Hold the Dark - Wikipedia Hold the Dark Hold the Dark Official poster Directed by Jeremy Saulnier Produced by Russell Ackerman Eva Maria Daniels Neil Kopp Anish Savjani John Schoenfelder Written by Macon Blair Based on Hold the Dark by William Giraldi Starring Jeffrey Wright Alexander Skarsgård James Badge Dale Riley Keough Julian Black Antelope Music by Brooke Blair Will Blair Cinematography Magnus Nordenhof Jønck Edited by Julia Bloch Production companies Addictive Pictures VisionChaos Productions FilmScience Distributed by Netflix Release date September 12, 2018 ( 2018 - 09 - 12 ) ( TIFF ) September 28, 2018 ( 2018 - 09 - 28 ) ( worldwide ) Running time 125 minutes Country United States Language English Hold the Dark is a 2018 American thriller film directed by Jeremy Saulnier from a screenplay by Macon Blair. It is based upon the novel of the same name by William Giraldi and stars Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough, Tantoo Cardinal, and Julian Black Antelope. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2018 and was released on September 28, 2018, by Netflix. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Filming 4 Release 4.1 Critical reception 5 References 6 External links Plot hide This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article 's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. ( September 2018 ) This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia 's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. ( September 2018 ) In December 2004, wolf expert Russell Core ( Jeffrey Wright ), a writer who studies wolf behavior, is summoned to the small village of Keelut, Alaska by Medora Sloane ( Riley Keough ), who wants Core to hunt down the wolves blamed for the disappearances and presumed deaths of three small children, including Medora 's 6 - year - old son, Bailey. Her husband, Vernon Sloane ( Alexander Skarsgård ), is overseas in Iraq. After a firefight outside Fallujah where Vernon is shown mercilessly and efficiently gunning down Iraqi militants, his unit moves into the city. While stationed at a checkpoint, Vernon wanders off and comes across an American soldier raping a local woman. Vernon stabs the soldier repeatedly in the gut, and leaves the woman with his knife to finish him off. Moments later, shooting breaks out at the checkpoint, and Vernon is shot through the neck, but survives to be sent home. Core, staying at the Sloane house, discusses the missing children with Medora, who tells him of a hot springs to the north of town. That night, he awakes to the sound of Medora whispering and scrubbing herself raw in the bath. She exits the bathroom nude except for a dark wooden wolf mask and approaches Core. Removing the mask, she lays beside Core and moves his hand to her neck forcefully. In the morning, Core leaves town to track the wolves and meets an old native woman, Illanaq, who tells him he is going the wrong way, and that Medora ' knows evil '. Core tracks the wolves for several hours, coming across the hot springs Medora mentioned, and finds a pack of wolves eating their young. Unable to shoot them, Core returns to Keelut. Arriving at the Sloane house, Core finds Medora missing, and the cellar door unlocked. Downstairs, the frozen, strangled body of the Sloane 's son. Core calls for help, and the native villagers, then the police investigate. The natives claim Medora is possessed by a wolf - demon called a tournaq. Vernon 's old friend, and father to another missing child, Cheeon ( Julian Black Antelope ) meets him at the airport and drives the two of them to meet with Police chief Donald Marium ( James Badge Dale ), Core, and several other officers at the morgue. After Core and Marium leave, Vernon shoots the remaining officers and the coroner with Cheeon 's gun, and take Bailey 's body, along with the case file. Vernon and Cheeon bury Bailey in a pine box, marking it with symbols in their blood. Vernon then returns to Keelut and kills Illanaq. Core remembering the woman 's prescient warning, and the police, following up on the murdered officers, arrive in Keelut at the same time. Marium, and a few dozen officers take up positions outside Cheeon 's house as the chief approaches to ask about his involvement with the murders. Cheeon expresses antipathy for ' useless city slickers ' and refuses to come quietly, opening up barn doors on the upper level of his house and opening fire on the clustered police with a heavy machine gun, killing many. Marium flanks the building and shoots Cheeon from the inside. At an inn outside a tourist mine where Medora was sighted, Vernon meets John, an elderly hunter, who treated Vernon as a child for his seeming sociopathy with wolf - blood. The hunter invites Vernon to take a mask, saying he `` needs to let the wolf out a little ''. Vernon chooses a mask from the wall, puts it on and kills John. As he leaves, Vernon is shot in the shoulder by the innkeeper. Vernon visits an old friend, Shan, who informs him that Cheeon has died. Shan pulls the bullet from Vernon 's shoulder. Core and Marium theorize that Medora killed Bailey to save him from darkness. Core recalls Medora 's saying the nearby hot springs are `` a good place to get clean '' and thinks she might have gone there. They agree to go after Medora and catch her before Vernon does. Vernon, meanwhile, has a dream of himself and Medora in the hot springs. Now awake, he overhears Shan 's informing the police that he 's there. Vernon puts on the mask and stabs Shan in the head. The police force splits up, half going to the crime scene at Shan 's house, and Marium and Core going to the hot springs. When looking at some wolf tracks in the snow, Marium is shot through the neck by an arrow fired by Vernon, who is wearing the mask. Core leaves Marium 's body and heads to the hot springs, hoping to intercept Vernon. He finds Medora in the springs and is then, again inexplicably, arrowed in the chest by Vernon. As Vernon strangles her, Medora pushes the mask off his face. He releases her and they embrace. Core falls unconscious. When Core wakes, Vernon offers him a cigarette. Vernon removes the arrow from Core 's body before leaving with Medora. Core crawls outside the cave and encounters a pack of wolves. He is found by a father and son with a snowmachine and brought to their home for care. Vernon is seen digging up Bailey 's grave with Medora ; they pull the coffin along with them as they trek through the snow. Core wakes up in hospital, his daughter Amy at his bedside. Cast Jeffrey Wright as Russell Core Alexander Skarsgård as Vernon Sloane James Badge Dale as Donald Marium Riley Keough as Medora Sloane Julian Black Antelope as Cheeon Macon Blair as Shan Tantoo Cardinal as Illanaq Peter McRobbie as Trapper John Beckham Crawford as Bailey Jonathan Whitesell as Arnie Production In September 2015, it was announced Jeremy Saulnier would direct the film, based upon a screenplay by Macon Blair, while Eva Maria Daniels, Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder would produce the film under their VisionChaos Productions banner and Addictive Pictures banners respectively, A24 would distribute the film. In January 2017, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film, with Anish Savjani and Neil Kopp joining as producers. In February 2017, Alexander Skarsgård, Riley Keough, James Bloor, James Badge Dale and Jeffrey Wright, joined the cast of the film. Filming Principal photography began on February 27, 2017, and concluded on April 26, 2017. Filming took place in and around the areas surrounding Calgary and Kananaskis Country, Alberta, which were used to substitute for Alaska. Release It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2018. It also screened at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2018. It was released on September 28, 2018. Critical reception This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( September 2018 ) Hold the Dark received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a 67 % approval rating based on 51 reviews, with an average score of 6.4 / 10. The website 's critical consensus reads, `` Hold the Dark 's unsettling aesthetic offers more of what filmgoers expect from director Jeremy Saulnier - and is often enough to prop up shaky narrative underpinnings. '' Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating `` generally favorable reviews ''. References Jump up ^ `` Hold the Dark ''. Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 14, 2018. Jump up ^ Kroll, Justin ( September 24, 2015 ). `` A24, ' Green Room ' Helmer Reteaming on Thriller ' Hold the Dark ' ''. Variety. Retrieved February 27, 2017. Jump up ^ McNary, Dave ( January 26, 2017 ). `` Netflix to Distribute Thriller ' Hold the Dark ' With ' Green Room ' Director ''. Variety. Retrieved February 27, 2017. Jump up ^ Kit, Borys ( February 10, 2017 ). `` Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgard, James Badge Dale to Star in Netflix Thriller ' Hold the Dark ' ( Exclusive ) ''. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 27, 2017. Jump up ^ `` HOLD THE DARK -- FEATURE FILM - UNION ( Non-Union talent may also apply ) ''. EbossCanada.com. Retrieved February 27, 2017. Jump up ^ `` Hold the Dark '' ( PDF ). Directors Guild of America. Retrieved February 27, 2017. Jump up ^ Kay, Jeremy ( August 14, 2018 ). `` Toronto unveils Contemporary World Cinema, more Galas and Special Presentations ''. Screen International. Retrieved August 14, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Hold the Dark ''. Fantastic Fest. Retrieved August 23, 2018. Jump up ^ Day - Ramos, Dino ( August 22, 2018 ). `` Fantastic Fest : ' Halloween ', ' Hold The Dark ', ' Climax ' Set For Second Wave Of Programming ''. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 23, 2018. Jump up ^ Travis, Ben ( August 9, 2018 ). `` Jeremy Saulnier 's Green Room Follow - Up Hold The Dark Has His ' Highest Body Count ' -- Exclusive Image ''. Empire Magazine. Retrieved August 9, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Hold the Dark ( 2018 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 3, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Hold the Dark Reviews ''. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 3, 2018. External links Hold the Dark on IMDb Hold the Dark at AllMovie hide Films directed by Jeremy Saulnier Murder Party ( 2007 ) Blue Ruin ( 2013 ) Green Room ( 2015 ) Hold the Dark ( 2018 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hold_the_Dark&oldid=865782729 '' Categories : 2018 films English - language films American thriller films Films set in Alaska Netflix original films Films directed by Jeremy Saulnier Films based on American novels Incest in film American films Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from September 2018 All Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention Wikipedia articles needing rewrite from September 2018 All articles needing rewrite Articles with multiple maintenance issues Articles to be expanded from September 2018 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Français Galego 한국어 Italiano 日本 語 Português Türkçe 3 more Edit links This page was last edited on 26 October 2018, at 03 : 20 ( UTC ). 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Question: where was the movie hold the dark filmed
Answer: areas surrounding Calgary and Kananaskis Country, Alberta