Deep in the Darkness

Moviecut—Deep in the Darkness

Dr. Michael Coyle (a solid and credible performance by Sean Patrick Thomas) leaves the hustle and bustle of New York City by moving his practice and family to the quiet and remote country hamlet of Ashborough. However, Ashborough turns out to be run by a lethal race of ghastly underground-dwelling mutants. Director Colin Theys relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, takes time to develop the main characters, delivers a few bits of nasty gore, and ably crafts an eerie and unsettling mood along with a strong isolated small town atmosphere. John Doolan's compelling script not only provides a starling surprise grim ending, but also offers a novel spin on the monster horror genre by making the hideous humanoid beasts sickly beings who need the protagonist's medical expertise to keep them alive. The sound acting by the capable cast rates as another substantial asset: Kristen Bush brings a winning blend of charm and spark to her role as Michael's perky wife Christine, Dean Stockwell contributes fine support as amiable old-timer Phil Deighton, and Blanch Baker does well as the sinister Zellis. The subterranean creatures are genuinely creepy. Both Matthew Lewellyn's shivery score and the sharp widescreen cinematography by Claudio Rietti and Adrian Peng Correia are up to speed. Worth a watch.

In case you read some of my user comments in the past, you might know that I'm an incurable sucker for two things when it comes to horror movies, namely juicy titles and imaginatively sinister movie posters! If I stumble upon a film that has one or preferably both of those aspects in place, I completely disregard all possible ratings and reviews – hardly even look at them, in fact – and make it a top- priority to watch it! Needless to say that this peculiar and rather superficial habit already resulted in me watching a copious amount of downright dreadful movies that I could have avoided by a simple and quick glance at the IMDb rating, but I keep on making the same mistake Even though not nearly as hopeless as, say, "Invasion of the Blood Farmers", "Deep in the Darkness" sort of falls into the same category. I was immediately hooked on its title (containing two horror key words) and intrigued by the poster image of the house with all the branching of roots into the soil, but it quickly became obvious that "Deep in the Darkness" is a routine, inconspicuous and mediocre-at-best genre effort. The plot contains a handful of good and ambitious ideas, and it's fairly clear that director Colin Theys is an enthusiast young director that knows his classics, but the film eventually reverts to familiar clichés and features too many dull & redundant moments. It's another variation on the classic "small town with a dark secret" horror premise, in which a family of new arrivals are either warned to leave their new home as quick as possible or gradually pushed to participate in bizarre rituals. Doctor Michael Cayle initially laughs away the advice to bring an animal sacrifice to the so-called "Isolates" living in caves and tunnels underneath the forests nearby Ashborough, New Hampshire, but naturally comes to regret that he didn't. "Deep in the Darkness" benefices mostly from realistic character drawings and a few moments of admirable tension-building. The make-up effects, particularly on the Isolate creatures, are also quite professional. Being a horror movie like there are thirteen in a dozen, however, there definitely should have been more carnage and on-screen violence.

RELEASED IN 2014 and directed by Colin Theys, "Deep in the Darkness" chronicles events when a doctor (Sean Patrick Thomas), his wife (Kristen Bush) and daughter move to a quaint New England town where they learn very strange things are happening. Dean Stockwell plays an eccentric neighbor and Anthony Del Negro his grandson. Blanche Baker appears as the matriarch of the town while Cara Loften plays a troubled blonde. The first half is effective as a haunting mystery/horror flick with Thomas compelling as the protagonist. Naturally, I thought I was in for a good movie. At the mid-point, however, the secret of the town is revealed and it's serviceable, but not wholly successful, although the creatures (or whatever you want to call them) look great. From there, the movie goes off the rails and loses the viewer's attention. The captivating power of the first half disappears as the remaining scenes are strung together without any dramatic or aesthetic merit. Worse, the film's too ambiguous with way too many questions left unanswered or, if you try to connect the dots, the answers don't add up (speaking as someone who enjoys 'figuring out' challenging movies). The curious differences in quality of the two halves can perhaps be explained by the fact that the first half follows the book quite closely whereas the second half deviates and the director/writer/editors simply didn't know how to complete what they effectively set-up in the first half. They tried to do their own thing and failed miserably. THE FILM RUNS 1 hours & 40 minutes and was shot in Moodus, Connecticut. WRITERS: Michael Laimo (novel) and John Doolan (screenplay). GRADE: C-

So they understand English....except when they don't. They are wild...except when they need modern medicine. They need a live sacrifice...unless you're useful. This infuriated me. Needless dog killing. And why didn't the whole town get weapons and get them all?! And that BS ENDING!!! This is beyond crazy and imbecilic.

Moving can be tough, meeting new people in new environment and wondering whether they are mentally sound or downright brainwashed drones. Deep in the Darkness plays with the sense of seclusion and lack of familiarity to its advantage, up until halfway point. There lies a few good thrills in store, however the plot falls apart as the so called creature looks lees authentic as the movie progresses and some of the decisions the characters make are so ridiculously bad it feels like a parody. Dr. Michael Cayle (Sean Patrick Thomas) moves with his family to the small town of Ashborough. He works as the town's doctor and it seems like the people are nice enough, but strange occurrences begin to haunt him and his family. Sean Patrick Thomas performs his best, his character may be the most logically sound as he displays seemingly genius reactions. The confusion and anger he feels are just, they are almost expected from a man who is now confined against his will. Most of the actors also do their part well, the setting of the quiet and secretive town is eerie in moderation. Unfortunately, as the secrets are revealed, the plot stumbles significantly. The movie provides a few suspenseful scenes at early act, yet it ventures to the realm of comically bad decisions. Characters would do the least beneficial things for their survival. Not to mention there are plenty of scenes which are near supernatural just because the plot deems it. This creates a repetitive theme and considerably slows down the pace. The more the movie displays the threat, the less effective they become. At latter half it loses momentum as silly plot devices and character interactions erase any mirage of the thrill. Deep in the Darkness slowly weaves questions and threats, they play out decently with contrasting quaint back drop of the small town. Sadly, neither the revelation nor the conclusion has any touch of appropriate horror to be taken seriously.

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That's my opinion: a solid B-. Decent premise, sort of a Jack Ketchum throwback with Wicker Man/Harvest Home overtones (a community tied to the local "legend"). The acting is acceptable to pretty good and I, for one, rather liked the concept of the Isolates (with a dash of Morlock thrown in for good measure) and accepted the premise of this group of creatures living in the woods. Why only a B- then? Because it never rises to being anything better; characters aren't really defined (the husband blandly accepts his wife suddenly acting totally different and suspicious). People do dumb things (not as dumb as in most plot-only horror films) but if creatures rule the night why not leave during the day? Why not get a gun? Or call outside help? And it's not effectively shot - sort of pedestrian - as if the director never saw how much more he could get out of his location or scenes. And the score is over the top and the script too often "on the nose" with characters saying just enough to keep the plot moving but not enough to flesh anything out or feel particularly real. Even the child is only interested in plot: "wheres the dog?" or "I see ghosts" with no one asking for explanations or offering comfort or anything believable. But its serviceable overall. I can't wait for a decent remake.

The word "dark" is really being overused in movie titles. Maybe once it had some real impact but now it's old hat. This movie started off with a lot of promise. There were the clichés: isolated area, no cell phone service, weird townsfolk--but even with that the movie had a chance to do something good. Well, it didn't. It fell incredibly flat. Partially due to the acting of Sean Patrick Thomas and the other part due to the story and the complete lack of sense in it. Sean played Dr. Michael Cayle who was in the small town to escape the big city of New York. When he wasn't sleeping he spent most of the movie looking confused and perplexed in situations which dictated fear, panic, or resolve. If we were to swim past his acting job then we'd enter the waters of the story. The story had something to it. Some hidden creatures keep the townsfolk in fear and in line. Dr. Michael finds out the secret but is then powerless to escape so he must find another way to keep his family and himself safe. I can dig it. But the movie fell off the tracks with some real illogical plot points, some improbable factors and a bad ending. This movie seemed like an M. Night Shayamalan reject.

There are definitely good points about this movie; it is shot well, the acting is good and the story is compelling. However lots of the quality is lost due to the confusion that is created by having too many events occur without any real explanation or pacing. The story clearly works much better in book form and probably would have better suited a mini-series format akin to Wayward Pines rather than being condensed into a film. That way the plot points that go completely unexplained could have had the time to be explored and digested by the viewer. Overall there is a lot of good here, it is just too much in too short a time and so the story suffers greatly, still a good watch though.