt	....	post-production coordinator
Kerry Downing	....	digital lab editor: Framestore CFC
Emanuele Giraldo	....	assistant editor
Steve Harrow	....	post-production manager: Steeple Post Production Services
Adam Inglis	....	colorist: Framestore CFC
Eddy Kolkiewicz	....	negative cutter: Reel Skill Film Cutting (as Eddie Kolkiewicz)
Mike Morrison	....	digital grading assistant: Framestore CFC
Andrew Robinson	....	negative cutter: Reel Skill Film Cutting
Richard Rowntree	....	assistant to post-production manager: Steeple Post Production Services

Music Department
Geoff Alexander	....	conductor
Geoff Alexander	....	orchestrator
Edmund Butt	....	music score producer
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor
Allan Jenkins	....	music editor
Peter Manning	....	orchestra leader
Rosie Perry	....	assistant to music supervisor
Mike Ross-Trevor	....	score recordist (as Mike Ross Trevor)
Kirsty Whalley	....	music editor
Toby Wood	....	music scoring mixer
Mikael Carlsson	....	executive soundtrack producer (uncredited)
Dashiell Rae	....	temp music (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Gerard Baldwin	....	driver: stand-by props
Vince Bartlett	....	driver: props
Wayne Burkett	....	driver: makeup
Maurice Campbell	....	unit driver
John Coleman	....	unit driver
Matt Evans	....	driver: camera (as Mat Evans)
John Hauge	....	unit driver
Gary Hudson	....	driver: costume
Mat Hudson	....	driver: generator and 3-way
Alyson Illingworth	....	unit driver
Mike Keeble	....	unit driver
Karen Moran	....	unit driver
Paul Newman	....	unit driver
Graham Pearson	....	unit driver
Stephen Quick	....	transportation captain: Isle of Man
Richard Thomas	....	driver: bus
Kevin Veness	....	driver: grip
Micky Webb	....	driver: special effects (as Mickey Webb)
Alan Rogers	....	minivan driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Tack Baldwin	....	head of safety (as Tack R. Baldwin)
Johnny Bamford	....	location manager: Devon
Oliver Barron	....	production runner (as Ollie Barron)
Dan Bell	....	safety
Alexander Berner	....	creative consultant
Eddie Booth	....	location manager: Isle of Man
Belinda Braghittoni	....	safety
Nick Cain	....	representative: Isle of Man Film
Robin Craine	....	production assistant
Sarah Crompton	....	assistant: Mr Anderson )
Sarah Crompton	....	assistant: W.S. Anderson
Matt Curtis	....	title designer
Andrew Gwyn Davies	....	assistant production coordinator (as Andrew Gwyn-Davies)
Rob Deacon	....	unit publicist: Premier PR
Jules De Barsham	....	location manager
Jules De Barsham	....	location scout
Alex Downie	....	representative: Isle of Man Film
Hilary Dugdale	....	representative: Isle of Man Film
Katie Elson	....	location assistant: Isle of Man
Andrew Fingret	....	legal advisor: Cains Advocates, Isle of Man Film
Karen Fryer	....	continuity trainee
Phil Gates	....	location manager: Isle of Man
Rory Gilmartin	....	script editor
Hannah Godwin	....	assistant production coordinator
Judy Goldberg	....	assistant: Jeremy Bolt
Charlie Goodson	....	safety
Jacky Holding	....	assistant accountant (as Jacky Holding)
Chris Ingram	....	set runner
James Ingram	....	assistant: Sean Bean
Non Jones	....	accounting assistant
Roger Kendall	....	health and safety advisor
Claire L. Kenny	....	assistant accountant (as Claire Kenny)
Rowan Laidlaw	....	assistant to director
Emma Lightbody	....	representative: Gasworks Media Limited
Sirish Malde	....	production auditor: Malde & Co.
Lisa Marsden	....	insurance: Media/Professional Insurance
Sarada McDermott	....	production coordinator
Richard Miller	....	unit nurse
Charles Moore	....	production counsel: Wiggin & Co
Della Moore	....	production accountant
Martin Moszkowicz	....	management representative: Constantin Film
P.J. Mountford	....	production runner
Clive Noakes	....	laboratory contact: DeLuxe London
Elisabeth Pinto	....	production assistant
Ian Pollington	....	location manager: London
Helen Revington	....	unit nurse
Julia Rounce	....	base runner
Richard Rowntree	....	library material researcher
Lara Sargent	....	post-production accountant
Johannes Schlichting	....	assistant: Robert Kulzer
Dorothy Sewell	....	unit nurse
Natalie Sharpe	....	production runner
Leonard Singer	....	representative: Isle of Man Film
Kate Smith	....	assistant to director
Peter Smith	....	assistant location manager: Isle of Man
Tonya Smith	....	acting coach: Ms. Stone
Anne Marie Speed	....	dialogue coach: Ms. Stuckey (as Anne-Marie Speed)
Elizabeth Tremblay	....	script supervisor
Jane Trower	....	assistant accountant
Doug Vale	....	unit nurse
Thomas Walters	....	production assistant (as Tom Walters)
Judith Windsor	....	dialogue coach: Ms. Stuckey
Henry Woolley	....	location manager: London
Kathryn Donovan	....	electronic press kit (uncredited)
Michael J. Harker	....	completion bond company representative (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Constantin Film
• Impact Pictures
• Isle of Man Film Commission
• UK Film Council

Distributors

• Constantin Film (2006) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Distribution Company (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Momentum Pictures (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• Odeon (2005) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Pioneer Films (2006) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• SND (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• West Video (2006) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Oy Nordisk Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• RTL Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing) (RTL5)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Cine Image Film Opticals (optical end titles)
• Clear (digital visual effects)
• Moving Picture Company (MPC) (digital intermediate)

Other Companies

• ARRI Media  camera and grip equipment provided by
• Angels & Bermans  costumes
• Arion / Midnight Transfer  rushes telecine
• Artbeats Digital Film Library  library material
• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies/mobiles
• Blow Up  stills processing
• Cains Advocates  legal advisor: Isle of Man Film
• Casting Collective  extras casting
• Centrespur Corporate Services  financial services
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  cranes and dollies
• Cine Image Film Opticals  end titles (as CineImage)
• Cool Music  musicians contracted by
• DZ Bank  financial services
• DeLuxe Laboratories  color and prints
• Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.  completion bond
• Footage Bank  library material
• Framestore CFC  digital intermediate
• International Film Guarantors  completion guarantee
• Kodak  polaroid stock
• Lansdowne Studios  score mixed at
• Lee Lighting  lighting
• London Editing Machines Ltd.  editing equipment
• Malde & Co.  production auditor
• Media / Professional Insurance  insurance
• Midnight Express  courier
• MovieScore Media  soundtrack
• P.P.C.  electronic press kit
• Premier Public Relations  publicity (as Premier PR)
• Real Spice of Life, The  catering (as Real Spice of Life)
• Reel Skill Film Cutting  negative cutting
• Sapex Scripts  continuity script
• Sargent-Disc  payroll services
• Screen Facilities  location facilities
• Steeple Post Production Services  post-production services
• Videosonics Cinema Sound  editing facility
• Videosonics Cinema Sound  sound post-production
• Videosonics Cinema Sound  sound re-recording
• Whitfield Street Studios  score recorded at

Also Known As:

The Dark (Germany)
Karanlik (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
La oscuridad (Argentina) (cable TV title) [es]
Pimedus (Estonia) [et]
The Dark (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
The Dark (Finland) [fi]
The Dark (Italy) [it]
The Dark (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for some violent/disturbing images and language.

Runtime:

93 min | Philippines:92 min (cut)

Country:

Germany | UK

Language:

English | Welsh

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:16 | Singapore:PG | USA:R | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Philippines:R-13 | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | France:-12 | Italy:VM14 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Constantin Film

Trivia:

The concept of "Annwn" (Annwyn) is not made up especially for the film or the book on which it was based. "Annwn" is an underworld or other world found in Welsh legend, a land of the dead. It is said to lay far in the west and could be accessed by the living through a door located at the mouth of the Severn once a year. Surviving from pre-Christian Celtic mythology, it's neither Heaven nor Hell in the Christian sense, humans can enter spiritually or corporeally. This is the first film about Annwn.

Don't blame me.

Look, I would just like to add my voice to this. I wrote the novel, Sheep. The film is 'adapted' from my book the exact same way a pile of rubble is 'adapted' from a house. My book is a slow, serious thriller on the theme of contamination, of land, of food, of livestock, and of minds. It is about ritual purity, conformism and the category-error that is literal biblical belief. It is, in short, about something. None (NONE!) of the filmmakers had read it, they just had a script based on another script, and were highly indignant when my agent suggested they actually read the original.

The film takes some of the visual gestures that animate the book (sheep diseases, religious mania etc), but then scoops out all the surrounding connective tissue, everything that makes the book make sense, replacing it with some kind of pulp which looks to me as if the writer was shaken violently awake in the middle of the night and asked to regurgitate the story lines from the last five horror movies he had seen, except his notes got all scrambled up - the result being a sort of plot-pudding, full of screaming and running about and unexplained (unexplainable) twists.

No disrespect to anyone, and I know what sort of pressures the screenwriter was under, but the film does not, in any sense, 'adapt' Sheep, the novel. It is a careful, thoughtful book, with a meticulously worked plot. It is also (I am informed) extremely scary, which the film of course, despite its most strenuous (and very, very noisy) efforts, fails completely to be. The book is not about some vague Disneyfied version of Welsh mythology (nice and safe and distant in these troubled times), it is about Christianity, the Bible: about what happens when religion turns to madness. The scariness is in the waiting, the hinting, the accumulation of detail, drip by drip. It is about fearing, dreading, while something unfolds which cannot be understood until it is too late. I may not have succeeded in any of this, but I was trying. The film just flaps about from one random thing to another, papering over the cracks with tiresome 'shock' effects and Maria Bello screaming.

Copies of Sheep are hard to track down now without paying a lot of money, but I would love it if the people who were disappointed in the film were to read the book. Please don't judge the book (or any of my other books) because you didn't like The Dark: there is almost nothing connecting the two things. Give the book a try: you'll be surprised.

Thanks for your time.