From the Dark (2014)

Strong and Moving!

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

*** spoiler alert *** but the movie is spoiled all by itself and really needs no help from me in that regard. Just the same, maybe I can save someone else the disappointment and time.There was plenty of potential with the movie and even with the limited cast I thought I would give it a shot anyway. What an incredible mistake that was. If you can buy into the whole blondes are dumb stereotype which I don't, then you can at least try to explain away the female character's behavior but she certainly has far more of a clue than the main male character who is painfully ignorant. You would have to work incredibly hard to be as dumb as he is and then the whole chopping off her finger thing as if that would stop the obvious blood transmitted... illness what seems to be hours after the injury occurred. Maybe it did maybe it didn't, I won't say but if it did that would certainly defy all logic being that blood circulates through the entire body 3 times per minute. I know I know, who am I to expect logic in a movie that is clearly fictitious in nature.

I think From the Dark is the second Irish vampire film I have ever seen (the first one was Byzantium, whose setting was more urban), and I don't know why there haven't been more, because the compatibility between sub-genre and location is evident. The green hills and picturesque farms form beautiful landscapes during the day, while the night brings fog accentuating the darkness and creating an air of sinister isolation in which anything can happen. Besides, I liked the adding of a slasher formula to the vampire tale, with the couple followed by a mysterious killer who stalks in the shadows... and only in the shadows, because From the Dark establishes light (any source of light) as an effective weapon against these creatures. The Irish atmosphere and Conor McMahon's direction conjugate with each other in order to achieve good levels of tension and wide opportunities to share the anxiety of the "final girl" while she's hiding in a closet, or planning a weak counter- attack which can lead her to the death. Niamh Algar brings a good performance in the leading role, credibly displaying the internal strength her character must build not only to face the monster, but also the moral decisions presented by the difficult decisions she must make to survive during the night. In conclusion, From the Dark deserves a recommendation as an unusual vampire tale with slasher elements which emphasizes atmosphere and suspense instead of blood and shocks. I would also like to mention Michael Lavelle's cinematography, whose digital camera captures clear and beautiful images during the day or the night, even when the only source of illumination is a match or the diffuse radiance of a TV. It's an amazing range which proves (once more) how well digital cinematography can work as well as its advantages for independent cinema.

Well, acted, taut and thoughtful, this Irish-made Nu-Horror piece has the makings of a ground-breaking entry into a tired and cynical field.The plot is largely told without dialogue which is a technique that should be used a lot more. The story revolves quite simply around a young Irish couple stranded and isolated as they are hunted by something hungry that rose from the peat bogs. Horror and pop-culture fans will recognize the antagonist instantly when seen in profile though in a Q&A, the director said he was only using portions of that trope despite the mimeographed physical resemblance.Both of the main actors give instinctual and layered performances particularly given the lack of substantive dialogue. This makes perfect sense as when one is running and hiding in fear for one's life, conversation might not be foremost on your mind. Grunts, groans screams and moans are used as often as words to convey their situation though I must admit it would have been more natural for one of them to freak out at the whole illogical and unnatural nature of their predicament. Think Blair Witch Project's many uses of hysterics in the face of an unseen, unknowable foe.Niamh Alger's turn as the can-do girl fighting for her and her boyfriend's life is a nice break from the standard male protagonist role, though in Horror, beautiful women DO seem to fare better than average in the post-Millennial world, still Algar's Sarah is a convincing and tenacious hero without the need to show us Sigourney Weaver levels of unstopability.Gore and cheap starts are not an issue here, though one of the characters does make a decision to hurt themselves for reasons which will be apparent once seen and while the idea is sound and shows the character to be quick-witted and tough, the special fx produced a pay off that was slightly Fangoria c.1975.The antagonist IS suitably mysterious and vague, avoiding the pitfall of the horror exposed to the light in all its tangible goriness and thus reduced to just another Saturday Matinée beastie.The movie does suffer from pacing problems as that much time without dialogue SHOULD give you some motion to the story rather than extended breaks of the characters catching their breath or tending to cuts, leaves one feeling the the director's choice to allow the scenes to breathe organically is less patience and more self-indulgent.Despite this, the film's great disappointment lies in its use of the camera. This is not like the aforementioned Blair Witch, wherein one gets Cops-style shaky cam on-the-run. Rather it seems to be quite infatuated by its own cleverness in creating claustrophobia even when outdoors or in large spaces, the camera is placed so close to the characters as to prevent you from seeing both sides of their face in some cases. The devotion to this sense of confusion and displacement carries through to wide-angle scenes where in many cases objects are left to intervene between viewer and subject. While the goal is clearly to leave the viewer unbalanced, the result is simply to leave one blinking and confused. Intended to be a mood-setter, the final product is instead the antithesis of film; it makes what you've seen LESS understandable and completely unrelatable. Add in the constant darkness from the title and your final product is more film strip than cinema. At no point was this author ever able to place himself into the scene and become a subject of the director's world, instead remaining in constant analysis mode which is just not that enjoyable and ultimately undoes all of the director's technique.Watching this movie is akin to buying a car with a bad transmission. All those wonderful parts that do work are completely over-matched by the nagging and constant problem that rides shotgun on every trip.

I enjoyed this film. The thing I liked most was the absence of music. There was a little bit, but most scenes were done in silence, which I actually find much more scary than an annoying soundtrack. It had a fairly predictable beginning - young couple get lost in the remote Irish countryside and their car gets bogged down. From that point on, things go from bad to worse. I also liked the absence of tedious explanations as to who or what the original creature was. Sometimes films get too bogged down trying to explain and in the end, does it matter? They're being attacked by a scary creature, they have to save themselves, not much else is relevant in the larger scheme of things. I agree with some of the other reviewers that there were some parts that didn't make sense, for instance, how many bad creatures were there running around in the dark? The original biter, the bitten farmer and Mark? How come the heroine gets scratched, apparently by one of the creatures, but doesn't get infected? But in my experience that's the way with horror movies. In the end, if they keep you riveted that's all that matters.