Lovely, Dark, and Deep

Hoping to overcome a personal tragedy, a woman treks into the wilderness under the guise of a new ranger's job which allows her to look into the past tragedy that has haunted her only to come face to face with the unwanted source of the hauntings and must battle her sanity to escape the area.

This was a decent enough if overall underwhelming genre effort. Among its few positive features here is the general sense of isolation and atmospherics that are present within here. A vast majority of the first half is spent in the confines of the forest and the wonderful use of atmospherics only enhances that with the idea of the forest being alive and toying with her which is somewhat unnerving. Enhanced incredibly well with the given backstory about her past history and the connection she has with the missing ranger friend that spurns her into going along with the trip, this gets the film off to a solid start as the motivation to get there offers quite an impressive factor to get to the surroundings around her. As it gradually dawns on her that the more she's around the forest the more she questions what she's seeing and believing, the madness that develops here as the psychological effects take centerstage manages to be the big crowning achievement in the film. As this gives way to the further connection between the events taking place and the past encounter that initially drew her to the area, this starts to take a far greater and more atmospheric turn as the inability to determine what's going on is a strong one. Taking the chance to incorporate a slew of psychological clues and disturbnances that take place to upset her, there's a lot of unnerving work throughout here as the inability to distinguish from her past hallucinations, repressed memories, or having something legitimately taking place during the stay. As these lead to further revelations about everything and what's really going on within the film, the truth being revealed the way it does is quite fun with how it comes together into a shocking mystery as to how it takes place which also utilizes the fine reveal for a lot to like here. Other than this, though, there's not a whole lot to the film as a whole. So much of this is reliant on the idea of the creepiness of the woods and the unnatural setting that's really only a normal enough forest that there's not a whole lot of action to be had here. The main part of the film which is wholly enjoyable due to the effectiveness of this build-up about her growing uncertainty with regard to what happened to her yet this is all generally dull and uneventful with how it's handled especially for those looking for something beyond just fleeting glimpses of shadows or objects in the distance. As a result, the focus on getting the type of chilling genre content usually featured here is kept to a minimum as the psychological leanings are far more featured which becomes a major stumbling block that holds this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

This movie seemed really promising initially. A Ranger getting wrapped up in a missing person's case with her own missing loved one in her past? Sign me up.

But it didn't go that route. Without spoiling too much, it decided to go a trippy, metaphorical route without establishing enough about this character and her own memories. It was just a scape of meaningless hallucinations for most of the movie. That kind of thing only works if there's a reality check often enough that we get scared questioning what's real and what's not. Instead, I was wondering when the unreal stuff was going to finally end.

The ending was incredibly disappointing and overall mid. If you ask me, not worth the runtime. Watch The Ritual instead if you want spooky woods with a paranormal twist about grief.

When I sat down to watch this 2023 movie from writer and director Teresa Sutherland, I had never heard about the movie, so I didn't know what I was in for. But the movie's cover and title seemed interesting enough, plus the fact that it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, then of course I opted to sit down and give "Lovely, Dark, and Deep" a chance.

And I am glad that I did, because this movie was entertaining. Sure, I didn't fully grasp the concept of what was going on, with the 'taking' and 'them' that the rangers talked about throughout the movie. But what made the movie enjoyable to me was the acting performances, the events that took place and the way that the movie was shot. It was a rather interesting movie and it definitely had some very unique and bizare visuals, which I definitely enjoyed.

As for the narrative, well I enjoyed the story, though I have to admit that I was at a loss as to what the purpose really was of the disappearances and the mentioning of 'them' and such. But the movie proved very enjoyable nonetheless.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that is something I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. It is particularly enjoyable to see new talents and faces on the screen, especially when they are as talented as Georgina Campbell (the leading actress, playing Lennon) was in this movie. Her performance as Lennon was phenomenal, and she carried the movie with grace.

Visually then writer and director Teresa Sutherland put together quite a movie. There are so many great visual scenes throughout the course of the movie, and they add so much flavor to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

"Lovely, Dark, and Deep" is a movie that I definitely recommend you to sit down and watch.

My rating of "Lovely, Dark, and Deep" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

Gorgeous directing and cinematography, and Georgina Campbell was great as always. Definitely an atmospheric slowwww burn, I do wish it went a little more insane when it started to turn, would've been more of a payoff for the wait, but they still pulled off some neat stuff. The climbing thing was perfect, so so creepy. This would be a good one for those who prefer suspense/true crime over heavy gore. Nice short 87 minute runtime too so it's not a huge commitment and it definitely keeps you interested. Very promising stuff from a first time director, would be glad to watch whatever comes next :) Also "I owe this land a body" is just the creepiest thing ever so specific props on that.