We Summon the Darkness

Only thing 80's about this movie was Jolt soda and the old Twinkie boxes. That was literally it. The wardrobe was terrible. The cast looked like modern day posers. I liked some of the actors it's just too bad the story sucked. Especially the ending. The film had a lot of potential. Too bad it ended up the way it did. 5 stars

We Summon the Darkness is a partially fun, nonsensical throwback to 80s slasher flicks, albeit with a mild satanic twist. There's really no depth in the writing (by Alan Trezza) here and it's almost like director Marc Meyers fully acknowledges this. They intentionally play to its B-movie strengths (a.k.a cheap thrills) - a death-metal concert backdrop, a bunch of boys and girls who are up for the textbook definition of a good time, and a little (but quite predictable) twist in the tale. However, the film doesn't fully embrace its Grindhouse potential.

The film gives more screen-time to Daddario, Hasson, and Forsyth. Daddario scores in the latter parts while Hasson keeps the sass levels unchecked. The dudes (Austin Swift, Logan Miller, and Keean Johnson) are serviceable at best, while Knoxville (as Pastor Butler) feels miscast. The gore isn't really off-putting; it just adds to the kills. The off-the-hook comedy barely works too; there's an overall feel of a dumbed-down Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The weapons (one of the most important elements in slashers), used to elevate the shock value, are surprisingly the least memorable.

It's the late 80s. Three young, attractive girls head to a rock concert and meet a few seemingly harmless metalheads. After playing a drinking game of "never have I ever ...", the evening doesn't quite go to plan ...

It has elements of Red State and 68 Kill but probably not quite as good as either movie. It is, however, well written and acted and the characters are likeable and interesting, so I found myself enjoying it throughout. It doesn't get too dark; the mood remains tense but hardly nerve-shredding and the gory scenes are in-keeping with the general vibe, ie. it's not gross-out horror.

The ending is perhaps a bit less well-coordinated than the rest of the movie but reasonably decent all the same.

It's a good light-horror popcorn flick with tension and laughs in the right places and will probably prove popular.

Teen slasher with not enough slashing. Three teen girls meet three teen boys at a metal concert, and they take the party to a remote farm-house. Meanwhile, there are news stories about satanic murders being blamed on cults. Pretty straight forward plot. The twists that occur are very easy to see coming. Nothing was reinvented with this movie. Nothing clever occurs throughout, though there is some intermittent suspense. You know what is going to happen at every beat, but there are still one or two thrills as you get there. The production values are not bad, and at least it is shot well. But the dialogue is very poor, and much of the character interactions are not credible. The ending was also profoundly stupid. Overall, disappointing. I probably won't choose to see this again, but if it's on TV, I might not change the channel.

Wow. I was genuinely surprised at how bad this movie was. I have seen other reviews crediting Alexandra Daddario's performance but I genuinely thought that was one of the worst parts. Without giving anything away, she over acts her heart out and made me cringe multiple times. This on top of a mediocre script, uninspiring plot, and uninteresting characters with no sort of backstory, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Stay away from this one unless you really have nothing better to do.