What to Watch This Weekend: Fishbowl, Boogie, Coming 2 America, Half Brothers, Boogie, Sophie Jones, Lucky, Dark and the Wicked, The Dig

For A Stylish And Cinematic Drama About Faith and Family: Fishbowl (Amazon)
One of my favorite movies of 2020, Fishbowl's fantastic style, understated humor, wonderful performances, and subtle touches highlight a crisis of family and faith in a small town that cannot accept or cope with either.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Slam Dunk Sports Drama: Boogie (Theaters)
Boogie scores some easy points with its realistic setting and wonderful characters and uses sports to explore issues of race, dreams, and realities.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Hilarious Return To Zamunda: Coming 2 America (Amazon)

Coming 2 America sees a return to Zamunda with a lot of the same cast from the Eddie Murphy classic along with new characters, cameos, and some modern updates.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Horror Film With A Much Deeper Message: Lucky (Shudder)

Lucky has an entertaining premise and a dark comedy, fueled by Brea Grant's writing and performance, that will draw you into its deeper, impactful, and important message.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Realistic And Grow Coming Of Age Drama: Sophie Jones (Virtual Cinema)

Sophie Jones is a complicated and raw coming of age story, with realistic performances by this talented cast and some frank conversations about dating, relationships, and life.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Atmospheric And Tense Horror Experience: The Dark And The Wicked (Shudder)

The Dark and the Wicked will keep you on edge with it's palatable sense of tension, dread-filled atmospheric horror, amazing gore and effects, and wonderfully nuanced characters in a terrible predicament.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Suprisingly Entertaining Buddy Comedy: Half Brothers (Redbox)

Half Brothers has a ridiculous premise, two very likeable stars, and enough laugh out loud and heartfelt moments to make you feel like you're part of this loving, crazy family.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Emotional Period Drama: The Dig (Netflix)

The Dig features wonderful performances from Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, a wonderful setting, and an elegance to the storytelling that will please fans of historical or period dramas!

Interview: Michael Abbott Jr. Interview for The Dark and the Wicked, Atmospheric Horror Film w/ Marin Ireland

Michael Abbott Jr. joins for a discussion about The Dark and the Wicked, an intense, atmospheric horror films set on a remote ranch also starring Marin Ireland. We discuss his first foray into horror, working with his costar Marin and director Bryan Bertino, and what it was like to film a horror movie on a remote Texas ranch. We also discuss what is next for him! So give it a watch and make sure to check out The Dark and the Wicked, digitally, on demand, and now streaming on Shudder! Starring: Marin Ireland ("The Umbrella Academy," Hell or High Water), Michael Abbott Jr. (Loving, Mud) and Xander Berkeley ("The Walking Dead”) Written and directed by: Bryan Bertino (The Strangers, The Monster, Mockingbird) Synopsis: On a secluded farm, a man is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, his wife is slowly succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say goodbye to their father, siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that something’s wrong with mom, though—something more than her heavy sorrow. Gradually, as their own grief mounts, Louise and Michael begin suffering from a darkness similar to their mother’s, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over their family.

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What to Watch This Weekend: Holiday Movies, Let Him Go, Post-Halloween Horror, Playing With Fire, Long Shot

For Some Irreverent Holiday Cheer - Cup of Cheer (Digital and Tubi)

Cup of Cheer's confident, irreverent style, beautiful camera work, and great music make this one holiday treat that you won't want to return for store credit.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Emotional Holiday Cheer - My Dad's Christmas Date (Digital)

My Dad's Christmas Date gives Barrett and Piven a chance to shine and brings an unconventional holiday story with great characters and plenty of emotion and heart.  For more information, check out the review!

For Some Extra Holiday Cheer - Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix)

The film is doing well with audiences and provides your standard holiday rom com so you can get in the holiday mood now!

For A Family or Western Thriller - Let Him Go (Theaters)

Let Him Go has fantastic characters and a slow burning story, fueled by the natural chemistry between Costner and Lane, in this harrowing tale of family and fear.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Post-Halloween Horror - The Dark and the Wicked (Theaters, Digital)

The Dark and the Wicked will keep you on edge with it's palatable sense of tension, dread-filled atmospheric horror, amazing gore and effects, and wonderfully nuanced characters in a terrible predicament.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Historical Horror - Antebellum (Redbox)

Antebellum is an imaginative mind game that explores the sins of the past and present through strong performances, a mysterious story, and some fantastic, dread-inducing music.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Kids - Playing With Fire (Hulu)

Maybe you have a lot on your mind this weekend and want to distract the kids for a couple hours.  If that's the case, then this is the perfect movie.  It is surprisingly entertaining for adults and my kids absolutely loved it  For more information, check out our review!

For Election Junkies - The Long Shot (Cinemax)

Long Shot starts off ridiculously enough but as it develops, you get to see a lot of heart from Theron and Rogan in this humorous election romp.

Interview: Adrienne Biddle (Producer) of The Dark and the Wicked, Atmospheric Horror Film w/ Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr.

Adrienne Biddle joins for a discussion about The Dark and the Wicked, a new atmospheric horror film set on a remote ranch featuring Marin Ireland and Michael Abbott Jr. We discuss what about this film and writer / director appealed to her, what it was like to make this film, the various lucky breaks that occurred to get this done, and what promoting a film during COVID has been like. We also discuss her future projects! So give it a watch and make sure to check out The Dark and the Wicked, available in theaters, digitally, and on demand on November 6! Starring: Marin Ireland ("The Umbrella Academy," Hell or High Water), Michael Abbott Jr. (Loving, Mud) and Xander Berkeley ("The Walking Dead”) Written and directed by: Bryan Bertino (The Strangers, The Monster, Mockingbird) Synopsis: On a secluded farm, a man is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, his wife is slowly succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say goodbye to their father, siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that something’s wrong with mom, though—something more than her heavy sorrow. Gradually, as their own grief mounts, Louise and Michael begin suffering from a darkness similar to their mother’s, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over their family.

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The Dark and the Wicked Review: An Atmospheric Dread-Filled Horror Film

Release date: November 6, 2020
Running time: 92 minutes
Starring: Marin Ireland ("The Umbrella Academy," Hell or High Water), Michael Abbott Jr. (Loving, Mud) and Xander Berkeley ("The Walking Dead”)
Written and directed by: Bryan Bertino (The Strangers, The Monster, Mockingbird)

On a secluded farm, a man is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, his wife is slowly succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say goodbye to their father, siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that something’s wrong with mom, though—something more than her heavy sorrow. Gradually, as their own grief mounts, Louise and Michael begin suffering from a darkness similar to their mother’s, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over their family. 

The Dark and the Wicked is a movie filled with tension and suspense.  The entire time that you spend with Louise, Michael, and their elderly family, you are on edge wondering what will happen next.  The setting helps this by being set on a beautiful, secluded farm that lends a sense of isolation to this movie.  The film does a great job with the camera work, making it so you catch hints of something here and there.  You catch brief glimpses of what is happening, causing you to hold your breath as you wait for the surprise or scare you know is coming.  And this intensity is amplified by the atmospheric music.  Cello, violins, other classical strings play to raise the suspense as you wait for the inevitable.  

And when this actually does happen, the film jolts you with some intense scenarios and brutal scenes.  The Dark and the Wicked forgoes most CG and leans on practical effects for the gore.  It lends a visceral, brutal element to some of the scenes, and makes sure that you remain horrified but that it does not break you immersion.  And the characters in this film feel fleshed out and are well acted, highlighted by an amazing performance by Marin Ireland.  Ireland is forced to deal with a lot and she does so convincingly as a loyal daughter who is overwhelmed by what is going on around her.  The film has some really subtle character development that builds these characters into fully fleshed out and unpredictable individuals.  

However, although the Dark and the Wicked does a great job building a dread-filled, tense horror landscape, the composition of this film hurts it overall.  First off, the film does a great job of keeping you on edge but loses something by not filling in much backstory.  I feel like I didn't know anything about the family or any of the happy times that they had.  The film just thrusts you into this terrible situation without much background about their overall predicament.  And the film is definitely tense and dread-filled, but that causes the film to follow a predictable pattern.  It seems like each scene follows the trend of relatively normal start, something odd happens, something really crazy happens, reset.  It still leads to jump scares, but also leads to a feeling that the film is one repeating roller coaster.  Now don't get me wrong, this is a phenomenally done roller coaster that evokes a wonderful sense of dread, I just wish there was some more variety in how the story was told.  

The Dark and the Wicked will keep you on edge with it's palatable sense of tension, dread-filled atmospheric horror, amazing gore and effects, and wonderfully nuanced characters in a terrible predicament. 

Watch it.

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RLJE Films will release the horror film THE DARK AND THE WICKED In Theaters, On Digital and On Demand November 6, 2020.

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

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