The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

Director: Bryan Bertino

Starring: Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr, Julie Oliver-Touchstone

On a secluded farm in a nondescript rural town, a man is slowly dying. His family gathers to mourn, and soon a darkness grows, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over the family.

‘The Dark and the Wicked’ is foreboding from the very start – indeed dark and rather wicked!

A Mother, Virginia, is looking after her terminally ill husband at home, refusing to let him go to hospital. Her daughter, Louise, and son, Michael, are called upon to pay their last respects before he dies. Virginia is still taking care of the chores around the house and its starting to take its toll on her. Louise and Michael notices this, but also find it difficult having a conversation with their mother. With things not ok between the siblings, things get even worse after a tragic incident.

‘The Dark and the Wicked’ doesn’t make use of all the regular haunted house/evil cliches; it creates new ones – and they’re really creepy! This film is a tense nail-biter that keeps the viewer glued to the screen, wondering what’s going to happen next. The suspense is relentless. The acting – especially Marin Ireland as Louise – is very good. Unfortunately, though, the sound wasn’t that great and I couldn’t always clearly hear what some of the characters were saying.

Nevertheless, if you’re a genre fan, you should definitely watch ‘The Dark and the Wicked’. The film certainly saved the horror and disturbing moments for the finale. I guarantee you won’t be satisfied with the ending, but it’s still all good. Evil comes in many shapes and sizes…

‘The Dark and the Wicked’ received several Best Film award nominations and won the Scariest Film award.

Would I watch it again? Yes.