Demoníaca

A dreadful, disquieting & diabolical nightmare that reeks of death & foreboding from the first frame to the last, The Dark and the Wicked is one of those horror entries that relies on its silently brooding & gradually escalating atmosphere to crawl under the skin of its viewers, and is a haunting, unnerving & bone-chilling terror that more than lives up to its name.

Written & directed by Bryan Bertino (The Monster), the story begins on a highly promising note and the setup, location & stylistic choices only help magnify the bleak mood & sinister aura. There is a lurking & looming presence of an evil that lingers over the family and although Bertino touches on the themes of love, loss, grief & guilt, he doesn't dig deeper to aptly explore those topics.

While it would've helped to have the story journey inward into its characters and the characters themselves to be more fleshed out & exhibit more depth, the film still makes do with the given script, and conjures some genuinely effective scares with its eerie camerawork & ominous score. It doesn't quite stick the landing but the uneasy feeling is sustained throughout and the performances are convincing.

Overall, The Dark and the Wicked is one of the creepiest films to surface in recent years and is absolutely unforgiving & unrelenting in its intensity & uncomfortable aura it exudes. The uncanny cinematography & unsettling sound design are major contributors to its effectiveness but with a more refined script, this could've gone places. A cursed chiller with inescapable devilry brewing under the surface, Bryan Bertino's latest delivers on its title.

Enjoyable horror that sets the tension from the start and then slowly builds on it. Well shot and solid acting. Nice subtle scares carry you along till the end. I don't understand why so many bad reviews, as I've said it's an enjoyable indie-horror.

Acting: actually very, very good. Cinematography: again, A+. Special effects: that all depends on your taste of blood and gore. Personally, I thought it had some gruesome parts, but not over the top. Here's why I only rated it an 8 out of 10: scare factor. In the beginning of the movie, the mystery of the entity is definitely malevolent and seems to enjoy taking its time before a kill. Cool concept. But as the movie moves along, the scares become more predictable and the main characters, as seemingly level headed as they are, don't act rationally, in my opinion, and then the movie becomes a house of cards at the end and collapses without a proper ending. I'm trying not to give too much away because I don't want you to think it's a bad movie. Just could have been better, and that was disappointing. I would, however, recommend it as there are not many options for good movies period right now. Compared to some of the other junk I've had to endure lately, this is like the Hope Diamond.

Crack out the popcorn, set up the munches, have some drinks at the ready as once you engage this film fully you'll be engrossed, with such a wonderful slow burn that builds and builds to the point of no turning back, much like a good book if you hit that page you wish you could turn it back a page and stop there. So sit back and enjoy.

Roger Ebert once said, "It's not what a film is about, but how it is about it." I had to take that into consideration when rating and reviewing 'The Dark and the Wicked'. This is admittedly not my type of horror movie. I struggle with supernatural horror, because I have zero belief in it and thus it does nothing to unsettle me. However, I have to admit that this film was done very well, and that if I were unsettled by those types of films then this one would have done the trick for me. This film is going up some people's alleys big time.

This is such a beautifully shot film. Director Bryan Bertino is so good at framing what is on screen, he doesn't even need what's on screen to be all that impressive for it to look good. I also love the inventive camera angles he comes up with. They don't always work to heighten the scares or even the tension, but they add a touch of class to the mix which is so often missing in the horror genre.

My biggest gripe with the film would be all the jump-scares and the scenes where the demon is basically just trying to scare the characters rather than harm them. I understand why they have to be there to pad the runtime to 90 minutes, but they are still very frustrating to watch. I also didn't really connect with either of the two lead characters. They were very flat (understandable in their situation to be fair) and that made it difficult for me to care all that much about their fate. The final 20-30 minutes of this film is an absolute blast though I'd have to say. The pacing rockets to life and there are some fun and pretty messed up scenes. 'The Dark and the Wicked' is worth a watch.