Movie Review: The Dark and the Wicked

I recently watched a film called, The Dark and the Wicked. It came out in 2020, directed by Bryan Bertino. Here’s the official synopsis:

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 premise sounded interesting, and the trailer looked creepy.

After watching it, I have some thoughts. First off, yeah, it’s creepy. It nails slow-burn dread and tension to the point where there are spots in the movie where you know something will happen, and it has you squirming in your seat. There’s a particular scene where the mother is cutting carrots with a big knife, and we know from the trailer that she loses fingers. So the whole time, you’re just waiting for it to happen, and goodness gracious, they take their time with it, but in a good way.

I’m not going to get into spoilers for this film, but there really isn’t much to spoil. I liked the setting, the atmosphere, and the acting was well done by everyone in it.

This story is definitely steeped in the supernatural. We never get a concrete answer to what’s going on, but they infer some things and leave it up to you. 

By no means was the film perfect. For one, I felt like they could have developed the plot a bit more and some of the characters. I never really cared about any of them much. Instead, the characters are thrust into this situation and reacting to all the horrible things going on. Otherwise, I enjoyed this film.
​
I give it a 4/5. If you like creeping dread, then give it a watch.