And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie Review

And soon the forgotten.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 10, 2011

Where are you?

It's a worthless little movie, sad to say. And Soon the Darkness might sport fair performances and steady direction, but the underlying question remains: what's the point? A "Horror" movie with no scares, a "Thriller" with no chills, a "Whodunit" that's as transparent as glass, Director Marcos Efron's movie just has no reason to be. The picture is always wanting for greater tension, better characters, and at least some semblance of originality, but it never finds any of that. Instead, audiences are left with a 91-minute snoozer that isn't graphic, isn't terrifying, and in no way resonates once the lights come up. As a movie meant to show directorial potential, And Soon the Darkness works. As crowd-pleasing entertainment? Next.

I told you we should have been in that other movie instead!

Two American girls -- Stephanie (Amber Heard, Never Back Down) and Ellie (Odette Yustman, Operation: Endgame) -- have separated from their group and are exploring the Argentinian countryside on their own. After a run-in with an overly agressive local with whom Ellie had been flirting at a bar, the girls oversleep and miss their bus the next morning. The tension mounts and the two ultimately go their own way after a fight. It's not long before Ellie is kidnapped. Stephanie enlists the help of an uncooperative local police officer (César Vianco) and a fellow American named Michael (Star Trek), who is also looking for a missing girl, in her search for answers and the whereabouts of her best friend.

No scares, no intensity, no meaning, no reason to watch. And Soon the Darkness is a generic dullard of a movie. Its premise is far too basic, its characters far too uninteresting, its resolution far too disappointing. And Soon the Darkness is another "girl in peril/kidnapping" movie that takes too long to set up, and in all that time it fails to paint the characters as the least bit sympathetic. The only reason to root for their safety? The basic humanity of championing right triumphing over wrong, good defeating evil, the innocent overcoming the guilty. Unfortunately, And Soon the Darkness is such a "play it safe" and "play it by the book" movie that the resolution is never in question, the identities of the bad guys never in doubt, and the film's structure is so basic that it ought to be forever hailed as the example of basic formula 101. Why not go out on a limb and let the bad guys win? At least the movie would have something on which to hang its hat.

So is there any good reason to watch? For one, Director Marcos Efron shows some potential as a filmmaker. His scenery is gorgeous and his knack for filmmaking is evident; he's just the victim of a lousy script. And Soon the Darkness sports a slightly gritty, fairly menacing façade; such a look can help a movie reach its full potential, but that's all this one really has going for it. It's look is not as refined as that seen in Case 39, another movie with an F story and B filmmaking, but Efron proves that he might be a director on the rise if given better material with which to work. Additionally, And Soon the Darkness earns a point for its quality acting; none of the primaries set the world on fire and shouldn't be getting fitted for their Oscar formalwear, but Amber Heard and Odette Yustman turn in slightly better-than-average performances as a couple of halfwit Horror movie girls, while Karl Urban and César Vianco are solid enough in their roles, even if the latter plays the most transparent character in the movie.

And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And Soon the Darkness might be a movie of negligible value, but its 1080p transfer is superb all around. The image sports that yellow/orange tinge that seems to be the hot trend nowadays, but it switches to a much colder, blue/gray heavy tone later in the movie. Colors are nevertheless sound, appearing mostly natural and certainly never too warm or, on the other end of the spectrum, too dull. Detail is strong-to-exquisite, with only a few bouts of softness interfering with what is a very handsome film-like texture that features not only a fair bit of grain, but excellent crispness and clarity that allows the transfer to define every square inch of the Argentinian landscape, notably rocks, pebbles, and the like. The transfer also handles several manmade locales quite nicely, notably a cold and gray rundown structure that plays central to the plot and appears near the end of the film. Additionally, flesh and clothing reveal wonderful texturing throughout. Black levels are superb, too. This is a top-flight transfer, one of the best of any Anchor Bay release. It's too bad the movie's not this good.

And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

And Soon the Darkness features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack that hits all the right notes. Anchor Bay's audio track makes good use of the entire soundstage, delivering music and sound effects alike with a noteworthy level of clarity and space. The only real disappointing aspect of the track comes when Ellie plays a Divinyls song in a bar early in the movie. It's one of the few fun scenes in the movie, but the track never really embraces the moment, only halfheartedly reproducing the song; there's no body to it, and it sounds cramped and stuffy. No matter, falling short of expectations is par for the course for And Soon the Darkness. Nevertheless, this lossless track handles everything else with admirable competency. Outdoor atmospherics are seamlessly replayed around the listening area, and a few more discrete and location-specific effects -- the ringing of a phone, the knocking on a door off to the side of the frame -- play with a convincing flair. Dialogue is smooth and accurate as it is delivered from the center channel. This is a good all-around track that makes for a fine compliment to the top-notch video transfer.

And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

And Soon the Darkness features a handful of extras that are fine for what they are, but viewers shouldn't expect any major revelations or anything to challenge the perception that this is anything less than a bad movie.

• Audio Commentary: Director Marcos Efron, Editor Todd. E. Miller, and Director of Photography Gabriel Beristain offer a rather good technical-in-nature commentary. They speak on shooting locales, set design, the style of photography, the original British film, the work of the cast, and plenty of other standard but nevertheless interesting tidbits. This isn't a groundbreaking track, but any fans out there should be satisfied with the presentation.
• Director's Video Diary (480p, 11:12): Marcos Efron shares his behind-the-scenes videos from the shoot, which look at the filming of several scenes while offering a glimpse of life on the set. Efron provides a voiceover commentary for this short.
• Deleted Scenes (480p, 6:42).
• And Soon the Darkness Trailer (1080p, 1:51).
• Also on Blu-ray (1080p, 2:02): Altitude trailer.

And Soon the Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

And Soon the Boredom, And Soon the Unoriginality, And Soon the Insert-Any-Negative-Noun-Here. Call it whatever, And Soon the Darkness won't mind. Here's a picture with zero originality and no purpose. Indeed, the darkness comes early on and never relinquishes its hold, but it's from closed eyelids rather than thematically difficult material or even visually repulsive imagery. And Soon the Darkness is one of the least frightening "Horror" pictures of the past few years; it's as transparent as they come, a movie that plays it safe and by the book. Sure, it's professionally made and acted well enough, but a movie needs more than that to be a success, and this one forgot to bring anything else to the party. Nevertheless, this infinitely forgettable movie has earned a splendid Blu-ray release from Anchor Bay. A stunning 1080p transfer, a strong lossless soundtrack, and a fair assortment of extras make this a release that will satisfy anyone interested in giving the movie a watch.