Super Dark Times | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kevin Phillips |
Written by | Ben Collins Luke Piotrowski |
Produced by | Edward Parks Richard Peete Jett Steiger |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Eli Born |
Edited by | Ed Yonaitis |
Music by | Ben Frost |
Distributed by | The Orchard |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $33,109 [1] |
Super Dark Times is a 2017 American independent psychological thriller film directed by Kevin Phillips and starring Owen Campbell, Charlie Tahan, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Max Talisman and Amy Hargreaves. [2] [3] [4] It is Phillips' directorial debut. [5] [6] [7] [8] After a traumatic accident, an inseparable pair of teenage boys and best friends lose their innocence and sanity from jealousy, violence and paranoia.
In the 1990s, in Upstate New York, two teenage best friends, Zach and Josh, rate the girls in their yearbook. They find a common interest in Allison.
After school, the duo crosses the path of the universally-disliked Daryl and his eighth-grade friend Charlie. Later that week, the four boys meet up at Josh's house where they look through the possessions of Josh's brother, who is away in the military, and find a bag of marijuana and a katana.
Afterwards, the boys play with the sword in a secluded park area bordering the local cemetery and notice that Daryl has stolen the marijuana. After a tense argument, Josh and Daryl fight, resulting in Daryl being accidentally stabbed in the neck with the katana. Daryl runs from the scene but only makes it into the adjacent forest where he dies. The boys panic and hide both Daryl's body and the weapon.
At school, rumors circulate about Daryl's disappearance. Zach has nightmares and Josh doesn't attend classes. Zach wants to return to Daryl's burial site and attend Allison's upcoming party with Josh, who declines but goes to Allison's party separately where he shares his brother's weed. Zach, disturbed, leaves.
Another student, John, is found dead. Rumors speculate that he fell off a bridge. Zach suspects that John's death was not accidental. He returns to Daryl's burial site and finds the katana missing and Daryl's corpse mutilated.
Zach goes to Josh's home and realizes Josh is with Allison. He tracks her to Meghan's house, where Josh has killed her with the katana and tied Allison up. After Zach unties her, the former friends fight until a neighbor intervenes and subdues Josh, who is arrested, while Zach's fate is left unknown.
Months later, Allison has recovered and returns to school. A camera shot shows three parallel lines on the back of her neck.
The film premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival. [9] It made its North American premiere on April 20, 2017, at the Tribeca Film Festival. [10] Deadline Hollywood reported that The Orchard had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film in March 2017. [11] The film was released in theaters on September 29, 2017, and digitally on October 3, 2017. [12] It plays on Hulu streaming. [13]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2020) |
The film has a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Rich in atmosphere and period detail, Super Dark Times is an effective teen thriller whose true power lies in its approach to deeper themes." [14] Metacritic reports a score of 75/100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [15]
Super Dark Times won the best feature film award at the 17th Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. [17] It was also the winner of Best Sound Design in a Feature Film at the 2017 Music+Sound Awards, [18] and received a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Independent Film at the 44th Saturn Awards. [19] At the 33rd Independent Spirit Awards, Kevin Phillips was nominated for the Someone to Watch Award. [20]
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress. Known for her performances across the screen and stage, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and seven Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards.
Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee.
Andrew Brion Hogan Goddard is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He began his career writing episodes for the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost. After moving into screenwriting in film, he wrote Cloverfield (2008), World War Z (2013), and The Martian (2015), the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2011, he made his directorial debut with The Cabin in the Woods.
Christopher Whitelaw Pine is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016) and Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984.
Edward John Speleers is an English actor and producer. He is known for playing the title role in the 2006 film Eragon, antagonist Stephen Bonnet in the TV series Outlander and Jimmy Kent in the TV series Downton Abbey. He recently appeared as Rhys Montrose in the fourth season of You (2023) and Jack Crusher in the third season of Star Trek: Picard (2023).
Zoe Lister-Jones is an American actress and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows Delocated (2009–2010), Whitney (2011–2013), and New Girl (2015). Lister-Jones made her directorial debut with the 2017 comedy-drama film Band Aid. In 2020, she wrote and directed the horror film The Craft: Legacy. During the Covid-19 pandemic she co-wrote and co-directed the comedy-drama film How It Ends (2021) with Daryl Wein. In 2023 she produced, wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy series Slip for The Roku Channel, with Dakota Johnson as executive producer under her TeaTime Pictures banner. On December 5, 2023, it was announced that Slip was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards.
Alex Tse is an American screenwriter and television show creator active since 2004. He was one of the creators and executive producers of the 2019 TV series Wu-Tang: An American Saga. Prior to that, Tse wrote the 2004 gangster film Sucker Free City, co-wrote the 2009 superhero film Watchmen, and wrote the 2018 film Superfly.
Zoë Isabella Kravitz is an American actress, model and singer. She made her acting debut in the romantic comedy film No Reservations (2007). Her breakthrough came with portraying Angel Salvadore in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011), which earned her nominations for a Teen Choice Award and a Scream Award. She rose to prominence playing Christina in The Divergent Series (2014–2016) and Leta Lestrange in the Fantastic Beasts film series (2016–2018).
Charles Tahan is an American actor. Starting as a child actor, with appearances in the 2007 films American Loser and I Am Legend, he has progressed through teen and adult roles. His notable roles include Ben Burke in the Fox dystopian mystery thriller series Wayward Pines (2015–16), the young Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow in the Fox/DC Comics superhero drama Gotham (2014–17), and Wyatt Langmore in the Netflix original crime drama Ozark (2017–2022).
Ana Celia de Armas Caso is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba with a leading role in the romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006). At the age of 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in the popular drama El Internado for six seasons from 2007 to 2010.
Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award and three Saturn Awards. He featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most popular actors of his generation.
Chandler Carlton Riggs is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his regular role as Carl Grimes on the AMC horror-drama television series The Walking Dead from 2010 to 2018. For his work on the series, Riggs won three Saturn Awards from five nominations and a Young Artist Award from three nominations.
Adam Christian Clark is an American film director, screenwriter, editor, and actor whose films have been noted for their naturalistic performances and mumblecore style.
Krampus is a 2015 Christmas comedy horror film based on the eponymous character from Austro-Bavarian folklore, directed by Michael Dougherty, who co-wrote with Todd Casey and Zach Shields. The film stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, with Krista Stadler, and introducing Lolo Owen, Queenie Samuel, Maverick Flack, and Sage Hunefeld. In the film, a dysfunctional family squabbling causes a young boy to lose his festive spirit. Doing so unleashes the wrath of Krampus, a fearsome, horned demonic beast in ancient European folklore who punishes naughty children at Christmas time. As Krampus lays siege to the neighborhood, the family must band together to save one another from a monstrous fate.
The Circle is a 2017 American techno-thriller film directed by James Ponsoldt with a screenplay by Ponsoldt and Dave Eggers, based on Eggers' 2013 novel of the same name. The film stars Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, as well as John Boyega, Karen Gillan, Ellar Coltrane, Patton Oswalt, Glenne Headly, and Bill Paxton.
The Nightingale is a 2018 Australian historical psychological thriller film written and directed by Jennifer Kent. The film stars Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie, Charlie Shotwell, and Michael Sheasby. Set in 1825 in Van Diemen's Land, it follows a young Irish convict woman (Franciosi) seeking vengeance against the sadistic English Colonial Force Lieutenant (Claflin) and soldiers who first raped her and then murdered both her husband and infant daughter. She is aided by an Aboriginal Tasmanian tracker (Ganambarr), who similarly seeks vengeance for the murderous Black War against his own people. In addition to being filmed in both English and in the Irish language, The Nightingale is the first motion picture to be filmed in palawa kani, a reconstructed form of the once extinct Tasmanian languages.
Christopher Nolan is a British-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His feature directorial debut was the neo-noir crime thriller Following (1998) which was made on a shoestring budget of $6,000. Two years later, he directed the psychological thriller Memento (2000) which starred Guy Pearce as a man suffering from anterograde amnesia searching for his wife's killers. Similar to his debut feature it had a non-linear narrative structure, and was his breakthrough film. It was acclaimed by critics and was a surprise commercial success. For the film Nolan received his first nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, and for writing its screenplay he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He next directed the mystery thriller remake Insomnia (2002) which starred Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. It was his first film for Warner Bros., and was a critical and commercial success.
Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Todd Phillips, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, loosely based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joker. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comedian whose descent into mental illness and nihilism inspires a violent countercultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy appear in supporting roles. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Bron Creative and Joint Effort.
Benjamin Safdie is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and film editor best known for working with his older brother Josh as a filmmaker. His directorial works include Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019). Transitioning towards acting, Safdie was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his role in Good Time and has since taken on roles in films such as Licorice Pizza (2021), Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Oppenheimer. He co-created, co-wrote and starred in the television show The Curse (2023).
Max Talisman is an actor, screenwriter, and director known for Super Dark Times, Orange Is the New Black, and Things Like This.