Two brothers, one having left the small town they are from and the other having stayed behind and taken care of their father, reunite for a hiking and hunting trip where they had gone together with their father as kids. As the two of them hike and camp, something is hunting them.
Written by Carey Dickson and directed by Tim Brown, Devil in the Dark is a film that explores the relationship between the two brothers much more than what is hiding in the woods. The film is marketed as a horror movie or at least the title and poster imply this. However, the story feels more like a family drama with a nice dose of inner demons and ghosts of the past while the creature in the woods angle is fairly small until late into the story. The story is interesting in terms of the human aspect and the two brothers have some chemistry as estranged brothers should have some left over chemistry even if they don’t get along, the brotherly love is still there even amongst all their issues. The film does well with showing this and how they reconnect. The beast is however neither scary nor menacing, ending up feeling like an afterthought to the brothers’ reconnection attempt through their weekend in nature. The two brothers are the two leads and as they take up the most of the film, they are developed the most out of the characters with background and current lives established as well their relationship.
The two leads, Clint played by Dan Payne and Adam played by Robin Dunne, have a relationship that works in terms that they are estranged brothers so their chemistry is limited at best which is the correct amount of it in this case. Each of them plays their character decently well with some scenes where they do better. Their connection grows as they spend time together which shows in both the relationship between the brothers and in their performance. This makes the film work in terms of the human aspect of it.
The devil in the story, the creature, or the beast if you will is kept hidden for almost 100% of the film. We get to see glimpses and these seem to add more mystery than solve anything which is a good move here as oftentimes, the unseen is scarier than what can be shown in a film. It’s more like a presence that shows up at the starts and comes back later with a lingering effect on the brothers until things go up a few notches and becomes a touch clearer while also keeping a certain mystery. This presence adds ambiance to the proceedings but does not feel scary much at all. There is a sense that something is wrong but not in a really dreadful way, it’s more like a way that things feel without a full explanation.
The film also builds its atmosphere through fantastic visuals. From the start, the scenes are shot in beautifully eerie ways by cinematography by Philip Lanyon who frames these scenes in a way to show just what needs to be shown and keep some things in the dark. Some of the scenes look like carefully composed photographs. Of course this is helped by the incredible sets which get more complex as the film advances and use things one could find in the woods and creates eerie, creepy, beautiful settings for the characters to evolve in and for the cinematographer to be able to create these amazing shots. This all adds atmosphere and a darkness that is not suffocating but just right for a film with just a touch of fear in most of the scenes, creating a build-up. Unfortunately, the build-up leads to a small pay off that does not feel very satisfying.
Devil in the Dark has some great scenes and décor with visuals that are appealing and creepy all at once. The relationship between the leads works in terms of the story, but the build-up is a bit too slow and too little with a softer and less scary than hoped for pay off. This one should appeal to those who are not big fans of the edge-of-your-seat scares or major jump spooks. It’s a slow burn and not boring, but it’s not really scary for serious horror fans.
Coming to VOD on March 7th.