Hold the Dark

Name: Hold the Dark
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Released: September 28, 2018
Duration: 125 min
Rating: 63
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Anabel Kutay, Beckam Crawford, Eric Keenleyside, Issac Bird

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 89 Ratings

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5.2	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 89 Ratings

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Hold The Dark

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: September 28, 2018 | TV-MA

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Anabel Kutay, Beckam Crawford, Eric Keenleyside, Issac Bird, James Badge Dale, James Bloor, Jeffrey Wright, Jonathan Whitesell, Joseph Whitebird, Julian Black Antelope, Macon Blair, Michael Tayles, Riley Keough, Savonna Spracklin, Zandus Snow

Summary: Retired naturalist and wolf expert Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) journeys to the edge of civilization in northern Alaska at the pleading of Medora Slone (Riley Keough), a young mother whose son was killed by a pack of wolves. As Core attempts to help Medora track down the wolves who took her son, a strange and dangerous relationshipRetired naturalist and wolf expert Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) journeys to the edge of civilization in northern Alaska at the pleading of Medora Slone (Riley Keough), a young mother whose son was killed by a pack of wolves. As Core attempts to help Medora track down the wolves who took her son, a strange and dangerous relationship develops between the two lonely souls. But when Medora's husband Vernon (Alexander Skarsgård) returns home from the Iraq War, the news of his child's death ignites a violent chain of events. As local cop, Donald Marium (James Badge Dale), races to try and stop Vernon's vengeful rampage, Core is forced on a perilous odyssey into the heart of darkness.… Expand

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 125 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Vince Mancini

Oct 1, 2018

It’s not the kind of film you watch waiting for “the answer.” Saulnier isn’t going to solve the equation for you in Hold The Dark. But he is going to kick your ass. Read full review

Tasha Robinson

Sep 14, 2018

This is a film about the wilds — internal and external — and Saulnier shoots both the natural and the human side of the story with his usual sharp instincts for startling and engaging images. Read full review

Matthew Monagle

Sep 26, 2018

An incredibly evocative film and one of the most evocative neo-Westerns of the past decade. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Sep 13, 2018

It’s a brutal slog of a film, admirable in its fearlessness in terms of dark subject matter, but the brutality doesn’t feel worth it in the end. Read full review

The Guardian Benjamin Lee

Sep 13, 2018

While the shifts in genre, plot and location do prove intriguing for much of the film, they ultimately result in a feeling of mild dissatisfaction, the whole never quite the sum of its parts. Read full review

Michael Roffman

Sep 30, 2018

The problem is that something never adds up to much of anything. Even thematically, the whole picture feels all over the place, oscillating hazily between half-baked meditations on man vs. nature and unfinished portraits of family values. Even so, Saulnier’s scope and visual endurance is admirable, to say the least, and it’s clear that he could do something this brazen eventually with a much stronger script. Read full review

The Film Stage Ethan Vestby

Sep 14, 2018

Getting the chance to be an exceedingly dull stab at Elevated Horror, Elevated Thriller, and Elevated Action all in one fell swoop, Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark is nothing but a staggering failure in both the realm of art and entertainment. Read full review

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User Reviews

shango266

Dec 30, 2018

An incredibly subtle, dark, brooding, violent film that had me thinking about it for hours and days afterwards. Sure, my first reaction at the end of this film was "What the hell did I just watch?" but instead of stopping there and dismissing the movie as "dumb", "confusing" or "boring", IAn incredibly subtle, dark, brooding, violent film that had me thinking about it for hours and days afterwards. Sure, my first reaction at the end of this film was "What the hell did I just watch?" but instead of stopping there and dismissing the movie as "dumb", "confusing" or "boring", I then set about answering that question for myself. Lurking just below the surface there is SO much to unpack thematically. Not every movie has to be 100% on the nose, hold-your-hand, obvious plot wrapped in a neat little bow. If this isn't your cup of tea, fine, but that doesn't make this a bad movie! I recommend watching this in the dark with the volume up, some of the dialogue is very soft and I found having the subtitles on helped quite a bit, if that doesn't bother you. I want to watch it again to see what I missed, and I also want to read the book. Any movie that makes me feel that way, and has me thinking about it long after it's over, is a success in my opinion!… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

Loic-Madec

Mar 23, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Given the precision with which Saulnier directed Hold the Dark, I don't think his film is subject to multiple interpretations - at least not with regard to the main theme - or that it is necessary to use the book to get an explanation; Hold the Dark offers enough elements to decrypt it.

KEY CHARACTER: VERNON SLONE All the action in Iraq makes it possible to lay the foundations for receiving Saulnier's message. Vernon kills men he is paid to kill; without joy, unlike the stupid comrade who makes a selfie in front of corpses and who just before says, delighted: "You're a f****** meat-eater, Slone." First judgment. First mistake. Vernon Slone is not the compulsive killer he seems to be. His air is doubtful; he takes no pleasure in his task. He simply has a duty to perform. He joined the Army. He acts responsibly, as part of his commitment. In the city, his instinct led him to discover a comrade raping an Iraqi woman. The spectator first thinks that Vernon Slone is a voyeur, that he enjoys the "show". No. He stabs his American colleague. He then hands the knife to the woman, so that she can finish him off. Logically (and this will gradually become more prominent), Slone has eliminated a weak link in the group: an individual who, through his irresponsibility, damages the image of the group and potentially puts it at risk. Slone, in all conscience, for the interest of this group, was forced to intervene in order to rid it of an altered element: the rotten apple will not affect the other fruits in the basket. There was no barbarity in Slone's act. We must escape the temptation to disavow him, to blame his savage intervention, to propose an alternative (arrest the rapist, have him court-martialed). Hold the Dark being an allegory, is visible only in the rough contours of an elaborate discourse.

READING GRID This angle of the analysis of the film and this acceptance of the functioning of the mechanics that animates Vernon Slone, allow us to solve the puzzle proposed by Saulnier. *Why the masks?* When you see the scene of cannibalism among wolves, you don't judge them. You know that this can be so. You accept. Medora and Vernon wear a wolf mask when they do what they have to do, away from our judgments. The mask serves them to hide from our sententious gaze: we who are not free from defects, we who are not transparent to ourselves, we who, by our failings and our near-sightedness, put others and the group(s) in danger... when they, on the contrary, do what is in conformity with their commitments towards those with whom they are connected; they take, for example, at the end, the coffin of their child, because their involvement is total, even with the dead. *Policemen* They symbolize the failure of socialization and the disorder generated by the social bond, especially when important links in the chain are damaged. Donald Marium, the chief of police, is naturally sympathetic to us - his Indian wife and the fatherhood to come humanize him -, when he is in reality, despite his duties, a stranger to the altruism that should animate him. Indeed, when Cheeon's child was abducted, Donald Marium and his men only intervened the next day and did nothing thereafter. The child's body was never found: a tragedy in the Indian community of Keelut. However, the police don't care. The distance is not only physical (an hour's drive), it is also mental - because it is cultural: socialization stumbles on the identity reflex. This detachment maintains a persistent hatred between the police and the Indians.

*What happened with Medora?* The viewer has difficulty conceiving that it matters little enough to know why Medora killed her son. Whether Bailey is a child born (or not) of an incestuous relationship is of little interest. It is the consequences of Bailey's death (the serial murders: on a chain) that count. This concern with the original explanation by the audience is proportional to its impermeability to the rest of the film. We are inclined to judge the other. Also, we focus our attention on the Slones, on their actions - that we condemn... "naturally" - without realizing that these acts are much more than crimes: they are symbols serving the director's socio-anthropological discourse (our relationship to others) and his expectations (reflexivity work). *Core* Between the two worlds - that of Vernon (where an implacable reasoned instinct prevails, beyond good and evil, beyond morality) AND that of other humans (arbitrarily subjected to laws not chosen, not understood, not followed) -, the sweet Russell Core is painfully moving. His heart and his mind are pushing him to come and help Medora. He thinks he'll take advantage of the trip to reconnect with his daughter. One can well imagine him, before this journey, living perfectly alone with his texts and animal drawings, far from the hustle and bustle of social life. The return to this social life will be synonymous with hurt, temptations, dangers, doubts, pain...… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Valeli

Sep 30, 2018

A very well-filmed movie. Very atmospheric, and featuring actors who I thought did a good job pretty much across the board.

The actual plot, such as it is, doesn't really go anywhere. The entire movie transitions from a thriller to violent pulp to I'm not sure what, and ends up as nothingA very well-filmed movie. Very atmospheric, and featuring actors who I thought did a good job pretty much across the board.

The actual plot, such as it is, doesn't really go anywhere. The entire movie transitions from a thriller to violent pulp to I'm not sure what, and ends up as nothing more than a vehicle for symbolism. I don't like that. Symbolism is well and good, but you can fit it into a movie that tells a coherent story. I just felt vacant and a bit drained after watching this. Maybe that's the point, but I'm not sure why it should be.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Allanbaxter

Oct 5, 2018

I watched Hold The Dark last evening and I have to say it's just Ehhh. I wanted to start liking it more, but it just didn't come together for me. I think Netflix has to have the attitude they want to make good movies and not just movies that there is lots of killing with a really, really badI watched Hold The Dark last evening and I have to say it's just Ehhh. I wanted to start liking it more, but it just didn't come together for me. I think Netflix has to have the attitude they want to make good movies and not just movies that there is lots of killing with a really, really bad plot line.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Recep

Aug 15, 2019

Film çok yavaş ilerliyor ve 2 saat 5 dakika geçmek bilmedi bi yerindeki aksiyon sahnesi güzeldi gerisi çok basit hikayeside anlamsiz yani izlemeye gerek yok boşuna zaman öldürürsünüz 4 puanda bir çatışma sahnesine birde baştaki ufak gerilime veriyorum

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

rafaelhsouza

Oct 1, 2018

This movie is a huge miss, there is barely any plot to talk about, acting is quite boring and the plot twists makes no sense. Good photography and some really good action sequences, but they are not enough to save this pretentious mess.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

ArchibaldMcCain

Jul 7, 2020

Terrible. Slow and non-sensical. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back. And it felt like 4.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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