Dark Circles is the creation of Watching the Detectives Writer/Director Paul Soter, who has moved from comedy to horror without breaking a stride. A rather long, six year stride but he’s been busy writing stories for other independent productions. This is an indie horror in its purist form, nothing expensive but with capable actors who helped bring Soter’s story to life. He used the usual bag of tricks that we expect in a horror but rarely seen in these small budget films, and at times they were effective but when they didn’t work, it was as if, due to time constraints, they had to make do with too few takes whereby having to settle for less than perfect.
We have a married couple, played well by Johnathon Schaech (That Thing That You Do) and Andrea Frankle (The Host, 21 Jump Street) and they have moved to a new home with a newborn who certainly has a good set of pipes as we hear a great deal of crying from him. Johanna and Alex start to catch glimpses of things out the corner of there eye, which gets progressively worse, as does the baby’s crying so tempers start to fray which only adds to the sleep deprivation making matters worse. They eventually get a babysitter but have they done the right thing?
I enjoyed all the performances but noticed some patchy quality in certain takes but I’m sure it was down to making the best of what little time the had for the shoot. The direction was mostly good and I enjoyed his attempts at trying out various styles although some of it felt dated unlike when PT Anderson does these sorts of thing it looks fresh (totally unfair comparison but I’m trying to make a point) and original. For example the camera rig attached to the body that looks back at the actor following their movements is rather old now but Directors need to experiment and that’s exactly what this project was full of. Attempts at different styles.
This movie did work as a ‘slow burn’ Horror with a nice buildup, however, things took their time to kick in, with just over thirty minutes before we got what we were expecting, so this needs to be watched when in the mood, or you might spend half the movie twiddling your thumbs, but if you ‘are’ in the mood then you’re in for a treat.
Recommended
Score: B-
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