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Between the Darkness or Come, Said the Night, depending on how you research it, is one of those movies that looks great on paper but only sometimes on film. This confusion permeates throughout my opinion, which seemed to waver as the film progressed. I found myself smiling at the great moments and outright cringing at others. There is no doubt that the cast is more than talented, but the film is an amalgamation of moving parts and this cannot be ignored.
The story is always the fallback, and this one has that in spades. Let’s break the positives and negatives down together, and figure out if Between the Darkness is a yea or nay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLdToAMLoE
Synopsis
Thirteen-year-old Sprout Grady grows convinced that a monster is haunting the nearby woods. Embarking on a mission to vanquish it, she uncovers horrifying secrets that rock the core of everything she thought she knew.
Review
Between the Darkness is very much a mixed bag of a film. I had so many conflicting emotions while watching this film that I began to feel like I was sitting in front of two movies playing simultaneously, possibly justifying the dual title that this picture carries.
As soon as Director Andres Rovira’s film begins, we are introduced to our main characters: Roy Grady (Lew Temple: The Devil’s Rejects 2005), the sometimes hippy, full-time religious nut, and Sprout Grady (Nicole Moorea Sherman: My Haunted House 2015), Roy’s eldest and favorite daughter.
Last but not least is little Percy Grady (Tate Birchmore: Criminal Minds TV series). Despite some quick cuts and flashbacks, I’m still not quite sure what happened to older sister, Magda Grady, played by Daniela Leon (The Young and the Restless TV series).
When all three family members are at the dinner table at the beginning of the film, I started getting the A Quiet Place (2018 – read our review here) vibe from the body language of the characters. I assumed that one of them was deaf by the over-exaggerated way they were acting and omitting words. When this turned out not to be the case, I was immediately left feeling less engaged. Setting my confusion aside, I did my first faux pas and zoomed the cursor down to the runtime bar to see what I was getting myself into. This is never a good idea if you are second-guessing a movie you only just started watching.
What Worked
In the beginning, the acting was a bit spotty and odd. I put the onus on the writing and direction. It all visibly improved once Danielle Harris (read our interview with her here) made her first onscreen appearance. She seemed to inspire a foundation in which the rest of the cast were able to work off of, which allowed them to finally find their characters’ voices.
The story is quite interesting in concept, and though quite a slow burn, the film manages to ramp up to a dizzying pace during the third act. The locations are beautiful and inviting and really push the theme of solitude that is so detrimental to Between The Darkness’ plot. It was an interesting set. I would jump at the chance to visit it and explore the layout on my own.
What Fell Short
With all of its positives, Between The Darkness has a few negatives that really put me off this project. Certain elements of the story kept dropping me out of my suspension of disbelief, such as its odd, Greek god fetish. Parading as a radical religious cult didn’t work at all for me. I found none of it believable in the least. Temple’s character, Roy, starts off as the wise and can do no wrong father, then completely changes… apparently because his daughter budding into a woman. It’s too much of a stretch, especially by the third act when he is a completely different character. The first two-thirds of the movie is an awkward coming-of-age story with a slightly overbearing father figure. Then, in the final third, everything flips and becomes some iteration of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The last issue I had was with the cinematography. I understand that they were purposely using lens flare and other techniques to mark the passage of time and to inspire a dreamlike atmosphere, but they were overused, and the timing didn’t line up with the scenes before and after their implementation. The result is confusing for the audience as the time of day seems to change and then jumps back again, due to the sequence being filmed at a different time of day. Another minor gripe is with the difference in resolution between the main camera and the one used for the drone shots. It stood out and was just another element that fell short of my expectations.
I still have no idea what the whole rubber oven mitt thing was all about with Birchmore’s character.
Watch Between The Darkness Right Here!
Final Thoughts on Between The Darkness
Between the Darkness was a film I chose to cover based on the cast alone. It seemed like a sure-fire winner, but proved to be a mix of both columns. I appreciate the vision behind the making this film, but I felt like the it missed its mark on the execution. There is a point at the end where an exposition dump happens to bring to light all the elements that were hiding the shadow of confusing ambiguity. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it was too little too late. By the time that had happened, I was not invested enough in the characters to care.
So in the immortal words of Simon Cowell, “It’s a no from me.”
Stay scary horror fans!
