Caccia al mostro

This was a very low key, engrossing horror tale wrapped up in four people's emotions. Kevin Durand's slow paced Sheriff's voice and deliberate actions make you slow down and process more clearly what's happening to this small town. Interesting elements I've seen in Stephen King movies, like all the animals and birds fleeing the area add to the spookiness and general disquiet you feel as the film progresses.

Lukas Haas as deputy Sheriff plays his part well, also as an ex-patriot from NYC. It is a paper thin degree from creepy and well played by all. I would give it an 8.5 if I could, but that dam ending. Why oh why, filmmakers?

This is the kind of film you flick on at 12.30am when you really should be thinking about bed, but instead you find yourself sitting there wrapped up in the story telling yourself '5 more minutes...just 5 more minutes.'

There's very little original or inventive about this movie. On paper it's a decent horror-suspense the like of which you will have seen many times before. It's strengths are in the restrained, yet engaging pacing, but most especially the subtle but powerful performance of lead actor Kevin Durand.

Durand plays small town Sheriff Paul Shields, a man seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown after the tragic death of his son and the breakdown of his marriage to his wife Susan, played with depth and compassion by Bianca Kajlich. It is this human element to the story that elevates it beyond your typical creature-feature mystery-suspense.

The premise has been used countless times before, but rarely acted so adroitly. You really feel for Durand, he practically exudes pain in every scene without ever overstating the case. I always liked him as an actor, but after this performance I would rate him as a potential great. I sincerely hope that on the back of this performance he gets more sympathetic, serious roles away from the unhinged baddies he usually plays (albeit excellently).

I don't like to spoil the content of movies in my reviews, so I'll just conclude that this film is good but nothing special. It's well worth a watch for fans of horror and/or suspense, just don't expect a reinvention of the wheel, because you'll have seen most if not all of this before elsewhere.

I'm very critical of horror movies. Few impress me because I think blood, guts & torture are not scary, just gross. I can watch the news for those. Give me atmosphere & suspense. Dark Was the Night had good atmosphere & great cinematography. I liked the "washed out, almost colorless" look of the film. Kevin Durand was really good. His emotional portrayal was totally believable. He's a very underrated actor. I also liked Lukas Haas' character's & his loyalty to the sheriff. I have to agree with other reviewers that the ending was ...not on par with the rest of the film. This was sad because of the strong acting. I would definitely watch anything else with Kevin Durand, as he greatly impressed me.

I often watch indie horror/slasher films, but they usually suck. This one, thankfully, did not. They say you have to watch a ton of bad horror films to find a good one. I guess I'll be watching a lot more bad ones to find one to stand up to this one.

The screenwriter actually gave these characters a background and a reason to care about them, rather than letting them only be known for getting chewed up and spit out. The storyline wasn't flooded with action to make you forget the screenwriter(s) didn't put anytime into developing the characters Kevin Durant (Lost, The Strain, I Am Number 4, etc.,) is a good actor. I never saw him as the lead actor before, but I hope they take advantage of his talent. He was believable in the role.

The creature was only fully shown towards the end of the movie. They should've shown it more, because it didn't look stupid. It was actually rather inventive how they made it look.

The storyline was fun. The atmosphere of a small town miles away from anyplace is always a turn on for me, but many horror movies don't do a good job with that. This one did.

I approve of this movie. I recommend it to anyone who likes creature features. It's not Jaws, but what is? One thing I didn't like was the lack of consistency with the monster towards the sheriff as opposed to how it behaved with others. It had no problem attacking people in daylight or night. However, the sheriff came across it a few times, and it played hide-and-seek with him, not killing the guy when it had a clear shot of doing it every time.

I gave this a 7-star rating. Enjoy! I did :)

Although there are no truly new or astonishing things done in this film, it is good to see Kevin Durand in a lead role. He has played all kinds of characters, which are typically antagonists, he is a very talented actor. So, I tip my cap to him in this thriller.