Dark Was the Night (2014)

Dark Was the Night (2014)
directed by:
starring:  Kevin Durand, Bianca Kajlich, Lukas Haas, Ethan Khusidman, Heath Freeman, Nick Damici, Billy Paterson
format:  Blu-Ray - Personal Collection

(out of 5)

The Movie:  Well the movie as a whole was pretty damn good.  Everything from the acting to the effects was just so damn good.  Then the end happens.  Why, why the heck does a great movie like this go for the such a cheesy and cop out ending.  I will not give it away but don't go in expecting the end to equal the quality of the movie.  I really cannot think of another movie I've seen recently other than A Christmas Horror Story that made me so angry.  The only difference there is A Christmas Horror Story was a cheesy movie and no matter how much I love cheese straight forward dark horror is always better. 

The Acting:  Strong actors here.  Especially our main two Kevin Durand and the beautiful Bianca Kajlich whom I've been totally in love with since her time on Rules of Engagement.  She very much impressed me in this one being that the backstory involves the traumatic life experience of a child death between her and her husband Paul (Durand).  Really didn't even know it was her at first.  So used to seeing her with a big smile on her face.  Then of course we have Nick Damici who played our town bartender and I really like Nick he was in two of my all time favorite 2000 horrors Mulberry St. and Stakeland.  Lukas Haas was also a bit of a surprise I've never really seen him in a serious role like this one.  Or really as an adult I guess.  No bad acting here.

The Gore/Fx:  First five minutes we get some gore.  Great fx.  Until the end.  Cgi got thrown in at the end and ruined the creature for one.  Make up your own mind I wanted to ignore it.  And bad cgi is fun in say Sharknado but this again is a straight up scary movie and a rubber suit would have been more acceptable....per usual.  CGI isn't terrible but poorly done cgi in a film such as this most surely is.  Some get all bent out of shape when the subject of cgi comes up.  Eh it's just another effect but I will fully admit that when cgi is bad and looks like something out of a video game I'm sorry but the old Godzilla movies have better fx than that....and it's not hand sculpted.  The hand sculpted thing is what the pro-cgi arguers forget about or ignore.  Either way in this movie it was terrible. 

The Script:  Beautiful writing.  Probably the film's best quality.  Connected myself with the protagonist in a major way.

The Music/Score:  Creepy tones and the kind of score that doesn't pull you out but into the film.  Nothing out of the ordinary or special but just right.
The Shots:  It was a keep the creature in the shadows movie.  Loved the out of shot glimpses we got through the entire movie.  Off the road, in the woods.  Loved it.  A lot of people hate it when you don't see the monster till the end but I'm not one of those people.  The sense of curiosity leaving me at the edge of my seat with these shots was just plain awesome.  You want so bad to see it and they only give you enough to keep going all the way to the end.
The Rating:   Yes 3 out of 5 Bloody Handprints but this really isn't good or fair since the movie should have a 5 out of 5.  Top of the list at the moment for endings that ruined a movie.  Well A Nightmare On Elm Street still holds that torch for me, but that's the only one I can think of that totally flubs the end like this one does.