Lovely, Dark, and Deep

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.

The cinematography was widely shot well, twisty screenplay and deft direction from Teresa Sutherland make for an unsettling nightmare that will follow you to bedtime for children under 12. I did enjoyed the score because it was level higher pitch to a +2 instead of a normal score pitch tone. This is a well-written and well-acted atmospheric haunting. This is a slow burn horror film of this year and don't think too complicated about these perspectives. Critics is wopping 87% is the highest level and yes there should be at least one scare that entertaining me but for the most part, this is done well. "The film's extended second act features a surreal journey through the past and the mind. Existential horror at its most impressionistic, Lovely, Dark, and Deep adopts some truly disturbing visuals, which happen to also be where some of the film's most glaring problems arise. While audiences will inevitably be divided by the film's languid pace, unrealized ambiguity and bottleneck feel, fans of horror that requires patience and empathy will undoubtedly enjoy the sombre mysteries of Lovely, Dark, and Deep - a film well worth getting lost in (MARKO DJURDJIC 2024)".

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.

Where do I even begin with this mess of a movie? There is so much that was poorly done about, I don't even know where I should start. It's like someone took an interesting premise, someone else wrote the most boring story surrounding it, and then you had someone completely different write the script. Disjointed, all-over-the-place storytelling that left you with more questions than you started off with, and that is never a compliment.

The first inclination that this was going to be a bad film was that it took almost 40 minutes before anything of note transpired. The initial 40 were spent with the lead wandering the woods, making her rounds as a park ranger, while also looking for someone. When the movie does get going, it's at a snails pace. I'm not joking when I say that for every minute something even remotely interesting is happening, there are 20 minutes of nonsense. Drone flying over the woods, the woods creeping upside down, trees, more woods, trees, trees, trees. That's the gist of this movie. It was almost like an advertisement for the National Parks, and this movie is probably less exciting than a ranger training video.

It's a movie that, the more you watched, the more you could tell that it didn't really have a firm direction to begin with. It was like a movie made by various people who didn't share their part of the story until the end, and the movie suffered greatly because of it. The last half hour I watched on 8X speed because I just couldn't be bothered to give this movie any more of my time.

I'm starting to notice a trend in these modern Hollywood horror films; every time a horror movies showcases any signs of D. E. I it's been awful, and you can throw this one right in the pile. It looks like the focus is on superficial elements that are more important than telling a decent story that people might actually enjoy, and that in itself is a real travesty of modern day Hollywood. I'm so glad that movies in the rest of the world aren't adhering to that nonsense. Hollywood really isn't worth the time or energy if they keep pumping out crap like this.

A total and complete waste of time. Please, for the love of all that is decent and pure, listen to me; your time is much to precious to spend it watching movies like these. Avoid this movie at all costs. It's just not good by any metric you throw at it.

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.