The Movie: The Long Night
The Director: Rich Ragsdale
The Cast: Scout Taylor-Compton, Nolan Gerard Funk, Deborah Kara Unger, Kevin Ragsdale, Jeff Fahey
The Story: A devoted couple's quiet weekend takes a bizarre turn when a nightmarish cult and their maniacal leader come to fulfill an apocalyptic prophesy.
The Review:
Y'all know I'm a big fan of horror movies so I'm usually willing to give just about anything a chance whether it's a big blockbuster like the new Scream movie or some little indie production from overseas like Hatching. Director Rich Ragsdale is much more well known for his music videos and compositions although he has made a couple feature films leading up to this one so he's definitely no stranger to putting in the work.
This story takes advantage of some pretty easy targets when it comes to characters, tropes, and stereotypes which is fine, sometimes you just want the movie to be basic fun. To start off, we have the busty blonde lead character, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, who is far from the classic horror bimbo from days of old, then there's the entitled businessman husband, brought to life by Nolan Gerard Funk, and finally we get a cameo appearance from Jeff Fahey as the grizzled down south country boy. Throw in a generic group of cloaked and masked demon worshiping bad guys and you have yourself a complete horror movie starter kit.
As the movie progresses, the creepiness gets ramped up and there are several effective scares to go along with all the dark and impending doom. Ragsdale does a good job of keeping the audience guessing with a few unexpected twists and the 3rd act really has a great payoff. The plot deals with demons and colonization and, in the third act, it goes all in with paying off everything it built up to that point. I will say that I wish the creators had been more willing to get into the gorier details rather than cutting away or setting the camera so you don't quite see what's taking place.
The Verdict:
The Long Night doesn't take long to prove itself as a legitimately scary horror movie. The story is a little uneven and the filmmakers pull their punches when it comes to graphic content but save the day by going all in with a wild and twisted finale.
No comments:
Post a Comment