Devil in the Dark (2017)

Movie Info

Camping is fun…especial with deer demons attacking

Adam (Robin Dunne) has returned home after years of separation from his brother Clint (Dan Payne).  The estranged brothers are planning a hunting trip (to Adam’s chagrin) and headed up to the plateau where no one goes anymore.  Adam is haunted by his past and his resentment for his brother Clint and his relationship with his father…but also of a strange trip to the plateau as a child.  Now, Adam and Clint are returning to the plateau but they are about to become the hunted by something unearthly.

Directed by Tim Brown, Devil in the Dark is a Canadian horror film.  The film was originally called The Plateau and received mixed reviews.

Devil in the Dark jumped off the shelf to me.  You have a potential monster, you have creepy woods, and a story of survival.  The movie does have its moments, but ultimately, Devil in the Dark is just an average horror film that misses a lot of opportunities.

Man, I hate my brother

The story is both the blessing and the drawback for the film.  It takes a long time to set-up and the movie takes a really naturalistic approach with the very normal feuding brothers suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into a life or death situation.  The long set-up and a series of horror that isn’t very satisfying (you could argue the very end of the movie has potential) leaves the movie in a bit of a limbo that feels like it was cut down from a bigger and longer script.

The acting is ok, but the Robin Dunne and Dan Payne are caught in a script that isn’t very forgiving to them.  It tries too hard to give both characters a backstory but then doesn’t give them anything once the “horror” starts.  Dunne and Payne try to keep the “brothers never give up on each other” mentality, but the script doesn’t progress for them.

All our budget was blown on this shot!

Visually, the movie is very low budget so it goes for the less is more approach to the creature.  This works at the beginning with glimpses of the creature through the scope of the rifle and the jump where Dunne’s character is grabbed, but it needed a few more clearer shots of the creature than what we get near the end of the film…it isn’t enough payoff though the locations are pretty.

Devil in the Dark had potential and isn’t a bad movie, but it mostly feels underdone and soft.  The movie goes for a gripping, tense ending, but it doesn’t feel gripping when the build-up isn’t up to the level it needs…it just makes you a bit angry that you don’t have the answers you want instead of the “jump” ending you hope for.