Devil In The Dark
Written by Carey Dickson
Directed by Tim Brown
Actors: Dan Payne, Robin Dunn, and Daniel Cudmore
March 7, 2017
Reviewed by A. Renee Hunt
Devil In the Dark is one of the better independent movies I’ve reviewed in a long while. The movie carried an ominous quality that didn’t lure me in with jump scares and horrific music, but through a series of small flashbacks, telling of a troubled relationship between two brothers. Through a small town visit, and a hunting trip, things were supposed to smoothed over.
Clint and Adam are trying to mend. They’ve been distant for most of their lives. Because of their father’s favoritism – a wedge pressed between them, they try to patch things by spending some time together, with ulterior motives. Adam decided on the campout to clear his mind of haunting memories of a past experience in the forest. If things worked out with his brother, all was even better. Clint wanted to just hash things out in a big brotherly, bullish sort of way, thus making the trip more troublesome than therapeutic.
Dwelling high and deep within the forest is something sinister, and it remembers Adam from long ago. To it, there’s an ethereal bond and it’s not been broken. It plans on finishing what it had started long ago, with or without Clint’s intervention.
Devil in the Dark won me over with simplicity. There weren’t a load of special effects and unreal acting. It was smooth yet patchy, giving a serious view on how brothers actually behave. There was a bit of mood music, but what made the movie different was its focus on the actual story, the backstory of the woods (without great detail) and the creature.
The ending brought a bit of confusion for me, in that I didn’t expect it. I loved all that happened, all they endured together and even the end – but the actual ending… something was off there and I can’t quite say why without giving spoilers, which is something I do not do.
So check out Devil in the Dark when it releases on VOD, nationwide in the U.S., from Momentum Pictures on Tuesday, March 7th.
