The Dark and the Wicked
The Dark and the Wicked is a 2020 American horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. It stars Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr. and Xander Berkeley. The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 28, 2020. It was released on November 6, 2020, by RLJE Films. Plot. Louise and Michael are siblings who are brought back to the family farm in Texas when their father's illness, which keeps him bedridden and uncommunicative, cared for by his wife and a nurse, worsens. Their mother seems disturbed and expresses  a desire for the children to leave. At night, she hangs herself in the barn after cutting off her own fingers in the kitchen. As time goes on, Louise and Michael start to understand what happened to their mother. The nurse confides in them that she heard her whispering to the father, but it seemed as if she was speaking not to him, but some other presence. Michael finds their mother's diary, which describes her fears of an unnamed presence trying to take the soul of her husband. The presence makes itself known to the siblings in increasingly terrifying  and deadly ways, ultimately pushing Michael to suicide after seeing his wife and daughters killed by the entity. Louise, traumatized by repeated interactions with the demonic presence, including the suicide of the nurse, remains with her father at the farm. As he dies, he is possessed by the presence, which in turn attacks Louise shortly after. Release. The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 28, 2020. RLJE Films had acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for a November 6, 2020 theatrical release. It was originally scheduled to have its world  premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reception. Box office. The film earned $410,787 at the global box office. Critical response. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on critic reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: ""The Dark and the Wicked" delivers on its title with an unsettling horror story whose deep dread and bleak outlook further compound its effective jolts." Metacritic reports a score of 72 out of 100 based on 14 critic  reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Cath Clarke of "The Guardian" gave the film a score of 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as "a nastily effective, lo-fi, psychological haunted house horror", and added: "There is possibly not a single scary moment here that will be new to horror fans, but Bertino directs with such technical flair that I yelped at most of them – and half-missed the others, eyes squeezed tight shut." Matt Zoller Seitz of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film a score of 3 out of 4 stars, writing that it "has enough jump scares to satisfy the  Yes, but it is scary? contingent of horror fans. But for the most part, this film ... focuses on atmosphere and creeping dread, channeling 20th century classics like "Don't Look Now", "The Tenant", the original "Alien" and "The Sixth Sense"." Kate Erbland of "IndieWire" was more critical of the film, giving it a grade of C. She praised Ireland's performance, but wrote that the film "despite a strong start ... never coalesces into anything more than a collection of chilling images and a paper-thin logic."