One year! Hey-o! Happy anniversary to me. I was trying to think of something special to do - but after a cursory search of any horror movie with "anniversary" in the title, the only one I could find was The Anniversary at Shallow Creek - a flick about six best friends and a serial killer who has "more in store for them than death." I would have watched it, but it was only available to buy for $12.99. And that's not going to happen. Maybe I can save that for another anniversary. And for a while, I was like "what if I only watched good movies in October?" But that's a fruitless task too - tomorrow's movie is already chosen, and I have a feeling it will be stupid. So, I scanned around on Netflix, and Dark Was the Night was one that they actually e-mailed me about - "Jesse, we just added a movie you might like." They were right!
Dark Was the Night is one of those monster movies that pretty much lives and dies on *not* showing you the GD monster. And honestly? It kind of works. The lack of monster gives the film a pretty slow pace, but it's got some good performances/character work and a semi-decent dramatic subplot to fill in the non-monster spaces. It's actually kind of refreshing how seriously it takes itself. It's a little on the long side at 100 minutes and would probably bore some people to tears, but I for one dug it. Even if it is a little depressing for a monster movie.
The depressing angle comes into play because our main character - small town Sheriff Paul Shields (Kevin Durand) - is at a pretty shitty place in his life. He's separated from his wife - they still love each other, but are getting over a recent tragedy in their lives. It's not really a spoiler, but I like how it was revealed, so I'll stay mum. And man, Durand sells the sadness of his character. He wears this intensely sorrowful look throughout the entire film, and director Jack Heller isn't afraid to revel in it for dramatic effect. This approach gives Dark Was the Night a unique vibe. It all but guarantees that it can't be "fun," as that would *totally* clash. The only instance I can think of where things even get vaguely funny shifts to depressing in no time.
So there's a lot of sulking... but there's also a monster. The first inkling we get are the creature's tracks. Late one night, it wandered through town, and the locals are very shaken up. Although I could see why, considering the tracks go up to some people's windows - apparently the creature is a bit of a peeper. They say the cloven tracks look like a giant horse, but on two legs... hmm. But it's a cool way to introduce the beast (I mean, other than the requisite pre-credits attack), and probably a bit creepier than just showing it off the bat. (To be fair, one of my greatest fears is having bigfoot come up and peek in my window, so maybe this hit a little close to home.)
And you really only get little glimpses here and there: a quick shot of movement at the edge of the screen, or a blurry picture from a deer/game camera. It's actually a nice, tempered reveal - only during the final showdown do you get a good look at the thing. And it's not bad looking - a little impractically designed perhaps, but it manages to disappoint only a little. When you consider how good the build up is, I think that's a victory.
But the story of Dark Was the Night is pretty evenly divided between Sheriff Shields' family problems, him dealing with the paranoia of the town (he spends the first half of the film trying to convince people it's a prank), and finally, dealing with the monster. If you like wall to wall action, you'll probably be disappointed. Heck, if you like wall to a third of the way across the room action, you'll probably be disappointed. But the film manages to pack in some pretty solid tension and creepy atmosphere that keep things from ever getting boring. Maiden Woods is an older small town on the edge of the woods - it's a little run down but brings a lot of flavor to the film. And when the action goes out into the wilderness it manages to be both kind of pretty and eerie at the same time.
You get some solid stalking scenes too. Since they are pretty committed to the whole "not showing the monster" thing, they rely mostly on sound and clever camera work to amp up the tension. It's pretty low key and not very sexy, but it works.
The acting is above average across the board. Other than Durand's affecting performance, you get solid supporting work from Lukas Hass - whom I have no real reason to have an affinity for, but I just do. Bianca Kajlich anchors things as Shields' wife Susan - she sells the dramatic aspects of the film very well. Without her, Shields would just be a sad sack, but she complements him well. (For the record, it *is* listed as a drama first, horror second on imdb.) And she gets a few standout moments that could have easily been laughably bad in the wrong hands. Also I have to mention Nick Damici (of Late Phases and Stakeland fame) - he doesn't have a heck of a lot to do, but it's always nice to see him pop up.
So overall I was pretty impressed with Dark Was the Night. It's not so much a slow burn film as a film with a slow pace. But thanks to good performances and a pretty engaging story, it's never boring. And like I said, it's kind of refreshing to see a monster movie that takes itself (and its characters) so seriously.
I would recommend this film.
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