 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 2020 film the dark and the wicked and it is a shutter Exclusive that's coming to shutter on Thursday, February 25th So since it's not on shutter yet when I'm putting this review up. This is a no spoiler review. Also. It's just a new film So disclaimer on this one People who know me people who watch enough enough of my reviews know that there are certain sub genres of horror that I don't particularly like this film ends up falling into that subject one well one of those sub genres so you can Take from it what you will I still think I have some valid gripes with this film But I also think that there are a lot of people out there that will and who will enjoy it more than I did I didn't really care for this film at all and I'll break down things I thought we're actually really good about it and some things I thought were really not so good about it So mixed bag overall didn't really like it because it's not my subgenre But I do have some valid points to make so hopefully it helps you make decisions But I also always say that every film is worth watching once if for nothing other than to make up your own mind Did you love it? Did you hate it? Do you feel indifferent about it? So go ahead and check it out. Anyway, once again the dark and the wicked this film is written and directed by Brian Bertino you may know some of the stuff he's done before he did the original the strangers which actually I'm not a fan of I Didn't really like that the first time I watched it Maybe I should rewatch it But I did see the original film that it was based off of that's a remake of called them And that's a French horror film that is actually on shutter right now. So you should watch them for sure He also did mockingbird which I haven't seen the monster which I haven't seen but I am gonna see and I've heard Is good. That's an 824 film and also he wrote Strain the strangers pray at night which oddly enough I didn't like the strangers But I liked the strangers pray at night. So kind of a weird thing and that's part of the reason I say maybe I need to go back and rewatch the strangers Because it feels a little weird that I would like the sequel and not the first one But who knows anyway quick synopsis of this, you know, I'm not gonna give you a lot of the information on it So basically, it's a brother and sister who go back to their farmhouse Where their parents their elderly parents are still living and their elderly father is not doing well health-wise But things are going on on the property basically Things might not be what they seem. So that's as much as I'm gonna say if it sounds interesting to you Check it out. Make up your own mind, but I'm gonna tell you my thoughts on the film I do like how they begin the film It was just showing kind of these these shots of a relatively empty farm Which I had read that this was filmed at Brian Bertino's Families farm I believe and it looks nice. It really fits the ambiance and everything It's a good setting honestly for the film But I like how they're just like showing bits of the farm It's kind of you know low lighting for it and you're just hearing a lot of like ambient sounds There's no music and that's one of the things I really do like with this film is they don't overuse music In fact, they don't use a ton of music and when they use it It's very restrained and I love that from an audience perspective because Otherwise, you know when it's overbearing. It's beating you over the head It's telling you how to feel about things Whereas when it's a little bit lighter or there's no music you as an audience member can kind of be there and just like take everything in and Make up your own mind about how you want to feel about things and if you want to feel multiple things If things are complicated for you with that film, so I like how it begins it is pretty slow, but throughout the film for a Probably about the first half of the film I would probably I would say it does feel like it's giving you Breadcrumbs as you're going even though it is slow and that it is building up to something very big now I will say that for me personally it was a big let down in the end because I don't feel like how slow it was Built things up properly for the ending and I thought the ending was actually more of like a whimper than like a bang So but I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second. No spoilers, obviously, but yeah But it is slow so know that now some people will be totally cool with that because it does have pretty good atmosphere to the film and I do think that if You feel fully immersed if you're really really into this sub-genre and you feel fully engaged in the film It could help kind of keep that tension with how slow it is because they maintain good atmosphere, so It depends on who you are and what you're into But even though I noticed that you know the atmosphere is good I just still felt like the pacing was too slow definitely too slow It creates too many lulls and especially at the end of the film when I think they really started need They really needed to start like picking up the pace and building to something faster And then it could have even more impact. It seems like they actually slowed down even more in a way and Kind of killed any sort of mood at the end that could have enhanced the ending of the film Which I as I said, I don't even think is a good ending to the film I think it's very you know boring and overall I think the film is boring to be honest I thought it was a boring film. I really Even though I paid full attention to it. I couldn't really get into it It's one of those films where if I just threw it on and I wasn't gonna do a review for it I would probably end up on my phone just messing around and just partially paying attention So sorry to say I do like the look of this film. I will say that good directing good Cinematography for the most part. I like the the look as in the colors It's like they leached a lot of the color out of the film Which really does help with the atmosphere of it being very drab and very sullen It's it's not a happy film obviously which a lot of horror films aren't but some are but it's it does have this very kind of sad depressing Dread-filled feeling to it, which is good. They did they did weave that pretty well There are a bunch of scenes that are way too dark This is something I like to harp on all the time not all the time There are certain ones where it's it's too dark But it's fine because there's not really a whole lot going on But there are some scenes where it's too dark and you want to see what's going on But you can't really see what's going on plus. There's just kind of too many of those types of scenes, so It's something I harp on, you know, I know some people aren't necessarily bothered by it But it bothers me. I want to be able to see what I'm supposed to be watching. It is a film, you know As the film progresses you really become aware of the sound design That is another thing that I did like about this and this kind of falls into the Using a lot of moments of silence not using too much music or when they're using it It's very kind of like, you know under the radar to a degree Sound design is very good on this film and you really do end up paying attention to it because of a Lot of the lulls in the film So, you know, the things that are going on around the characters on the farm sound really interesting They sound true to life or what you would assume is true to life. So excellent sound design with this film They really did a good job there There's a scene early on I saw coming but how How far they were actually going to go with that scene I did not Predict and I like that that was a kind of horrific Messed up good moment to the film and if you've seen it when you're watching this You know what I'm talking about where most likely everyone will see it coming because it's something that's been used in horror films before But the degree to that they took it to I have to kind of bravo on that because it Took something that I was expecting and was kind of rolled my eyes about because I'm like I was has been done a lot of times and they put a they just went further like they did their own thing with it And that's more what I wanted like I wanted more of that type of stuff to the film in general I wanted them to take this story to take a lot of the things in the story and and Do something different make it their own just like that one scene and it just felt like it wasn't that it felt like a lot of stuff I've seen before and There's not a lot of like a new twist to it or a new feel except for the setting I will say the setting is is interesting Like I said before the atmosphere Sorry, the atmosphere is built pretty well and they do maintain it to a degree except for the fact that the film is slow Which I think kind of you know loses some attention There are some creepy visuals in this that people are Are going to like most likely more than me It's one of those things where like I see what visuals they're creating and I'm like I see how people would see this and think it's creepy I Don't necessarily it doesn't have the effect on me and maybe that's partially because of my bias of not really liking the subgenres, so I Know there are gonna be people who love this film. I know there will be so yeah There's a change in Situation under which bad things in this film happen that is supposed to really like amp up the perception of danger And I think that was interestingly done. I do like that you I would hope you know what I'm talking about if you've already seen it it kind of changes the Situation of when things are happening the bad things which signals kind of an escalation to a degree now When that happened, I thought okay here we go. It's gonna get crazier. It's gonna pick up pace But it didn't it actually in a way kind of stepped backwards for me And that that scene that I was really praising in the beginning that I said, you know It went further than I thought it was gonna go I felt like that was the pinnacle of the film for me personally and then everything else just kind of like backpedaled from there So I just won the fan The ending is really a I wrote down they could have built it up to a very big moment But instead they ambled to a whimpering finish in my opinion There's a lot of really good technical stuff I've already talked about the good things about this film the acting is another thing the acting in this is very good Very good acting the actors showed up they did more than their job They really put everything into these roles every one of them I can't think of anyone in the film who I was like No, they were all very good. So they did their job. I just think the script isn't there I really don't think the script is there sound design great looks really good You know, there were some cool camera shots and some nice shot composition You know, it's just the story's not there And that's one of the biggest things is that the script is the start of the film And if the script isn't there the film isn't gonna be able to get there I just did a review recently on although it's not to this degree at all but just something to kind of compare I recently did a review on a Five dollars for an August moon, which is 1970 Mario Baba film. That's giallo And it wasn't his script and he didn't have time to Go over the script like he wanted to so he shot the script and the script was bad But it looks visually really good But that's not enough you can't just see things and Just rely on that, you know, you can't have great visuals and just rely on that the story has to be there That's the whole basis of what should be the draw for people And I think that's one of the biggest things missing with this film in my opinion. It was just wasn't developed enough I think maybe another person getting involved in the writing would have been good Or maybe having someone else take a look at it and and then make some changes after that I don't know but I don't know what the process was either and like I also said Maybe some people out there love it as is and that's fine. That's that's great and you can let me know in the comments Yeah, the film is just too long I really think it should have been cut down quite a bit that would have helped with kind of like it being very slow And kind of the pacing issues. I understand one of the reasons for it because I think you're kind of supposed to feel The slowness and the anguish and the pain and how dark things are for the characters But it was just too much like it's just way too slow like you can still achieve that without having it go on so long and It's just not engaging. It's not interesting for that downtime Now it is just like a little bit over an hour and a half and it feels way longer than that So that's not good. They probably should have cut it down to about an hour and 15 Just saying The final thing I want to say is this really speaks to the stress and emotional hardship a family Experiences when a member is seriously sick and how hard it is seeing a family member You no longer recognize because of being sick because of you know things Degenerating and we're all go, you know, a lot of us have gone through something like that in our lives and with our family And or will go through something like that So it's very relatable and I think for that reason it will connect with a bunch of people So that's a good aspect of it But it's also been done in film a lot before and like I was saying I didn't feel like there was enough of anything new or any you know Personal flair put on this that really change makes the film all that great to me But I'm also gonna say I don't I didn't like the films like just to this is just to Exemplify how there are films out there that a lot of people love and I just don't like it because of its subgenre the conjuring I don't really like that insidious. I hated the first insidious. That was not a good film So and I know some people you are hearing that right now or just like are you out of your mind? I get it. I know and that's why I'm saying Watch this film yourself figure it out and then you can put some comments down here because I'd love to hear people's Differing opinions on this. What did you see in it that you loved? Were some of those things that I said were good in it enough to make it good for you? Or did you see something else or did it connect with you personally because I could see it doing that? So anyway out of five stars with half stars in play for me personally I'd probably put it down around like a two star or something like that, but Taking my bias into account I'm gonna put it at a two and a half star and just put its smack dab in the middle Because there are some good things about it and I know I have kind of a bias on this one. So It is what it is just saying But anyway, thanks for checking this out. Go ahead and put comments down here And you can go ahead and do spoilers in the comments. That's fine Go ahead and we'll talk more about this film Do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe button If you like this review or any review you've seen or any video you've seen on my channel Really that is your way to repay me because I don't make money doing this I'm just trying to build a nerdy horror community of people I can talk to When I post these videos and just be nerdy about horror That's the fun of it But hit that subscribe button and also hit the notification bell because then you'll know when I'm putting new videos up But yeah, regardless, I appreciate you taking your time to check this out and until next time keep it brutal