Hold The Dark Review: 4 Ups & 3 Downs

3. The Acting

Despite the script being a bit odd in some parts, every role was well-acted, most of the characters, despite many having minor roles, feeling like they had more to them than what was shown onscreen.

Riley Keough played the sympathetic yet unsettling Medora Sloane fantastically, with Jeffrey Wright adding a comforting and enduring humanity to every increasingly terrifying situation he was in. Alexander Skarsgård played the sympathetic yet stoic, largely unfeeling Vernon Sloane effectively, making him a dreaded figure.

James Badge-Dale's Inspector Donald Marium was a great, likeable and kindly heroic figure, and characters such as the old village woman Illanaq, by the compelling Tantoo Cardinal, and Sloane's best friend Cheeon, played by Julian Black Antelope, had enormous presence in their scenes, with intriguing backstories that could have been further explored given more time and attention.

Even the minor characters got to shine, with the few police in the area being sympathetic people, unprepared for the horror they had to face in one of the film's bloodiest scenes.

Though the film had its ups and downs, the performances within were well-done, living up to, and in some case even elevating the material provided in the script.