You think the wolf cares that believe he’s real?
Main Cast: Michael Abbott Jr., Marin Ireland
Director: Bryan Bertino
When Michael (Michael Abbott Jr., KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON) and Louise (Marin Ireland, The Umbrella Academy) return to their family farm as their father nears the end of his life, their mother seems none too pleased to see them. But when Mom hangs herself in the barn after chopping off her fingers, the siblings are left caring for their dying father.
Michael finds their mother’s diary, where she talks about an evil presence that’s been lurking around the farm, ready to claim her husband. And now Michael and Louise are caught in its web as well.
Writer/Director Bryan Bertino has had his hand in some of my favorite horror movies of all time, writing and directing THE MONSTER (2016) and producing the wonderfully twisted STEPHANIE (2017), and also writing and directing some true horror classics with THE STRANGERS and THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT (writing only on this one). He knows his way around a horror movie is what I’m saying. And THE DARK AND THE WICKED is only further proof, as if it were needed (it wasn’t).
Using his own family farm as a shooting location, Bertino creates a nightmare world of waking dreams and altered reality where Michael and Louise have no idea what’s real from one minute to the next. And while I usually grow tired of this trope in my horror, here it creates such a foreboding and dread, you don’t want to look away. But sometimes you have to, especially if self-inflicted body horror is one of your triggers.
Luckily, it’s not one of mine, so I was able to enjoy every dark, oppressive frame.
The acting is on point with Abbott Jr. and Ireland both killing it with every line, and even the supporting cast give it their all. Xander Berkely steals the screen in the one real scene he has here, and Ella Ballentine appears in her second Bertino movie (she was previously Lizzy in THE MONSTER) only to prove why he keeps hiring her.
I won’t say THE DARK AND THE WICKED is the most exciting, action-packed thing to hit my Shudder queue, but anyone who’s seen his previous movies knows Bertino’s strength is in atmosphere and mood. His horror isn’t for the YA crowd who just want to see blood and gore, this is adult horror, and I’m here for it.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
Leave a Reply