If there’s one complaint I can lobby at “Under the Dark Wing” is that I really would have loved ten more minutes for exposition. Director Christopher DiNunzio unfolds an interesting story with considerable ambiguity that audiences might enjoy, but I think ten minutes more would have lent the film more dread. In either case, “Under the Dark Wing” is still an eerie and fascinating horror drama that focuses on dread placing it front and center.
The film is set around a mob boss who has sent his hitman Johnny Boy to go retrieve a young girl. When Johnny Boy fails to catch her, he returns to his boss explaining that she was impossible to grab and displayed a cunning that’s almost supernatural. After sending out yet another hitman, the young girl is sent to the mob kingpin, who finds her fascinating. Apparently he knows something about the girl that the audience doesn’t, as the two engage in a dialogue that hints at something going on behind the scenes. He obviously knows the girl simply isn’t just a normal human being.
The girl herself knows what she is capable of, and what she can do to people, so DiNunzio captures a gangster trying to bottle up pure supernatural power for his own misdeeds. However the girl just isn’t willing to play along, despite the idle threats to her safety. What we know about her is spooky and signals that she may not be human, as she’s pregnant with a child, and immediately describes herself as a holy and unholy being. Clearly this is a beast that can’t be tamed, and she displays her true nature for men attempting to use her powers for pure evil. DiNunzio is skilled at crafting mood and atmosphere, giving the film a nightmarish vibe that compliments the mystery present here. “Under the Dark Wing” is teeming with menace and a creepy air, and it’s a fine entry from Christopher DiNunzio.
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