31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Dark Was The Night

by Dan Moore 

@SouthieDanimal

 

I love horror movies, so I'm watching one a day in October.  There's no rhyme or reason to the flicks I'm watching. Some I've never seen, some I have. Join the discussion on Twitter with #31Movies31Days  

 

Day Eleven: Dark Was The Night (2014) 

 

Director: Jack Heller

Starring: Kevin Durand, Lukas Haas & Bianca Kajlich

 

There's a sense of impending doom that permeates throughout the entire film Dark Was The Night. And that's a good thing. A very good thing. It's the story about a small town sheriff named Paul (Durand) who is racked with guilt over a recent personal tragedy. He's estranged from his wife (Kajlich) as they share parenting duties. Paul wakes up one morning to see that throughout the entire town are weird hoof tracks that have set the whole community into a panic. It's up to our intrepid sheriff to see if it's just a teenage prank or if he should listen more closely to the towns folk mythical creature stories (spoiler: it's the latter). 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this old school type horror flick. Director Heller seems to subscribe to the Ol' Spielberg Jaws technique of "less is more."  That may be due to budget constraints but it works perfectly for this movie. The creature is the actual threat but the night is it's own terror. He plays the darkness and shadows up perfectly. The movie is light on kills but heavy on the feeling of dread. 

 

Durand is quite a revelation in this. His portrayal of the guilt ridden, tortured sheriff is heartbreaking. He has a calm demeanor throughout, even as the scary atmosphere creeps into his very home. There's no question this guy deserves bigger roles in bigger movies. 

 

THE GOOD: The movie as a whole is quite good. They keep the creature under wraps 'til the ending and it's worth the wait. It's a unique monster that hasn't been seen before. 

 

THE BAD: Not much I could find 

 

THE DUMB: Right at the beginning, there's a group of guys working at a lumber company. The supervisor goes to get these poor saps, who are the first victims of our creature. This idiot supervisor finds blood, guts and remains of his crew and he STILL calls out their names. He doesn't run away, he keeps looking for them. I dunno, if it's me, I run to the hills thinking it's a bear attack. Of course, I'm a huge coward and barely count as a man. 

 

SHIT OR HIT: HIT - it's on Netflix, go check it out. It's worth the time.