And Soon The Darkness, is a title that may already be familiar with cult film fans. Originally made in 1970, the film centered around two English women on a French cycling holiday who run into a vicious killer and the tense, atmospheric thriller is one of the more memorable 'women-in-peril' horror's of the seventies that didnt have to rely on cheap shock tactics to gain notoriety. The film was written by Brian Clemens, creator of The Professionals and writer on The Avengers, along with co-writer Terry Nation, creator of Blakes 7 and the Daleks from Dr Who. The 2010 remake directed by first time director
Marcos Efron and starring 21st century scream queen
Amber Heard who also co-produces, comes to
Blu-ray and
DVD this week. Here is our review; With a few changes to the location and nationality of lead roles the remake stays pretty faithful to the original. Best friends Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie (
Odette Yustman) are in the final few days of a cycling holiday in Argentina. They spend an evening getting drunk in a bar where Ellie picks up a handsome local while Stephanie heads back to their hotel. She is soon awoken by Ellie and her new friend having a booze-fuelled row which is eventually broken up by American ex-pat Michael (
Karl Urban) who is also staying at the hotel. The following day, what begins as a discussion of the previous nights events soon turns into a heated argument between the two girls causing Stephanie to cycle off, leaving Ellie sunbathing alone in the countryside. When Stephanie returns, worried about Ellies well-being she discovers her mobile phone, a patch of blood and obvious signs of a struggle. When the local police turn a deaf ear to Stephanies appeals for help she turns to Michael for assistance but fears he may be leading her further away from safety and into a trap.
Joining the sub-genre of tourists-in-peril, And Soon The Darkness could so easily have gone down the torture porn route taken by the similarly themed Hostel and Paradise Lost (aka Turistas) and for the first few minutes of the film it looks like this is where we are headed. Pleasing with this remake things dont really turn ugly until over an hour into the film and even then it is toned down in comparison to recent horror thrillers, admirably resisting graphic violence and choosing for a genuine suspense mystery. As one might expect all the usual clichés are present - with the naive tourists in a foreign, remote location where very few people speak English, missing posters on every lamp-post, a mysterious stranger who offers help but is he someone to be trusted, unhelpful locals and uncooperative police are all present and correct. However despite all this the film is a surprisingly decent thriller that still has a few surprises on offer.
Amber Heard, who seems to be carving herself a niche in this kind of B-movie thriller, does a good job of convincing as the tourist in peril. She is in practically every scene and seems equally proficient at handling the emotional aspects as well as the running and screaming action scenes. Odette Yustmans character is actually pretty annoying so it is something of a relief when she disappears after the first 30 minutes. Karl Urban is given very little to do with his fairly one dimensional character which is a shame as he certainly capable of more than just broody looks. Efrons remake of And Soon The Darkness is a pretty good debut feature and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would. It offers a fresh take on the genre without relying on over the top, graphic violence and scenes of torture. Amber Heard holds the film together well and proves she is a rising star to watch. There are enough twists to keep things interesting and the films brief running time helps deliver the requisite tension and suspense throughout.
Quality
Shot with a widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 the film uses its locations to full advantage with nicely shot stark landscapes and with most of the film taking place during daylight hours, sumptuous sun drenched scenes looking rather excellent. The audio options on offer are 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Stereo and are perfectly acceptable and what you would expect from a contemporary film on DVD.
Extras
There are a number of extras missing for this UK release that feature on the Region 1 DVD. All that is included here are 5 deleted and extended scenes of no real note running at 7 minutes and a 1 minute teaser trailer. The US release includes an audio commentary and directors video diary so once again UK consumers are being short changed. And Soon The Darkness is released
on Blu-ray today.