A young woman new to the big city purchases a Jaguar haunted by ghosts in "Dark of the Night", a surprisingly eerie 80's film from New Zealand.
We first meet our main character Meg at a car dealership looking to buy used car. Once persuaded by the dealer, she purchases a stunning Jaguar. Meg decides to drive her new car across the country to a new city, and has to sleep in the car overnight on the drive there. The first night she's sleeping, she hears a haunting kind of moaning sound coming from the back seat. When she turns around, no one is there. Frightened, she drives into the night and makes it to her mother's house safely. Meg begins having nightmares of being chased on a road by the Jaguar and also visions of another woman she's never met before heading towards the Jaguar.
A lot of the middle frame is Meg reconnecting with her parents and some old friends she hasn't seen in a while, but after that, Meg is back on the road again to the big city. On the way there, she experiences some creepy moments. For one, the woman from her dream appears and gets into her car to hitchhike. At the same time, a man also gets into the front seat. When she looks back, the woman is missing from the backseat and the man tells her that there was never a woman in the car with them! Meg eventually discovers that a woman was murdered in the backseat years prior. With the killer never found, will history repeat itself for Meg?
'Dark of the Night' is a very effective ghost story film which likely hasn't been seen by many, luckily I happened to find the VHS years ago. The movie has some really creepy and haunting moments which are shot very well. The sounds in the backseat, the car trunk opening on it's own when no one is around. 'Dark of the Night' was also shot on location in New Zealand, so we get some really beautiful scenery of New Zealand out by the coast.
The main character Meg was very likeable, and the script tried to develop the character so the audience would feel her fear and misery over the situation she found herself in. I knew none of the actors from anything else, but found them all to be pretty good - especially Heather Bolton who had the lead role (Meg).
All in all, I highly recommend "Dark of the Night' to any horror/thriller fan who enjoys a good ghost tale. It was a bit slower moving at times, especially the middle frame, but the payoff was worth the wait.
6/10.
