Dark Was the Night (2014 film)

Last updated
Dark Was the Night
Dark Was the Night (2014) Film Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byJack Heller
Written byTyler Hisel
Produced by
  • Jack Heller
  • Dylan K. Narang
  • Stefan Nowicki
  • Dallas Sonnier
Starring
CinematographyRyan Samul
Edited byTimothy Donovan
Music byDarren Morze
Production
companies
  • Caliber Media Company
  • Foggy Bottom Pictures
  • Molecule
  • Preferred Content
  • Sundial Pictures
Distributed by Image Entertainment [1]
Release dates
  • October 16, 2014 (2014-10-16)(Screamfest Horror Film Festival)
  • July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryU.S.
LanguageEnglish

Dark Was the Night (released as Monster Hunter in the UK) is a 2014 American horror film directed and produced by Jack Heller, and written by Tyler Hisel. It stars Kevin Durand, Lukas Haas, and Bianca Kajlich. [2]

Contents

Plot

In the forest near the small town of Maiden Woods a team of loggers go missing. The Foreman searching for them finds a logger's severed arm before being killed by a creature.

Meanwhile, farmer Ron insists that one of his valuable horses has been stolen, though without evidence of theft it is assumed that the horse merely escaped. That night, a boy named Adam sees a creature in the back yard. While investigating, Adam's father, Sheriff Paul Shields, hears it in the trees.

The next morning, Paul finds footprints in the snow around his house that appear to come from an animal with hooves that walks on two legs. The footprints are around everybody's houses in Maiden Woods. Paul and his new deputy, Donny Saunders, follow the footprints into the woods and find claw marks on the trees where the footprints disappear. No known animal with hooves can walk such a distance on two legs, so Paul assumes that the whole thing is a prank. Meanwhile, several local animals have gone missing. Ron's daughter and several hunters confront Paul with fears about old aboriginal stories of creatures living in the woods, though he dismisses this. Earl, another hunter, says that even though it is hunting season, all the deer and other forest animals have disappeared, meaning a new predator may be in the area.

As Paul drives Adam home, they both see a creature in the back yard. When Paul investigates, all he finds is a bridle up a tree that he confirms is from Ron's missing horse. The next day, Paul and Donny witness a flock of birds flying south when they should be flying north. That night, Paul is called to Ron's farm, where he sees the creature attempt to enter the stables before it flees. Paul later discovers a dead deer that had been mauled in the road, but before he can move it, the creature appears and takes the body away.

The next day, three hunters are attacked in the woods. Two are killed and one makes it back to town. The bodies of the dead hunters are later found hidden high in the trees. Paul bans any more hunters from entering the forest and orders everybody in town to stay indoors at night. He also reports the deaths and calls in park rangers to hunt the creature down. That night, a snow storm hits the surrounding area and most of the town evacuates. Paul theorizes that the creature had been pushed from its territory by the logging company, is looking for a new home, and sees humans as a threat. A hunter shows Paul film footage of a creature walking on two legs. As the storm gets worse, the creature breaks into Paul's house, where he barricades himself and Adam in the bathroom until the arrival of Donny scares it away.

Paul gathers everybody who did not evacuate into the church, saying that it is the safest place to be in until the rangers arrive in the morning. When the creature appears, Paul leads everybody into the church's basement storm shelter. He tasks the hunters to guard the door then takes Donny to kill the creature.

While following the creature through the church, Paul and Donny split up. Donny is attacked in the kitchen but manages to shoot the creature. Paul follows the creature and is attacked. He flees back into the main hall and hides beneath the pews. However, the creature finds Paul, who shoots it before it disappears. Paul realises that it can climb as it drops down from the ceiling. As it rushes towards him, Paul shoots the creature again but drops his pistol as it overpowers him. He then draws a hunting knife and stabs the creature to death.

Paul later tells everybody in the basement that the creature is dead and leads them back into the church. However, while examining the creature's body, Donny realises that he had shot it in the shoulder, yet the wound was missing. Paul and Donny realise that there is more than one creature in the church. Outside, dozens of creatures swarm over the roof. [3] [4]

Cast

Production

Development

Tyler Hisel's screenplay for The Trees (later to become Dark Was the Night) was included in the 2009 Hollywood Blacklist (the annual list of the top 100 screenplays). [5] The film is loosely based on the real-life events that unfolded in Topsham, England in 1855, known as the Devil's Footprints. The small town woke to find freshly fallen snow and apparent hoof prints tracing the landscape. Dark Was the Night is said[ by whom? ] to tell the story of a present-day community's reaction to a similar event. [6]

Filming

Jack Heller directed, and the film is said to include a "never-before-seen monster", [3] drawn from various pieces of American folklore. [6]

Production started in February 2012, filming in Southampton, New York. [7]

Release

Dark Was the Night was released in theaters on July 24, 2015, through Image Entertainment. [8]

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 52% based on 21 critic reviews with an average score of 6.00/10. [9] On Metacritic, it has a score of 40, indicating "mixed and average reviews." [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeti</span> Alleged ape-like creature from Asia

The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Many dubious articles have been offered in an attempt to prove the existence of the Yeti, including anecdotal visual sightings, disputed video recordings, photographs, and plaster casts of large footprints. Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lukas Haas</span> American actor

Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable credits include in the films Witness (1985), Lady in White (1988), Mars Attacks! (1996), Inception (2010), The Revenant (2015) and First Man (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin James</span> American comedian and actor (born 1965)

Kevin George Knipfing, known professionally as Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. He began his career by performing stand-up comedy at clubs on Long Island in the 1980s. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Doug Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007), for which he received the nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006.

<i>Children of Eden</i> Musical

Children of Eden is a 1991 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis, with Act I telling the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, while Act II deals with Noah and the flood.

<i>Halloween: Resurrection</i> 2002 film by Rick Rosenthal

Halloween: Resurrection is a 2002 American slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal, who had also directed Halloween II (1981), was written by Larry Brand and Sean Hood, and is a direct sequel to Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and the eighth installment of the Halloween franchise. It stars Busta Rhymes, Bianca Kajlich, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Ryan Merriman, Sean Patrick Thomas, Tyra Banks, and Jamie Lee Curtis, with Brad Loree as Michael Myers. This was the final installment of the H20 timeline of the Halloween franchise, which had just been rebooted with the previous film in 1998, before it was rebooted again in 2007 with a remake and again in 2018. The film follows Myers continuing his murderous rampage in his hometown of Haddonfield when his childhood house is used for a live internet horror show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Durand</span> Canadian actor (born 1974)

Kevin Serge Durand is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Vasiliy Fet in The Strain, Joshua in Dark Angel, Martin Keamy in Lost, Fred J. Dukes / The Blob in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Barry Burton in Resident Evil: Retribution, Gabriel in Legion, Little John in Robin Hood, Jeeves Tremor in Smokin' Aces, Carlos in The Butterfly Effect, and Proximus Caesar in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He received a 2012 Best Supporting Actor Genie nomination for his portrayal of Lenny Jackson in Citizen Gangster.

<i>Flesheater</i> 1988 film by Bill Hinzman

Flesheater is 1988 horror film directed, written, produced, and co–edited by Bill Hinzman. An independent production, the film also stars Hinzman, best known for playing the cemetery ghoul in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).

<i>The Tripper</i> 2006 American film

The Tripper is a 2006 American comedy slasher film directed by David Arquette, and starring Jaime King, Thomas Jane and Lukas Haas.

<i>Gardener of Eden</i> 2007 American film

Gardener of Eden is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Kevin Connolly. It stars Lukas Haas, Erika Christensen and Giovanni Ribisi.

<i>Who Loves the Sun</i> (2006 film) 2006 Canadian film

Who Loves the Sun is a 2006 Canadian film directed and written by Matt Bissonnette and starring Lukas Haas, Molly Parker, Adam Scott, R.H. Thomson, and Wendy Crewson.

<i>Without Warning</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Greydon Clark

Without Warning is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed and produced by Greydon Clark. The film stars Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Kevin Peter Hall, Neville Brand and Ralph Meeker in his final film role. It centers on an alien lifeform that arrives on Earth in order to stalk and kill humans as game. It was released by Filmways Pictures on September 19, 1980.

<i>The New Daughter</i> 2009 American film

The New Daughter is a 2009 American horror film and the feature directorial debut of Spanish screenwriter Luis Berdejo. It stars Kevin Costner, Ivana Baquero and Samantha Mathis. Based on the short story of the same name by John Connolly, it tells the story of a novelist and his two children who encounter a malevolent presence when they move to a house in the country adjacent to a burial mound.

<i>Thats My Boy</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Sean Anders

That's My Boy is a 2012 American comedy film directed by Sean Anders, written by David Caspe, and produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Heather Parry, and Allen Covert. It stars Sandler and Andy Samberg, with Leighton Meester and James Caan. It also stars Vanilla Ice, Tony Orlando, Will Forte, Milo Ventimiglia, and Susan Sarandon in supporting roles. The film follows Donny Berger (Sandler), a middle-aged alcoholic who once enjoyed celebrity status for being at the center of a teacher-student statutory rape case, as he tries to rekindle his relationship with his adult son, Todd Peterson/Han Solo Berger (Samberg), born as the result of that illicit relationship, in hopes that their televised reunion will earn him enough money to avoid going to prison for his tax debts.

<i>The Gruffalos Child</i> (film) 2011 film

The Gruffalo's Child is a 2011 animated fantasy short television film based on the 2004 picture book of the same name written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. A sequel to The Gruffalo, the film was shown on Christmas Day 2011 in the United Kingdom, exactly two years after the debut of the first film.

<i>Dark Hollow</i> (novel) 2006 horror novel by Brian Keene

Dark Hollow is a 2006 horror novel written by Brian Keene. It tells the story of Adam Senft, a struggling writer who discovers that an evil satyr has been summoned by Nelson LeHorn, a local witch. The satyr is hypnotising and abducting women in Adam's local town in order to procreate with them. Adam must convince his friends and the police that the satyr is real in order to destroy it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bianca Del Rio</span> American drag queen

Roy R. Haylock, better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since her time on Drag Race, Del Rio has written and toured several stand-up shows, including It's Jester Joke (2019), which also made her the first drag queen to headline at Wembley Arena. She has also performed as a host for various international tours, most notably Werq the World. In 2018, she published her first book, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert On Nothing With An Opinion On Everything.

<i>The Hallow</i> 2015 film

The Hallow is a 2015 horror film directed by Corin Hardy, written by Hardy and Felipe Marino, and starring Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley. It is a British-Irish co-production filmed in Ireland. It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck Wendig</span> American writer (born 1976)

Charles David ("Chuck") Wendig is an American author, comic book writer, screenwriter, and blogger. He is best known for the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy.

<i>Big Legend</i> 2018 American film

Big Legend is a 2018 independent monster horror film released in 2018 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It follows an army veteran who returns to search the Pacific Northwest forest where his fiancé was taken by a legendary creature.

<i>Little Dead Rotting Hood</i> 2016 horror film directed by Jared Cohn

Little Dead Rotting Hood is a 2016 American horror film written by Gabriel Campisi and directed by Jared Cohn. It stars Eric Balfour, Bianca Santos, Romeo Miller, Patrick Muldoon, Heather Tom and Marina Sirtis.

References

  1. ↑ Team, The Deadline (26 January 2015). "Black List Horror Pic 'Dark Was The Night' Sells To Image; Breaking Glass Picks Up 'Uncertain Terms' – Film Roundup".
  2. ↑ Kit, Borys (February 17, 2012). "Kevin Durand, Lukas Haas to Star in 'Dark Was the Night'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Chitwood, Adam (February 17, 2012). "Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas Star in DARK WAS THE NIGHT". Collider. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  4. ↑ Brooks, Brian (February 17, 2012). "Kevin Durand And Lukas Haas Set For 'Dark Was The Night'". Deadline. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ Walkuski, Eric (12 March 2012). "SET VISIT PREVIEW: DARK WAS THE NIGHT, STARRING KEVIN DURAND AND LUKAS HAAS". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. 1 2 Dickson, Evan (13 March 2012). "[Special Report] A Sneak Peek At Our Trip To Southampton For 'Dark Was The Night'!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Brooks, Brian (February 22, 2012). "Bianca Kajlich Takes Female Lead In Thriller 'Dark Was The Night'". Deadline. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  8. ↑ "First Official Look At 'Dark Was the Night'". Bloody Disgusting. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "DARK WAS THE NIGHT (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Dark Was the Night". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.