Danika
Encyclopedia
Danika is a 2006 horror film directed by Israel
i Ariel Vromen
. It stars Marisa Tomei
, Craig Bierko
and Regina Hall
. The film was released on DVD
in the US
on December 26, 2006.
) suffers from increasingly disturbing paranoid hallucinations. Most of her hallucinations involve threats to her family and media-fuelled fears such as child kidnappings, car accidents, her children lying, and terrorism. Danika confides to her husband, Randy (Craig Bierko
), and Evelyn (Regina Hall
), her psychiatrist.
The movie begins with Danika apologizing for being late, and being scolded by her bank manager about incorrect collections. Her manager leaves the office instructing Danika to correct the errors, and remain in the office.
Danika then witnesses a bank robbery in progress with two trigger-happy robbers shooting anyone that moves. The alarm goes off and the robbers force Danika's boss to tell them where the security monitors are located. The manager points to her office where a shivering Danika seeks shelter in the corner. As the door opens, she expects to come face to face with a gun toting bank robber, but is confronted by her manager who wonders what is wrong with her.
The movie continues with increasingly paranoid hallucinations including finding a human head in a grocery bag, witnessing her daughter's teacher killed by falling glass, believing that her son's partner for a school assignment is trying to give her son AIDS, et cetera.
At the end of the film, the audience learns that Danika had been in a car accident years earlier while driving her young children. The accident had occurred immediately after Danika learned her husband was having an affair with the children's nanny. In the car accident, all of her children had died, and Danika was the only survivor.
At the end of the film, a homeless Danika sits watching the intersection where the accident had occurred. She slowly walks away pushing a shopping cart filled with her children's belongings. All of the events after the accident, concerning getting back together with her husband and raising her children to young adulthood, have been a hallucination Danika experiences because of the guilt she has over being responsible for her children's deaths.
in Las Vegas. At the San Diego Film Festival in 2006, the film picked up awards for "Best Film" and "Best Actress", the latter won by Regina Hall.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Ariel Vromen
Ariel Vromen
Ariel Vromen is the director of the film Rx. According to Showtime, this is a 2005 film in which "Three close friends encounter two flamboyant drug dealers while on a weekend road trip. Starring Eric Balfour, Colin Hanks, Lauren German, Alan Tudyk, Ori Pfeffer, Daniel Pino. 1 hr. 29 min. Rated...
. It stars Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
, Craig Bierko
Craig Bierko
Craig Philip Bierko is an American actor and singer.-Early life:Bierko was born in Rye Brook, New York, the son of Pat and Rex Bierko, who ran a local community theatre. Bierko's mother was a Jewish convert to Roman Catholicism...
and Regina Hall
Regina Hall
Regina Hall is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.-Personal life:...
. The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on December 26, 2006.
Plot
Danika Merrick (Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
) suffers from increasingly disturbing paranoid hallucinations. Most of her hallucinations involve threats to her family and media-fuelled fears such as child kidnappings, car accidents, her children lying, and terrorism. Danika confides to her husband, Randy (Craig Bierko
Craig Bierko
Craig Philip Bierko is an American actor and singer.-Early life:Bierko was born in Rye Brook, New York, the son of Pat and Rex Bierko, who ran a local community theatre. Bierko's mother was a Jewish convert to Roman Catholicism...
), and Evelyn (Regina Hall
Regina Hall
Regina Hall is an American film and television actress known for her lead role of Brenda Meeks in the Scary Movie films and as Corretta Lipp in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal.-Personal life:...
), her psychiatrist.
The movie begins with Danika apologizing for being late, and being scolded by her bank manager about incorrect collections. Her manager leaves the office instructing Danika to correct the errors, and remain in the office.
Danika then witnesses a bank robbery in progress with two trigger-happy robbers shooting anyone that moves. The alarm goes off and the robbers force Danika's boss to tell them where the security monitors are located. The manager points to her office where a shivering Danika seeks shelter in the corner. As the door opens, she expects to come face to face with a gun toting bank robber, but is confronted by her manager who wonders what is wrong with her.
The movie continues with increasingly paranoid hallucinations including finding a human head in a grocery bag, witnessing her daughter's teacher killed by falling glass, believing that her son's partner for a school assignment is trying to give her son AIDS, et cetera.
At the end of the film, the audience learns that Danika had been in a car accident years earlier while driving her young children. The accident had occurred immediately after Danika learned her husband was having an affair with the children's nanny. In the car accident, all of her children had died, and Danika was the only survivor.
At the end of the film, a homeless Danika sits watching the intersection where the accident had occurred. She slowly walks away pushing a shopping cart filled with her children's belongings. All of the events after the accident, concerning getting back together with her husband and raising her children to young adulthood, have been a hallucination Danika experiences because of the guilt she has over being responsible for her children's deaths.
Background
The film is directed by Ariel Vromen and written by Joshua Leibner. Danika's budget is estimated to be $5,000,000. Danika saw its world premiere at the 2006 CineVegas Film FestivalCinevegas
CineVegas was a film festival held annually at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas that ran from 1999 to 2009, typically in early June. Robin Greenspun serves as the Festival president, and Trevor Groth serves as artistic director. Actor Dennis Hopper is the chairman of the Festival's creative...
in Las Vegas. At the San Diego Film Festival in 2006, the film picked up awards for "Best Film" and "Best Actress", the latter won by Regina Hall.