Church of Darkness (2022)

**_A devout youth tangles with a demonic cult in the backwoods of the Sunshine State_**

A foster teen (Wesley Restrepo) travels to a small town in central Florida to live with his new foster dad, the Sheriff of the town (Mike Roy). As he starts a relationship with the girl at the local record/book store (Madison Grace), he investigates a secretive lodge that meets at a defunct church building.

"Church of Darkness” (2022) is a micro-budget Indie that has the same plot set-up as “Twilight” (2008), but exchanges the vampirism & lycanthropy for a hellish cult akin to “The Devil’s Rain” (1975) and “Bay Coven” (1987). The first 15 minutes are quite impressive for a no-budget flick, but then glaring flaws start to surface, such as puzzling storytelling, wooden acting and the campiness of the lodge rituals.

It needed a rewrite to flush out the potential and work out the kinks, but that costs money.

Nevertheless, there’s enough to appreciate if you don’t mind spare change Indies. For instance, the colors are nice & vibrant, harkening back to Hammer Films. Other pluses are the likable protagonists, the noble theme, an entertaining sense of humor, the maverick approach and a good heavy rock/metal soundtrack, highlighted by “The Badge is a Threat” by Sixty Foot Giant during the end credits.

The film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in the area of Melbourne/Palm City/Malabar & Merritt Island, Florida, which are just south of Cape Canaveral.

GRADE: C- (4.5/10)