The Dark and the Wicked (2020)
February 2, 2025 12:48 PM - Subscribe
[Trailer] "On a secluded farm in a nondescript rural town, a man is slowly dying. His family gathers to mourn, and soon a darkness grows, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over the family."
Plot description from IMDb.
92% / 60% on RottenTomatoes.
Written and directed by Bryan Bertino. Starring Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr., Julie Oliver-Touchstone, Lynn Andrews, Tom Nowicki, and Michael Zagst.
A Shudder original, but they've been good about releasing their features on physical media and I borrowed this one from my local library.
Plot description from IMDb.
92% / 60% on RottenTomatoes.
Written and directed by Bryan Bertino. Starring Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr., Julie Oliver-Touchstone, Lynn Andrews, Tom Nowicki, and Michael Zagst.
A Shudder original, but they've been good about releasing their features on physical media and I borrowed this one from my local library.
This is totally on my running list of "horror movies to watch." Hopefully watch soon and come back to comment more.
"Creeping dread" and a "steady sense of unease" are definitely what I look for in horror movies so I'm happy to read those descriptors.
posted by fennario at 1:04 PM on February 2
"Creeping dread" and a "steady sense of unease" are definitely what I look for in horror movies so I'm happy to read those descriptors.
posted by fennario at 1:04 PM on February 2
In addition to suicide and animal harm, I would add harm to children.
Hard to say more without getting spoilery.
posted by fennario at 6:12 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]
Hard to say more without getting spoilery.
posted by fennario at 6:12 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]
This is a nihilistic movie. Like you said, it just slowly turns the heat up the entire time as you await any sort of reason for the series of events unfolding, and then you realize the movie offers none, and you've boiled to death. Good times, if that's what you're looking for in horror.
Bryan Bertino is also the person behind the first two The Strangers movies, which similarly have no real reason behind the violence of their villains.
posted by mrphancy at 10:20 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]
Bryan Bertino is also the person behind the first two The Strangers movies, which similarly have no real reason behind the violence of their villains.
posted by mrphancy at 10:20 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]
I have a pretty high threshold for horror movies/getting scared I found this horrific and filled with some legitimately impressive nightmare fueling imagery and original jump scares. And while not for everyone I thought the nihilism (a la The Strangers) was refreshing. The ghost doesn't always have to represent trauma nor does the horror always have to be some deeper commentary or what have you...and sure, while the best horror films can needle those threads, it can also fall flat on it's face when done poorly. Sometimes "dude, shit is just fucked up" is enough, as is the case here.
posted by windbox at 2:50 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]
posted by windbox at 2:50 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]
Re-watched this week I felt I'd missed something, and yeah, it's really good;. Particularly like the way it doesn't discriminate: everything's fucked.
posted by hap_hazard at 9:06 AM on February 4
posted by hap_hazard at 9:06 AM on February 4
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Yeah. I liked this one. It's not for everyone, obviously, and its triggers include both suicide and animal harm, not to mention the steady sense of unease brought on by nightmarish hallucinations.
posted by johnofjack at 12:52 PM on February 2