News

TIFF Review: Jeremy Saulnier’s ‘Hold the Dark’ is Beautifully Bleak

Published

6 years ago

September 13, 2018

Hold the Dark is the latest film from extraordinarily talented director Jeremy Saulnier (Murder Party, Blue Ruin, Green Room). It’s a harsh, bleak, and visually stunning thriller set in the sparse isolation of a small Alaskan community. Saulnier’s previous films have also focused on isolated communities, but Hold the Dark is by far the largest in scale.

In Hold the Dark, we follow writer Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright – Westworld, Boardwalk Empire), a retired naturalist and wolf expert. He receives a letter from young grieving mother Medora Sloane (Riley Keogh – Mad Max: Fury Road, It Comes at Night) whose 6-year-old son was taken by a wolf pack that has already claimed three other local children. Medora asks Core to come to Alaska to kill the wolves as local authorities have made no steps to help the isolated (and mostly Indigenous) community.

When Medora’s husband, Vernon (Alexander Skarsgård – True Blood, War on Everyone), returns from the Iraq War, the news of his son’s death ignites a violent chain of events that drags Core into a vicious heart of darkness.

via IMDb

Written by Macon Blair – who has also appeared in all three of Saulnier’s previous feature films – and adapted from the 2014 novel by William Giraldi, Hold the Dark is wonderfully economical in its exposition.

As an audience, we only see and hear what is needed to tell the story we’re immediately faced with. Still, the information we are given is extremely limited and mostly implied. Lines are subtly dropped that allow the viewer to piece together other points in the backstory, but Blair makes you work for it, and much is left open to interpretation.

It adds a layer of mystery that echoes the emotionally closed nature of the characters on screen. We gain just as much from the silences as we do the dialogue.

In the interest of keeping this review spoiler-free, the only point to be discussed regarding the plot will be to say that it unfolds in a way that keeps the audience searching for these clues. Visual cues and bits of dialogue cycle back and give an attentive audience more to unpack.

via Metal Underground

The limited daylight in Alaskan winter plays a large part in the atmosphere of the film. The disorientation of a seemingly endless night works in sharp contrast with the overwhelming light of a bright sun on snow.

The film is permeated in darkness; the limited light creates that impression of a harsh cold that you can feel in your bones. This lack of warmth is felt through the characters – there’s a palpable tension and quiet anger lying just under the surface.

One particular confrontation between police chief Donald Marium (James Badge Dale – 13 Hours) and fury-filled local, Cheeon (Julian Black Antelope – Penny Dreadful), simmers with a taut but controlled rage. Every performance in the film is incredible, but this head-to-head had the whole TIFF audience on edge.

The characters of Vernon and Medora Sloane have an unnatural, masking calm that is as captivating as it is unsettling. There’s something about them that you’re never quite sure you understand, which makes them fascinating to watch.

via TIFF

The way that Saulnier shoots scenes of violence is extremely effective. He captures the horrific and gruesome acts without lingering long enough to glorify them.

The result is just as stomach-churning without being gratuitous, and it mimics the way we often naturally observe brutal injuries – we glance long enough to register, then turn away to process.

Think of the arm injury or stomach slit in Green Room, for example. You can remember exactly what they look like, even though each are only visible for 1-2 seconds.

via Netflix

The beautiful but isolating wilderness of Alaska is cleverly used by Saulnier and cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck (A Hijacking). Though shot in Alberta, Canada, the message is the same: we are insignificant, and nature is beyond our control.

Hold the Dark wraps around concepts of parental trauma, isolation, neglect, and our own personal nature. There are different sides to every story, and in one way or another, we’re all villains here.

Hold the Dark arrives on Netflix on September 28th.

via Netflix

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

1 Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

You must be logged in to post a comment.

News

Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

Published

3 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN IS NOW IN PRODUCTION 🩸 Welcome to Shadyside High. We're gonna have a killer time. pic.twitter.com/jDl0zRa2CH
— Netflix (@netflix) April 30, 2024

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

Published

4 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

News

BET Releasing New Original Thriller: The Deadly Getaway

Published

4 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Cameron McFarland

BET will soon be offering horror fans a rare treat. The studio has announced the official release date for their new original thriller, The Deadly Getaway. Directed by Charles Long (The Trophy Wife), this thriller sets up a heart racing game of cat and mouse for audiences to sink their teeth into.

Wanting to break up the monotony of their routine, Hope and Jacob set off to spend their vacation at a simple cabin in the woods. However, things go sideways when Hope’s ex-boyfriend shows up with a new girl at the same campsite. Things soon spiral out of control. Hope and Jacob must now work together to escape the woods with their lives.

The Deadly Getaway is written by Eric Dickens (Makeup X Breakup) and Chad Quinn (Reflections of US). The Film stars, Yandy Smith-Harris (Two Days in Harlem), Jason Weaver (The Jacksons: An American Dream), and Jeff Logan (My Valentine Wedding).

Showrunner Tressa Azarel Smallwood had the following to say about the project. “The Deadly Getaway is the perfect reintroduction to classic thrillers, which encompass dramatic twists, and spine-chilling moments. It showcases the range and diversity of emerging Black writers across genres of film and television.”

The Deadly Getaway will premiere on 5.9.2024, exclusively ion BET+.