As much as I might have
liked the 2010 horror film Let Me In, its existence remains
indicative of Hollywood's inability (or disinterest) in exploring the
concept of evil. To me, the Swedish original Let the Right One In not
only captured this concept perfectly but turned it on its very head
by making the vampire Eli (Lin Leandersson) the innocent who must
kill to survive and the “innocent” child Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) a
ticking time bomb of repressed anger and sadistic urges that, had Eli
not entered his life, would have eventually turned him into a
full-blown monster by the time he'd reached adulthood. With Justin P.
Lange's debut horror film The Dark, it finally seems like American
movies might finally be able to not only explore this concept
properly, but even make it interesting. At least it did for a little
while.
Okay, okay, I'm going to be
nice because I'm kind of desperate for this kind of horror movie and
it will likely be another decade before a screenwriter or director
grows the courage to make this kind of thing again: The Dark is a
good horror movie that could just have easily taken the horror out to
begin with. Nadia Alexander and Toby Nichols have great chemistry as
the two leads, the origins of both of their characters border on
heartbreaking and terrifying, the circumstances for their meeting
seem plausible enough to feel real and, even by the end, I was still
hoping they would make it for the sake of each other. Throw in a
twist about the potential of recovered humanity and how the world
seems to literally be trying to prevent such growth and you even have
the rare type of movie that relishes in its own darkness for the sake
of growth rather than for the overused cheapness of a simple scare.
Its a horror movie that makes you think about who the bad guys might
actually be! Try doing that, Saw!
Unfortunately, while the
movie flourishes when its two leads are playing off their own
suffering on each other (with hints of dedicated companionship
throughout), the movie's biggest flaw comes from the fact that the
movie feels the most rushed when it needs to ultimately slow down. I
was invested with these characters enough to not worry about a run
time, movie. You could have at least given me more information on why
Mina (Alexander) is becoming the way she is. Saying Alex (Nichols) is
causing it “with his love” just isn't as satisfying an answer as
you might think.
As for watching it, do you
desperately need a horror movie for Halloween? If so, this might be a
nice (if slightly more out of the way) alternative to the neutered
Halloween sequel I don't recall anyone on the planet ever asking for.
Would you prefer to same cheap, consumable tripe that is the
Hollywood horror movie? They probably have you covered at all the
other angles too (Saw, Paranormal Activity, The Purge). Pick the one
your brain will forgive you most for, I guess.
Justin P. Lange directs his
first feature length movie with The Dark, an at times awkward, mostly
endearing tale of boy meets monster and monster decides not to eat
boy because he brings out the good in her (I think that's how that
saying goes). When ghoul teenager Mina discovers blind boy Alex
hiding in the trunk of one of her victims cars, her decision to let
the boy live not only throws her solitary existence into chaos, but
awakens long dormant remnants of humanity within her that force her
to re-examine not only her origins (its pretty horrific) but learn to
actually feel again. Its not exactly the study of evil I wanted, but
I'll take it!
My score: 8/10. Seriously,
Hollywood. Are you really that scared to make movies that might not
toe certain philosophical lines just because they might not draw a
large audience? You have the Oscars! That is the definition of an
awards show for movies no one watches.
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