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- 2020
- Not Rated
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 2020
- Not Rated
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 35 m
Summary On a secluded farm, a man is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, his wife is slowly succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say goodbye to their father, siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that som...
Directed By: Bryan Bertino
Written By: Bryan Bertino
- 2020
- Not Rated
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 2020
- Not Rated
- RLJE Films
- 1 h 35 m
The Dark and the Wicked
72
6.1
Where to Watch
Summary On a secluded farm, a man is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, his wife is slowly succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say goodbye to their father, siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that som...
Directed By: Bryan Bertino
Written By: Bryan Bertino
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
72
86% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
14% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
72
86% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
14% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s a visceral piece of horror that’s as bleak as it is beautiful.
Make no mistake about it, The Dark and the Wicked is by far the scariest movie at the Fantasia Film Festival, and its due in large part to Ireland’s neurotic catatonia. You find yourself holding your breath, waiting to see what spine-chilling event hovers just ahead, hiding behind a dark corner.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 50 User Ratings
6.1
48% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
36% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
16% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 50 User Ratings
6.1
48% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
36% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
16% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Bryan Bertino's latest film may be his best. Every scene produces a sense of escalating dread and that can only be credited to the excellent cinematography, editing, sound design and acting. This is a film with many layers, and while some are tried and true horror conventions, Bertino does more than enough to carve them out into his own unique nihilistic vision. Needless to say, 'the Dark and the Wicked' could not be more aptly titled
If you are a fan of Bertino's past film's (particularly 'The Strangers') then this is a must watch. Highly recommend going into this film blind - the less you read or watch, the better.
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The Dark and the Wicked pulls no punches, either in its sense of perpetual unease, its occasional moments of understated yet truly stomach-churning gore, or in its emotional heft.
Although its bleak worldview may be a turnoff for viewers who like their media a bit more life-affirming, if you’ve ever said to a friend, “it’s so fucked up, you’ve got to see it,” The Dark And The Wicked is one horror movie that lives up to its title.
Ireland conveys subtle differences between paranoia and white-knuckled fear with an appealing fragility, while Oliver-Touchstone invites sympathy and disquiet with just a few twitches of her wrinkles. However, the glaring absence of any background to the main characters’ lives and relationships gives the cast less to work with than they deserve.
The players sell it. And the jolts — an apparition here, a ghost in a shadows there — get the job done.
Despite a strong start, Bertino’s grim and gruesome The Dark and the Wicked never coalesces into anything more than a collection of chilling images and a paper-thin logic.
Yet another horror being spoiled by the characters not acting in believable ways. Whether it's Hush, Alone, the Invisible Man, it's always the same. Firstly, both of them are seeing apparitions and not only do they hide it from each other but they treat the priest like he's a con man, without a moment's hesitation, given what they've seen. Her brother decides to go and tend to goats rather than stay with his traumatised sister, when it's been established that the devil himself is lurking around. But he still has to work apparently. It's ok, he has a pen knife. At this point pure survival would have taken over and you'd have left your dad and vacated the property.
The film blatantly copies other successful horrors, such as It Follows, Hereditary and insidious. The acting is fine, the pacing is good and the imagery is disturbing, but some of the ways is copies these films is unforgivable. At one point his mum walks towards him naked, which is so blatantly ripped from It Follows. I stopped watching at this point. The person in a coma stalked by a demon was also done in Insidious. I hope this director keeps making horrors though. His next one could be a masterpiece. The idea of it being the devil coming for them was nice and the atmosphere was spot on.
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'The Dark and the Wicked' has a promising start, but it's not long before the plot goes into generic territory. Despite some good acting, especially that of Marin Ireland, director and writer Bryan Bertino cannot provide a context to his story. After the credits roll, it's like a demon decided to terrorize a family at random. There's some family conflict in there, but it's not developed as expected.
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O filme nunca se preocupa em contar uma história e sim mostrar o sofrimento de uma família com cenas macabras e sustos. No final do filme vc só quer que o sofrimento de assistir ao proprio filme acabe **** não tive paciencia, acabei correndo algumas partes pq perdi completamente o interesse na tal família.
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Production Company
Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC),
Unbroken Pictures,
Shotgun Shack Pictures,
Inwood Road Films
Release Date Nov 6, 2020
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline She told you not to come.
Awards
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
• 6 Nominations
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
BloodGuts UK Horror Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
