Chiller Films again? These guys seem to be becoming popular in the low budget scene as of late. My first taste of them must have been the awful Dead Souls and the subpar Animal, while SiREN looks a little more promising. For now, let’s try out an older release, Deep in the Darkness.
Upon relocating to a idyllically isolated town of Ashborough to get away from the pressures of city life, Doctor Michael Cayle (Sean Patrick Thomas) is to ponder on the consequences of his choices. The locals are crazy, his kid’s seeing ghosts, there’s ritualistic murder, but these all pale in comparison to the real nightmare: no internet for miles. You sick bastards – you’ve gone too far this time.
The truth is, it’s a rather feckless horror – a better description is a dramatic thriller with paranormal overtones and the occasional drop of gore. Most of everything is revealed to be focused on Cayle’s dwindling relationship between his career, family and sanity. Thomas isn’t bad; maybe somewhat passive and secondary, he definitely fits the bill as a permanently bewildered outsider, as does his counterpart (Kristen Bush).
Two points of interest stand out. Number one is the warmly immersive score and resourceful sound design. There’s a sense of balance and control of the medium, with moments of silence, tension and explosion which are handled quite evenly, gluing with the action and suspense, and dressing formidably against the smoothly professional camera work.
The second is how incredibly shallow and weak the story turns out to be. Though its motor is usually running, characters are lame, their delivery is dry, and developments are infuriatingly predictable. And its novel adaption can’t be the culprit to blame for the hilariously silly suggestions and hints, such as the doc discovering a vial of bubonic plague left casually on the table of his opulent office. C’mon, please.
At 2 and a half hours in length, Deep in the Darkness is also vast. Who thought it would be a good idea to be so long? Yet there’s hardly any serious mistakes or outright errors which would deserve the wrath of a particularly poor conclusion, even if it does reveal itself to be too timidly unoffensive to be engaging or thrilling. Average and standard stuff – and that’s being nice.
4/10
Possession Media 