By Keri O’Shea
In former times, people thought of diseases and afflictions as evidence of God’s wrath, or even evidence of the intervention of malign forces – namely demons, entities which could infiltrate and possess the human body, given the opportunity. In modern times, we have (mostly) disposed of these ideas, and now view afflictions such as addiction as having a medical cause. However, if we now consider addiction an illness, then maybe there is room to re-interpret it according to older ideas; perhaps addiction, as suggested by our (highly believable) first speaker in The Outer Darkness, could really mean that addicts are under the sway of …something, some malign outsider influence.
Straight away, then, Father Crowe’s recovery group is revealed to be no ordinary one. Everyone’s story and everyone’s reason for being there is accepted, however outlandish it may all seem. This impression only strengthens when a new member of the group, Jen (Isla Carter) describes the events which have brought her there. She relates the story of a personal tragedy, then what she did to try to rectify it: the surreal situation she found herself in, a game, a wager and a crushing aftermath.
Slightly longer than our usual Horror in Short films, you can now watch the first part of The Outer Darkness, which is intended to be a webseries, here…
I hope I’m doing no disservice to directors Ben Franklin and Anthony Melton when I say that the influence of classic British horror Hellraiser is recognisable here. The cold, shadowy colour palette is one thing; the grotesque, deformed or mutilated master of the roulette wheel who seems to be giving a nod to the Cenobites is another, albeit he is rather more debonair than Pinhead in his sharp suit, and there is something very unsettling about the sprightly movements and gestures he makes – making him feel very much like an old hand at this game. However, even within the twenty-five minutes used for this first-parter, Franklin & Melton show that they have ambitions way beyond any sort of an homage, even though the idea of playing for one’s life/soul via a puzzle or a game – where the games master knows all the rules and can use a certain sleight of hand to win – is itself a classic horror staple. The Outer Darkness hints at a far more tangled web to come, with its own distinctive entities and story development, as enough is shown here to demonstrate ambition. The religious aspect only really comes to the fore at the close of the film, too, and I’d anticipate further development of these themes. A good short film makes for a good calling card; as such, via some economical reveals as the film draws to a close, The Outer Darkness shows it has more yet to say.
Developing a solid level of interest in its story through its naturalistic actors, competent script and effective aesthetics, The Outer Darkness has more clout and a higher veneer of cinematic quality than many other webseries out there, which seem to assume they have ample opportunity to improve as they go along. Rather, you need to establish interest from the get-go, and this film is an engaging taster which promises far more to follow.