A creepy case of cabin fever
The Dark Hours
Starring Kate Greenhouse, Aidan Devine. Directed by Paul Fox. 80 minutes. At The Paramount. 14A. Psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Goodman has doubtless had better days. Her boss at the local hospital devoted to treating violent sexual psychopaths is down on her for lacking compassion. Her husband seems more interested on working on his book than their frostbitten marriage. And the rare, fatal brain tumour inside her skull that had been stable for two years is suddenly growing.
What’s a miserable shrink facing a death sentence to do? Why not head for an isolated cabin in the woods in the dead of winter?
Psychological thriller meets good oldfashioned slice- and- dice horror in The Dark Hours, a Canadian indie flick that marks the feature film directing debut of Paul Fox ( TV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation).
Seeking to share news of her lousy prognosis with her husband, Samantha ( Kate Greenhouse) suggests a weekend at the family cottage. But hubby David ( Gordon Currie) insists he needs the hideaway for himself to work on his novel — with the research help of Sam’s unemployed and oversexed sister Melody ( Iris Graham). He puts Sam off with a promise of a few days in Las Vegas down the road, pledging some quality time with him and Céline Dion. ( This is a Canadian movie, after all — there’s also a reference to Penetang’s mental health centre.) Samantha chooses the cabin over the casino and arrives after dark, surprising her husband and sister, who is perhaps helping David polish something other than his prose. The three are soon interrupted by a twitchy young stranger ( well played Dov Tiefenbach) at the door. Turns out he’s just the opening act for Harlan Pyne ( Aidan Devine) in a creepy, crafted turn as an escaped sexual predator and child murderer. A former patient of Samantha’s, he’s convinced she used him as a lab rat for some lab experiments and he’s out for revenge.
Soon, Harlan has the trio playing a series of sadistic games designed to torture body and soul that escalate in cruelty as he goes. “ Elimination round, kids,” he announces. And you know he means it literally. Wil Zmak’s script includes some pleasing fantasy vs. reality flips and enough surprises to make this flick a notch better than the typical horror gore fest. But it takes too long to ramp up and by the time The Dark Hours starts to get good, it’s more than midway into the movie. The early hospital scenes get a cool, blue wash that matches Samantha’s icy persona. Problem is that her brittle veneer makes us not particularly care what happens to her. It’s Devine’s Harlan that makes The Dark Hours work. Matter- of- fact as he dispenses rough justice and looking like a hockey dad who just dropped the kids off at the arena before settling in for a few rounds of torture- the- neighbours, he gives a lowkey yet sinister performance that makes Harlan one scary dude.
Writer Zmak and director Fox set up a few surprises and a climax that is both hard to watch and impossible not to. But it’s a case of a good effort too late. By the time the clever stuff comes, viewers may be wondering if it’s not too late to move this show to Vegas after all.