It’s the most wonderful time of the year… No, I am not talking about Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. However, Halloween has always been the holiday that has captivated my dark heart. One of my favorite things about it is all of the amazing horror movies that take place on that 31st day of October. Lately, I’ve been recommending a movie a day for the 31 days of Halloween, and I now have one that will certainly go on my list for next year’s recommendations. The movie that is an instant Halloween classic is Loren Lepre’s The Dark Military.
Official Synopsis of The Dark Military:
What if a web cast, LIVE on Halloween, turned out to be a real life survival game? What if the people hunting them are a rogue military? What if all eyes from the around the world are tuned in, and with a short window of time, officials need to find out where this broadcast is taking place? With all of technology taken away from the the young adults to slow down any rescue team from finding them, they find themselves with no weapons to defend themselves. Can they be found in time, as the world watches on?
What Works
I am a huge fan of reality TV. Throw some horror into the mix, and I am instantly sold. The Dark Military is like Survivor on steroids. Writer/director Loren Lepre knows how to get a message across by being insanely creative. The Dark Military is more then just a horror film… There’s meaning behind it. Unfortunately, the world we live in is so fucked up that this one might fly over some people’s heads. There were a few moments that took me back to classic ’80s style horror. One scene in particular was reminiscent of Sleepaway Camp III. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not, but I sure dug it. I also love The Dark Military trading card promotional pictures. I need them for my collection stat!
Not to mention there is definitely a nice cameo to genre lovers. I won’t give away the name but it’s an absolutely nice nudge of the character who plays Vince.
What Doesn’t Work:
The Dark Military is fun as fuck. However, I really wanted the gore and blood to go completely full throttle. Also, with it being a Halloween movie, I would have loved to have seen some really creative concepts, although I understand why there wasn’t any. That’s really the only complaints that I have about this movie.
Final Verdict:
The Dark Military has major franchise opportunity in my humble opinion or possibly even a comic book series. The film is still currently doing the film festival circuit and has actually scared up an award for Best Action Horror Feature at the Upstate New York Film Festival. Pretty damn impressive! So what are you waiting for? Are you going to play with The Dark Military? Or do you perhaps want to join them? Don’t be a lemming and stand idly by! Watch The Dark Military as soon as you can and let us know what you think in the comments.