Two estranged siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm as their father is days from dying. Before their arrival, their mother (Julie Oliver-Toucstone) had warned them not to come. Upon their arrival, their mother is distant annoyed that they did not heed her warning spending her time when not at her father's bedside at the kitchen sink endlessly chopping vegetables in the company of an invisible presence. As the adult children settle into the family home they grow to realize that the air seems a bit different than they remembered, the goats in the barn seem more restless and the chimes seem to go off more often in the wind. There dad (Michael Zagst) has no reaction or recognition of them when they enter the room. The attending Nurse who mostly sits beside his bed and knits does not have any insight to offer on his situation.
Director Bryan Bertino who established his footing in the horror genre with 2008's The Strangers now has established familiar elements that appear in his films. He likes to work with shadows and silhouetted adversaries lurking about. Here the evil comes in forms of the supposed innocent. Berito is also adept at creating an atmosphere that makes both the characters and the audience uneasy. An isolated Texas farm with impending death looming serves to hammer home those feelings.
Marin Ireland is the heart of the film as Louise. She is obviously more successful that her brother and has not readily taken his calls over the years. Rural farm life is something she had left far behind in the rear view. Now she's here amongst the goats and the dust trying to keep it together. With her facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures and movements she brings the audience into the terror she's experiencing. Michael Abbot Jr. is a blue collar family man as Michael whose always checking in with his wife and kids back home. He is not prone to believing in the spiritual but a couple of key events at the family homestead quickly change his mind. Look for Xander Berkeley for a brief but pivotal role as the local Priest. The siblings' mother turned to him in her hour of need and his visits to the homestead brought clarity to the level of evil present in the home.
The Dark and The Wicked is a study in isolation and grief and the toll it can take on individuals submerged daily into their elements. The family matriarch went from being non-religious to devout. The siblings moved from practical to manic on the point of doing something dramatic based on a feeling that if carried out could not be reversed. Bertino builds the level of terror methodically keeping the audience on edge as the stakes rise in the final act. We are seeing the continued growth of a new player in the genre building the anticipation towards the project he will take on next.
***1/2 Out of 4.
The Dark and The Wicked | Bryan Bertino | U.S.A. | 2020 | 94 minutes.
Tags: Deathbed, Family Farm, Oxygen, Rural Texas, The Bible, Christian Motifs, Crosses, Journal, Barn, Goats, Sheep, Chair, Wall Phone.
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