Dark Was the Night

Két jól ismert mellékszereplő feldobja egy B-kategóriás, olcsó horrorfilm látványát. A traumatizált főszereplő pszichologizálása értékelhető, Kevin Durand alakításában pedig hihető is. Az őszi amerikai kisváros hangulata is jó, egyszerű lakói könnyű potenciális áldozatai a szörnynek. A szomorú, komor hangvétel, amelyhez a sötét zene és a hideg kameraszűrők párosulnak, meggyőző identitást ad a filmnek. Csak ne számítson korszakalkotó cselekményötletekre vagy mutatós szörnyre. Ez csak egy ideig jelenik meg, de a művészeti koncepciója és a digitális kivitelezése egy nagy csalódás. Nehezen három csillag. (2016.04.27)

Heller doesn’t lack talent, he proved that already in his début Enter Nowhere. In his second film he delivers a solid monster horror story with a creature that terrorises a small town, first killing the pets and then inhabitants. It’s slow, sombre and with bleached colours. Heller is competent at building an atmosphere, but it’s a shame that when the monster is fully revealed in the end I was quite disappointed; it was better when all you could see were the claws or its silhouette. But the main problem I have (and the reason I’m sticking to a safe three-star rating) is that, given the premise and the straightforward script, Dark Was the Night is almost absurdly serious. Plot-wise it’s just and ordinary monster B-movie, and the script doesn’t even try to be original or creative in any way, but the characters at times act and speak as if they were in a Dostoevsky play. (2015.07.25)

Dark Was the Night isn't a bad film at all; rather, it's unremarkable, with its biggest issue being that it simply lacks originality. But it's made well, in such a way that you'll enjoy it. Plus, there's a monster that basically doesn't appear the whole time, you only see hints of it, or only what it left behind. In that respect, it's a good craftsmanship that's worth checking out. (2016.05.12)