The Dark and the Wicked

Dir Bryan Bertino, USA 2020 On Blu-ray, DVD and digital from 5 July

Siblings Louise and Michael (Marin Ireland and Michael Abbott Jr) return to their parents’ remote farm when they hear that their father is gravely ill. Something is clearly wrong: their mother is acting oddly and warns them to leave. They start having terrifying hallucinations, and then mum does something which is as shocking as it is gruesome. As incidents pile up, they learn an evil spirit is trying to possess their dying father and steal his soul.

This is an intriguing horror film that contrasts the ordinariness of its characters and setting with the extraordinary events in which they are caught up. It’s like a Sam Shepard play mixed with films like Insidious and Hereditary. Okay, there’s a lot of monosyllabic mumbling and staring off into the distance, but director Bertino at least grounds his characters in a recognisable reality.

As the film progresses and the bodies start piling up, things begin to unravel. In the first half Bertino relies on an unsettling atmosphere interrupted by the odd jump scare. In the second, there’s too much gore and the previously sensible characters start behaving stupidly. All that has been done to build the tension is wasted as the film degenerates into set pieces. Very few horror films manage to sustain themselves for the full running time, so you shouldn’t hold that against it, and the attempt to go down a slightly different path is to be applauded. The acting is good, the script free from howlers, and the photography fine: it’s a good effort and a very watchable film.

★★★ ★★