‘Fear the light’
Dark Light is a 2019 American horror film written and directed by Padraig Reynolds (Open 24 Hours; The Devil’s Dolls; Rites of Spring). The Seahorse FIlmhouse-Zee Studios International production stars Jessica Madsen, Ben Sullivan, Opal Littleton and Ed Brody.
Plot:
Following her mother’s death and a painful divorce Annie and her daughter move back to her childhood home. At first, everything seems fine but then tragedy strikes again when on a foggy night Emily goes missing from her bedroom. Annie claims that she saw something come from the darkness and take Emily… a creature.
Nobody believes her. But when Emily’s body cannot be found Annie becomes the prime suspect and is sent to a correctional hospital. Annie must now escape the hospital and return to the house to confront the creature that she believes has stolen her daughter…
Reviews [click links to read more]:
“Watch it with the lights on or off, it doesn’t matter – Dark Light is a forgettable thriller. Neither good enough to enjoy nor bad enough to enjoy ironically, Dark Light is a generic, underwhelming effort best skipped over.” The Abominable Doctor Welsh
“The movie gets off to a decent start, that is until we see the film’s monsters which don’t really fit the story. They looked decent but just seem out of place. While there’s a distinct paranormal feel to Dark Light, the monsters look more like aliens than something that could be found on earth.” Horror Fuel
“It has something of the feel of the direct-to-video creature features of the 1990s (The Dark, 1993), made before the SyFy Channel got hold of all that cheap CGI tech – and the monster (performed by Weston Meredith) has a great look and nasty m.o.” The Kim Newman Web Site
“It’s a humorless fright fest with corpses, mildly-impressive effects, a Big League string orchestra score and sturdy work by Madsen (“Leatherface”) in the lead […] But as creature features go, any given weekend we can say “Hey, I’ve seen worse.” Movie Nation
“Whilst the film itself feels derivative and cliched, at least we have a stunning monster to look at! Part Ridley Scott’s Alien, part Pumpkinhead (apt given the farm house’s Southern gothic-style location), with an eerie glowing “eye”, the monster of Dark Light is easily the best thing about the film…” Nerdly
“As is the way with genre, though, the unwelcome visitors to the Knox house are soon seen and felt – and not just by Annie – in close encounters that appear to objectify their presence and to strip away the ambiguity that the film has so carefully built, reducing Dark Light to a disappointingly literal creature feature.” SciFiNow
Cast and characters:
Jessica Madsen … Annie Knox – Leatherface
Ben Sullivan … Hunt – Jackals; iZombie TV series; Supernatural TV series
Opal Littleton … Emily Knox
Ed Brody … Paul Knox
Kristina Clifford … Sheriff Dickerson – Vampire Diaries… For Real, Though? short
Gerald Tyler … Walter Simms – The Lighthouse; The ReZort
Trailer:
MOVIES & MANIA rating:
