First and foremost, The Dark and the Wicked, directed by Bryan Bertino, is really dark and damned scary at times. The hairs on the back of my neck, which I have many, stood straight up through several scenes.
I believe Bryan Bertino is becoming a great force within the Horror genre as he has Produced and Directed The Monster, The Strangers, and solely produced The Blackcoat’s Daughter. I’ll be watching for his work moving forward.
If you’ve seen my reviews in the past, you’ve seen the Bloody O’ Graphs at the bottom of the page where, not only do I give my overall Reel Rating out of 5 reels, but I rate the movie on a more objective scale where my liking or disliking of the movie doesn’t affect the scoring. We try to cover most aspects in horror movies so you can get a feel for what the movie is like without an opinion or biased statement.
The Dark and the Wicked is the highest Bloody O’ Graph I’ve rated, to date. Meaning, the body count, the gore, the evil in the movie (Yon Beasty), originality, how disturbing the movie is, and the jump scares all scored really high with this one.
However…The Dark and the Wicked would be hard to watch again and again. The reason for that is the same reason my personal 3.25 out of 5.0 Reel Rating is not higher. The entire movie is so bleak, grim, and cold that I’m not sure how often I would really want to put myself there.
But damn, this was a good spook movie!
How it goes: The Dark and the Wicked embeds us, the viewer, in with a disconnected family which is about to face off against a relentless unseen evil force. The mother and father (oddly, not provided names in the movie) live on their family farm, secluded deep in farming country. They also have a long-time farmhand living on the land. Other than them, there seems to be nobody within a great distance. Not for long though...
With the opening scene, we learn that father is dying, bed-ridden, and debilitated as he doesn’t wake or speak through the entirety of the film. Well…mostly… We also quickly discover that an evil entity has entered their lives, and the mother is aware of it, scared of it, and with no recourse to fight the unwanted visitor’s appearance.
The daughter and son (Louise and Michael) arrive at the farm, on which they grew up, to assist and be present as their father struggles to hang on to life. The dysfunctionality within the family is obvious and very palpable. No brotherly love from Michael to Louise, and the mom doesn’t want them there.
Though…we find out it’s not because of the flawed relationships that they all have with one another. She tells them they shouldn’t have come because she knows things won’t end well. Ya know…the unwanted guest, and all? Although it is never provided as to why the wicked being latches onto this family, it is obvious that the family was already deeply cracked and broken from within, beforehand.
Soon, a major event happens in a bloody disturbing manner to really set the tone of The Dark and the Wicked. For me, chopping carrots, or anything for that matter, I will always think of this movie! From this moment forward the growing darkness taking over the family gets stronger and stronger. Waking nightmares worsen for Louise and Michael and things spiral downward into a living hell.
The Dark and the Wicked reminded me of The Witch from 2015, in that it feels like a slow burn. However, there is a great blend of gore, jump scares, mysterious intrigue, what you see and don’t see of the evil being destroying the family’s lives, purposefully sprinkled throughout.
Subtlety is one The Dark and the Wicked strengths.
If you pay attention to the background music and sounds, which are very well done in this movie, you notice whispering voices and odd sounds that you don’t usually get in a regular score. If you don’t pay attention you don’t notice all of it. The sound that the evil entity emits, either when it appears in its own presence, or in human form, is freaky enough by itself. Watch this movie with great headphones and I promise hair-raising moments just from the background composition!
The same can be said about the visuals and images, subtle but dark and dreary. I loved the cinematography and imagery produced in The Dark and the Wicked. It really added to the overall package, which helped support the pacing and tone. The gore and spooks that occur are really well done and very believable.
In contrast to the subtleness, The Dark and the Wicked also forces some in-your-face moments that attribute to the overall scariness of the film. This comes through the waking nightmares that the characters experience and, more so, when the evil becomes stronger, more present, and at times just straight up f***ing with the family.
The overlying message in this one is pointed toward the slow decaying of a family member who is torturously slipping away. And how the rifts and distance within a family can bring heartache and darkness to each lonely member.
The acting is great by all parties. Marin Ireland does a great job as the tortured daughter/sister, Louise. And Michael Abbott Jr. is Michael, the son/brother. I would say that the movie is ten times scarier than the trailers let on, which is the opposite of what I’ve seen with recent previews revealing way way way too much.
The overall combination of the music, visual imagery, great acting, and extreme scary nature throughout made me love this movie. The ending, however, is why I may not see this one again. The overall depressing and heavy tone of this movie plays all the way through to the final credits with no relief. The ending was really messed up, which was actually a boost to how great The Dark and the Wicked was, but it also made me feel like I needed to go kiss the family, take a shower in the beaming sun, watch a happy goofy kid show, or something light and feathery!
One final note to add as a cool little tidbit, The Dark and the Wicked was filmed at Bryan Bertino’s,(the Director’s) family farm. Hopefully his family doesn’t still live there after what they did to these characters on that property!
So dark and so wicked!! Pardon the cheesy pun...
I highly suggest a one-time watch of this one, at the least…It was so well done and very disturbing!
Enjoy!
The Dark and the Wicked
Released: 2020
Rating: NR
Director: Bryan Bertino (Producer of The Monster, The Strangers 2, The Blackcoat’s Daughter)
Writer: Bryan Bertino
Stars: Marin Ireland (Hell or High Water, The Umbrella Academy 2020), Michael Abbott Jr. (Mud, Loving), Julie Oliver-Touchstone
IMDB Rating: 6.2 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Metascore: 72 out of 100
Rentable as of Blog posting: $6.99 iTunes, Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox, etc.
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