6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The killing spree of murderous Satanists has already led to 18 deaths throughout America's Heartland. Three best friends Alexis, Val, and Beverly embark on a road trip to a heavy metal music festival. Naive, they bond with three seemingly fun-loving dudes and soon the group heads off to Alexis' country home, a very secluded place, for an afterparty. What should be a night of fun and youthful debauchery may instead take a dark, deadly turn. With killers on the loose, can anyone be trusted?
Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Johnny Knoxville, Logan Miller (I), Maddie HassonHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: There’s one major plot development in We Summon the Darkness which is probably meant to be a surprise (even if
some
may feel it isn’t much of one). It really can’t be avoided in any meaningful discussion of the film, however, but that said it might still be considered
spoiler material by some, and because that element is unavoidable, I've gone ahead and posted other "substrata" of the story that probably are
outright spoilers, so those with phobias about such things are forewarned. Those with any concerns should probably skip the following paragraphs.
Many are no doubt familiar with the old cliché of a “damsel in distress” in horror movies, but what about a dude in distress? Certainly
there
have been male victims galore in any number of horror outings, but at least some of the time they tend to be amorous partners of some woman
who
becomes the “ultimate” target after the lusty boyfriend has been summarily dispatched. That said, there have been at least a few films
that
posited a focal male in the “victim” role, including hit or miss efforts like Eli Roth’s Knock Knock from 2015. We Summon the Darkness initially introduces three young women, Alexis
(Alexandria
Daddario), Val (Maddie Hasson) and Bev (Amy Forsyth), who are driving to a heavy metal concert in 1980s Indiana (the specificity of the time and
place didn't really seem to have any integral necessity to the story, that I could glean, anyway). A discussion liberally spiced with mentions of sex,
drugs and rock 'n' roll,
as well as the girls’ general demeanor, suggests that these may be “party hearty” types, and the fact that they both see a newspaper at a
convenience
mart as well as hear a radio broadcast detailing a string of horrific murders thought to have been perpetrated by a Satanic cult no doubt
intentionally raises
suspicions that these arguably less than prim characters may indeed become damsels in distress somehow, perhaps due to what seems to be a
tendency toward foolhardy behavior.
We Summon the Darkness is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. This is another film of recent vintage that rather frustratingly doesn't seem to have much if any technical information about the shoot available online (that I could dredge up, anyway), but I'm assuming this was digitally captured and finished at a 2K DI (as always with my reviews, if anyone can point me to authoritative information to the contrary, private message me and I'll happily post an update here). This is a sharp and well detailed looking presentation for the most part, but quite a bit of it plays out in some rather dark confines, and occasionally a bit of murk can cloud fine detail levels. Both the (relatively brief) concert footage as well as some later material is either lit or graded rather aggressively, and as such even general detail levels can ebb and flow. But in more normal lighting, and especially when midrange framings and close-ups are employed, there's rather abundant detail on display, so much so that some of the wounds that accrue may turn more squeamish stomachs. The palette looks just slightly peach colored a lot of the time, which I'm assuming was a stylistic choice.
We Summon the Darkness features a nicely boisterous Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track that offers good immersion in some of the music, including the raucous Sons of Satan concert, as well as some cheeky source cues culled from the film's 1980s timeframe. While a lot of the film takes place in various rooms in the mansion where most of the carnage unfolds, there's still good use of the side and rear channels to establish spatial relationships. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.
I think maybe if We Summon the Darkness had somehow been able to delay the "reveal" that happens kind of surprisingly early in the film, there might have been more tension created as a result. The film is still goofy fun a lot of the time, and it offers reasonably well drawn characters and ultimately quite a bit of gore, which is probably what horror fans coming to this enterprise may be in search of. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.
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