Dark August

I remember reading wonderful review of "Dark August" written by Stephen Thrower in "Nightmare USA" and I wanted to see the film so badly.It finally happened.A young girl is accidentally killed by a car driven by a careless city artist.The girl's grandfather curses the young man.His life is turned into nightmare as he sees a mysterious figure in black."Dark August" is well-made and captivating black magic terror tale set in a small American town.It has its share of gruesome surprises and is surprisingly well-acted.The climax is memorable and horrifying.It's a crying shame that "Dark August" is so criminally obscure.But I live and breathe such obscure horror.8 out of 10.

"Dark August" follows a New Yorker living in rural Vermont who becomes a small-town pariah after killing a young girl in a car accident. Even worse, the girl's grandfather seems to have set a curse against him, unraveling his life and sending an ominous hooded demon to stalk the woods outside his house.

Released to apparently little fanfare and unearthed by Arrow Video last year in their volume 2 "American Horror Project" Blu-ray box set, "Dark August" is an odd duck. While watching the film, I consistently had the sense that I was watching something that should have been mildly revered amongst genre fans had it received an adequate release. The film, despite its low budget, is slickly made and looks like a professional studio endeavor, at least so far as low-budget horror is concerned.

To some degree, "Dark August" embodies the neo-genre of "folk horror," a signifier that has grown more common in recent years. For a film about witchcraft and the occult, it has a very down-to-earth sensibility, but this also makes the scares feel almost too close to home for comfort. It's a moody and atmospheric affair that has a lot in common (both tonally and stylistically) with its New England-set peer "Let's Scare Jessica to Death," albeit with less narrative nuance. In "Dark August", the audience knows indubitably that supernatural goings-on are at work, and the source is clear from the outset.

The demonic presence that taunts the protagonist appears as a cloaked, faceless figure that meanders through the woods, and the presentation of it is bone-chilling. Director Martin Goldman sets these scenes in pure silence, and uses clever cutting techniques to give the audience the sense that this figure is lurking behind every tree. For extra measure, there are abundant shots of the leafy Vermont hills illuminated at dusk, and the inherent unease of the landscape only magnifies the sense of dread. It's truly the stuff of nightmares.

Acting-wise, the film is also fairly solid, with J. J. Barry and Carolyne Barry (a real-life couple who co-wrote the screenplay) as the leads. Their performances feel grounded, ostensibly helped by their deep involvement in the project. The film's real "star" is Kim Hunter, who appears as a clairvoyant white witch figure who attempts to help the protagonist rid himself of the demonic energy that has been thrust on him; her acting is very naturalistic here, and Hunter never lets the character devolve into archetype, which could easily happen in a film like this.

The only real pitfall for me in "Dark August" was the conclusion, which felt a bit hamfisted and abrupt, but I ultimately think that everything else outweighs this minor shortcoming. For fans of regional, downbeat supernatural horror (bordering more on psychological), I cannot recommend "Dark August" enough. It is a thoughtfully-made effort that manages to evoke a sense of true disquiet--the kind of horror that feels like a bad dream. 8/10.

After killing a little girl in a car wash, Sal (J. J. Barry) is plagued by a series of "accidents", and stalked by a tall, dark figure. It seems that someone hasn't taken kindly to Sal's actions and is slowly destroying his life.

Enter Adrianna (Kim Hunter), a mystic who could be Sal's only hope.

DARK AUGUST is a somber tale of supernatural dread and doom, culminating in a final confrontation between good and eeevil.

Both Barry and Hunter are believable in their roles, which is essential in a film like this.

Recommended for fans of paranormal revenge...

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to my review of 1976s Dark August.

Before I get into the film review, here are my ratings for the movie.

The story gets 1.5 out of 2: The Direction a 1.25: The Tempo and Flow receive a 1: While the Acting gets 1.25: And my Enjoyment level earns a 1.25 out of 2: Dark August, therefore, receives a total of 6.25 out of 10.

The particular thing I admire about this film is the story. Even though it's primarily a revenge flick, the writers JJ and Carolyne Barry, and Martin Goldman, go the extra mile. The central plot is about a girl killed in a road accident, and her grandfathers quest for revenge. However, good old grandpops doesn't grab his rifle and hunt the man down. No. He lights a black candle and recites an incantation to bring forth an ancient evil to kill the driver. It's here and in additional incantation scenes that the Barry's and Goldman add the extra touch. Believable dialogue for spell-casting. The spells are no lame-ass Hogwarts Latin one-word crap. There are feelings and power in these words. For me, Dark August includes the most genuine spell-casting phraseology put on film.

On the whole, the writers provide the audience with a good storyline and believable and relatable characters. Though, it does suffer from slowness at times. These pausing periods, which aren't too terrible, could have been used to continue to build the characters and story.

Goldman also directed this little treasure of a horror film. He possesses a fine eye for iconic compositional shots. In the opening sequence, he gives the audience a pan of the landscape, and it's magnificent. The sun is setting over mountains on the horizon. Goldman captures a light-leak from the setting sun to the left edge of the screen. As he pans, the light-leak moves correspondingly. The entire scene gave me a pleasant and euphoric feeling. It's delightful when a director plans every shot of the film. There's a particularly eerie shot of a mysterious robed figure as he stands between the trunks of two trees. The image is centre-screen and framed by the forest. Add to this the quirky and discordant music, and Goldman injects a cold chill into you.

I found it a bonus and a plus to my enjoyment that Goldman uses local people in his shots. The townsfolk are most evident in Sal's first mental attack. At the time, he's in the local store. In the background, the people are shopping. And they don't appear to be acting shopping. I particularly enjoyed the two kids messing about. The realisticness of this scene was great.

The only place that Goldman staggers is with the pacing of the storytelling. The slow pace works, for the most part. However, some segments needed a tad more speed. Surprisingly, this is most evident in the second incantation sequence. It's too long. Though I know it needs to be creepy, the scene is exceedingly slow and creates a dragged out feel. Nevertheless, it's eloquently written.

The cast is on their top form also. And, co-writers JJ Barry and Carolyne Barry do surprisingly well in the lead roles. They work splendidly as a couple; their real-life relationship possibly helped to make their scenes more realistic

I completely believed in the evil grandpoppa. William Robertson perfectly executes the evil stare. There's no way I would've messed with him. I'd have packed up and turned tail and ran. Shame his speaking sections don't possess the equivalent power. Luckily for both the film and the audience, the grandfather represents the quiet and brooding type. I'm not too convinced he even voiced the opening incantation as this voice oozes ominousness.

The only gripe with the performances was that of Kim Hunter's. She delivers a quality performance as the witch. Nonetheless, when she starts the end enchantment, she comes across a little flat. Her monotony could be another reason why the scene appeared slow. It's a shame as this is part of the story's conclusion and was required to hold the audience's attention.

Dark August is an odd title and doesn't do the film justice. I say this because there's no mention of the month, and it's not dark. Well, not that dark. There are hints of suicidal thoughts, though these are only slight. More depth to Sal's grief would have been better. After all, he was the cause of the granddaughter's death. You know he's troubled, but I couldn't help feeling that I wanted more.

That said, this is an enjoyable movie if you like slow creepy flicks. There's no gross-out gore. Even though we witness one of the men saw into his leg, we never see the girl get run over, even though we see the scene a few times. The accident happens off-screen.

I would recommend Dark August for every Horror fan, except the gore-hounds. It's rightly worth one sitting, though I will be going back to it in the future. I wouldn't recommend it for newbies either. The slowness may put you off watching other horror flicks, and that would be a shame because there are so many excellent ones out there. No, this one is for the seasoned fans.

Once you've escaped the evil granddad, make your way through the forest and check out my Absolute Horror list to see where this revenge flick ranked in my charts.

Take Care & Stay Well. Get Inoculated.

Obscure horror flick about a Mikhail Saakashvili lookalike stalked by the grandfather of girl whom he accidentally killed. There's certainly nothing significant about "Dark August", unless we interpret it as a '70s time capsule.* What I mean by a similarity to Robert Altman's movies is that one scene has two groups of people simultaneously carrying on conversations. Of course, I might be the only person who interpreted that. Otherwise, I would never think to equate this movie with Altman's films.

Anyway, this flick is just a way to pass time. Starring J.J. Barry, Carole Shelyne and Kim Hunter.

*In the past month, four 1970s icons have left this life: David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.