Tweet
Released by: Optimum Home Entertainment
Released on: 3/7/2011
Director: Marcos Efron
Cast: Amber Heard, Odette Yustman, Karl Urban
Year: 2010
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Marcos Efron's 2010 remake of Robert Fuest's 1970 classic thriller stars Amber Heard and Odette Yustman as Stephanie and Ellie respectively, a pair of foxy American tourists bicycling through Argentina on vacation. When they miss the bus to their next stop they wind up getting on the wrong side of a local guy (who is kind of a younger, South American David Hess type!) who wants more from the girls than they're willing to give him, though intervention from a random American guy on the scene named Michael (Karl Ubran) puts a stop to that.
When Ellie and Stephanie get into a spat, however, Stephanie's attempts to make up with her friend come up empty when Ellie disappears. Michael brings the local police in to investigate but it's obvious they don't care and won't be of any help. Neither will the townspeople, who all of a sudden stop speaking to Stephanie once Ellie goes missing. The only one willing to help is Michael, but Stephanie wisely doesn't trust him and she sets out on her own to find Ellie and figure out just what exactly is going on here.
By moving the story from France, where the original film took place, to Argentina director Efron, who co-wrote the script, goes for a different tone. The quaint countryside of France is replaced by the hot, sweaty jungles of South America and the movie just has an all together different look and feel to it than its predecessor. The only real similarities here are the lack of subtitles during the foreign language scenes, the recurring shots of the plane flying overhead with ominous intent, and the fact that it's based around a pair of pretty young girls in a foreign country. In fact, the movie feels more like Turistas than the original And Soon The Darkness, omitting the original's slow burn in favor of flash and choppy editing. As far as exploitative content goes, there's not much aside from some minor, if fairly grisly violence so the film doesn't wind up being quite sensational enough in that department to distract us from its flaws.
Efron paces his film with a much more determined intent and he moves things along considerably faster than Fuest did before him, but not always to the film's advantage. We don't get much in the way of character development here and don't wind up caring much about Ellie or Stephanie outside of the fact that we know what they're going through must suck. Heard and Yustman are fine in the roles, but they're not given loads to do outside of looking pretty, scared or both. The film does make great use of the Argentinean locations and to its credit it looks fantastic, but because of the slim character development and clichés that work their way into the last half of the plot, this winds up an exercise in style over substance. It's moderately entertaining in a brainless sort of way and a perfectly acceptable time killer, but no more than that.
Video/Audio/Extras:
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS BASED OFF OF A TEST DISC THAT MAY OR MAY NOT REPRESENT FINISHED RETAIL PRODUCT.
And Soon The Darkness looks very nice in this 2.35.1 widescreen AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation. The image boasts very crisp detail and nice color reproduction, though things do lean towards the hot side of the spectrum to give the film that dirty, sweaty look. The nice Argentinean scenery benefits from the added resolution that the Blu-ray provides, as you really get a feel for the environment here. Skin tones look good as well, and texture is strong throughout.
There's only one audio option on this disc but the English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track provided is a good one, even if no alternate language options or subtitles are provided. The rears are used well to build atmosphere with some more subtle sound effects and ambient noise while most of the dialogue and score comes from the front of the mix. It's not a reference quality track nor is the most bombastic mix you've ever heard but there aren't any problems with it and it's got good range and depth to it.
Extras are very slim on this release, limited to a trailer and a couple of minutes of inconsequential deleted scenes. Aside from that, there's a menu and chapter selection options.
The Final Word:
Rarely is a movie featuring two beautiful women in bikinis being terrorized in the jungle as unremarkable as this, but here we are. The film isn't a horrible one, it just doesn't improve on the original in any way outside of the obvious eye candy. It's very nicely shot and Optimum's Blu-ray reflects that, but this isn't mandatory viewing for any but the Amber Heard devotees.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
The screenplay is by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation (who each wrote for The Avengers) and co-produced with Albert Fennell (another series alum). The film is directed by Robert Fuest (who helmed 7 episodes) with music by Avengers regular Laurie Johnson and shot by Ian Wilson (ditto). With all that in mind, AND SOON THE DARKNESS isn't as sharp and stylish as that TV series. Fuest also directed the vivid Dr. Phibes films. Still, DARKNESS is an effective suspense tale. The always welcome Franklin is quite good as the harried tourist. Dotrice has kept performing, mainly on British TV. The supporting cast including Sando Eles, John Nettleton and Clare Kelly are all fine. A little knowledge of the French language might provide an early clue or two (there are no subtitles).
P.S. A 2010 remake featuring Amber Heard came and went
AND SOON THE DARKNESS can currently be streamed on Kanopy, Shudder, AMC+ and for rental. It's on DVD and Blu Ray.