The Dark and the Wicked - Film Review

In 2008, I remember going to see The Strangers in theaters and constantly looking over my shoulder on the way home as I found it to be genuinely chilling and terrifying in its potential realism. The Strangers: Prey at Night was not remotely as scary, but it was an entertaining enough time that I was thoroughly pumped when I heard Bryan Bertino was releasing a new film during the cinema drought of 2020. I am now questioning my own judgement though as this film was frustratingly disappointing. 

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Where You Can Find It: I watched this one on Amazon Video, where it is available for rent/purchase, but it is also on Shudder.

General Information 
The Dark and the Wicked is a horror film that was released via video-on-demand on 6 November 2020, but also released at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 28 August 2020. It appears that the film was supposed to see a greater theatrical release however it was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was written, directed, and co-produced by Bryan Bertino. It holds a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 72 Metascore on Metacritic. I had difficulty figuring out what the overall budget of the film was, as well as what the original plan had been for this film's release. Bertino has dabbled in both the theatrical realm as well as the video-on-demand business, so it's really a toss-up. The production quality is really nice, so I could see it having been geared towards a theatrical release, but I did notice that there was no major studio backing this film.

The Story

Siblings, Michael (played by Michael Abbott Jr.) and Louise (played by Marin Ireland), return to their parents' farm to visit their dying father and distressed mother. There is something sinister looming over the little goat farm as we see someone (or something) is lurking around the house during the night. Michael and Louise will not just have to deal with a physical threat, but also a spiritual and psychological one too.

Like most of Bertino's works that I've seen, the plot is very simple, however usually he turns a basic premise into a fascinating study of character and survival. Unfortunately, that's simply not the case with this film. We never learn much about the protagonists, although there are occasional glimmers. Michael is the most fleshed out character as we see him truly grapple with his own fear as well as his dual loyalties to his parents and his immediate family. Louise (who seems to be the main protagonist of the film) is a bit less explored, so I'm not even sure if she ever sees a full arc by the end. Lastly, the entire plot centers around the comatose father, however we never learn anything about him and thus never really care about the fact that he's dying as he's nothing more than a plot device.

The antagonist is another major element that I had a problem with in this film. They are essentially omnipotent and seem to exist solely for the purpose of doing creepy stuff to terrify the protagonists. In The Strangers, this argument would be fine as that movie centered around psychopaths who killed people for kicks, but this is a very different case. I stopped feeling scared for Michael or Louise as it was clear that the villain could kill them at any point and it was all entirely up to Bertino's decision as to when that would happen. One final point I want to make is that the choice of villain is incredibly stale in this day and age, which is incredibly disappointing as Bertino has crafted very unique antagonists in the past.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

Within five minutes of watching, I was reminded that Bertino loves his auditory jump-scares, and after fifteen minutes I was already fed up with them. There were some great scenes where dread could've developed well in an organic way, but these loud bangs and volume spikes cheapened every scene they were in. There's one particular scene where Michael is examining a what appears to be a faulty light switch that would've been incredible, however it was completely spoiled by unnecessary loud noises. As far as I know, Bertino does this in all of his films, however I think this may be the worst use of this particular directorial flourish.

I was really impressed with the setting and would arguably say that it is the best part of this entire film. The goat farm looks like a miserable and desolate locale that is dying at the same pace that its owners are. Despite being set in Texas, I figured it was Montana as it looked uncomfortably chilly, while the surrounding areas all look unhospitable. The bleating of goats and the occasional rattle of the homemade noise traps made me constantly wonder if there was something evil creeping just out of sight. The sense of isolation was very unsettling and reminds me why I prefer to live in cities.

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There's something out there

The Acting

I may not have been impressed with the overall plot or some of its directorial elements, but I genuinely believe that none of the issues of this film stemmed from poor acting. With the exception of one person, I had never heard of any of the actors/actresses in this, so I enjoyed the prospect of seeing newer talent on-screen. Marin Ireland does a good job with showing someone who is driven to the brink of insanity as Louise struggled to comprehend what was going on. I generally preferred Michael Abbott Jr. more in this though, as we saw more depth with him. Abbott far better conveyed the transformation of a strong no-nonsense Texan into a twitchy jumble of nerves ready to crack at any moment. I've seen Xander Berkeley in other films, but this is the first time I've seen him in horror. He really ups the creep-factor in this as a disturbing priest and I think casting him was probably one of the smartest moves in this entire movie.

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I'll never trust Berkeley again after Air Force One

The Best of the Best: When Michael and Louise got invited to "come outside" at three o'clock in the morning.

The Worst of the Worst: The auditory jump-scares.

Calhooey Score: 4/10 - Below Average

Would I Recommend?

There's a good film somewhere in here, but I don't think it's worth the effort. For a movie that is only an hour and a half long, I found myself checking the time on more than one occasion, while also becoming increasingly frustrated with this movie's lazy attempts to frighten me. I can't recommend this movie because of the baggage it carries. Instead, I would suggest The Strangers, or even the lesser known The Monster. 

Spoiler Comments

• I get we were all supposed to be creeped out by Mother chopping her own fingers off, but I couldn't get over the fact that she was cutting carrots in the middle of the night for no reason.
• When I discovered the antagonist of the film was some type of demonic entity, I checked out. I'm so over demonic possession movies. The Conjuring franchise has driven that theme into the ground so hard that it's hit the center of the Earth.
• I honestly felt cheated when I learned this was a possession film. The synopsis and Bertino's past works made me think this might be another home invasion movie. Instead I get to see stuff that rips off classics like The Exorcist, but not done as well.
• As soon as we saw Michael find his entire family dead, I knew it was a mind-trick.
• The very end of the film left me stunned to the point of where I didn't come back to reality until the credits were halfway over. I think part of me hoped that there'd be a post-credits scene that magically fixes this movie.
• Seriously, what's the point of any of the antagonist's actions? They can apparently kill legions of goats with no issue, and driving people to suicide seems to be really easy too. When you have a character with no boundaries or restrictions, it's hard to care as everything is simply at the mercy of the plot at that point. 

References

(1) Amazon. (2020). The Dark and the Wicked film cover image. Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Wicked-Marin-Ireland/dp/B08LPLGRCQ.

(2) The Dark and the Wicked. (2020). Louise and farm image. Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved from: https://tribecafilm.com/films/dark-the-wicked-2020.

(3) Anderson, D. (2020, November 6). Xander Berkeley priest image. Daily Dead. Retrieved from: https://dailydead.com/interview-xander-berkeley-discusses-his-enigmatic-character-in-the-dark-and-the-wicked-and-reflects-on-candyman/.