The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

I was excited to see Bryan Bertino's latest offering. "The Strangers" was an interesting classic introducing masked home invaders in the most unsettling of ways. "The Monster" was a better-than-expected as an estranged mother and daughter are stranded in their car in the woods while being stalked by a monster.

"Wicked's" Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic score was a solid (90%/72) and user reviews were ok (3.2 on IMDB). But for me, it fell completely flat as I kept waiting for something to connect the disparate disturbing scenes and story-line together.

Many movies try to tease the viewer with unreliable narrators, leaving them to ponder whether what is happening is supernatural or all in the characters head. "The Babadook," "Black Swan," and "The Lighthouse" are examples of movies that do this right. Unfortunately, this doesn't.

It's clearly something supernatural that is haunting everybody but beyond some gory and violent scenes (all of which are well done), the movie is just too ambiguous in a very frustrating way.

I was excited to check out Bryan Bertino's latest offering, "The Dark and the WIcked." His debut, "The Strangers," was an instant classic introducing masked home invaders in the most unsettling of ways. His followup, "The Monster," was well-crafted as an estranged mother and daughter get stranded in their car in the woods while being stalked by a monster.

It was ultimately disappointing as there was nothing to connect the disparate creepy happenings to the story-line.

Many movies try to tease the viewer with unreliable narrators, leaving them to ponder whether what is happening is supernatural or all in the characters head. "The Babadook," "Black Swan," and "The Lighthouse" are examples of movies that do this right. Unfortunately, this doesn't.

It's clearly something supernatural haunting everybody, but beyond some disturbing and/or violent scenes (all of which are well done), the movie is just too ambiguous in a very frustrating way.

The scariest new film that I've seen in 2020, 'The Dark and the Wicked' is well-crafted, moodily evocative, and best watched through one's fingers.
- Jake Watt

Read Jake's full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-dark-and-the-wicked-2020s-scariest-film

> _loved this one_

let's start with the poster. I expected some red vibes like from "_evil dead_" something. but turns out, it's showed a _dark sepia tone_ which works. it's been a while since I was gasped and terrified for a horror movie.

the sound and music are effective. I mean, this horror built by this sound. not like a creepy orchestra, but a chaotic chromatic sound. _beautiful and terrifying._

my interpretation is we should learn to let go of our loved ones. when the priest said:

> "the devil is already here"

yes, it's there because you still cling to your loved ones. to let go is not to deny but to accept. to let go is to fear less and love more. I'm sorry if you find this overanalyze.

The film is all about madness at best. Main characters lose their mind and we watch their hallucinations. All the religious references in the film leads to nowhere. The film has a few good jump scares and quite a good beginning which makes you think the rest of the film is going to get somewhere. Unfortunately it doesn’t. **I wouldn’t watch it again, nor would I make my friends watch it**.