Review by Ben Bussey
You know what they say – location, location, location. There is a lot to be said for picking the right place to shoot your film, especially when money is in short supply. Find somewhere suitably picturesque, unspoiled, and – if possible – relatively unfamiliar, and that’s half your job done for you. It would seem this was what Dark Nature’s producer/director Marc de Launay was counting on. His story (from screenwriter Eddie Harrison) revolves around an unhappy family’s venture into the highlands of Scotland, which turns from a domestic nightmare to a fight for survival. Naturally this necissitates filming in some very pretty places, and de Launay’s camera is keen to let the viewer soak up that natural beauty, and the sense of isolation and exposure that invariably accompanies this. Potential for an atmospheric and evocative bit of horror, then.
Just a thought, though… it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit of a story to tell. And/or interesting characters. And/or charismatic actors. And/or just a smidgen of energy.
Let’s not beat about the proverbial and in this instance aesthetically pleasing bush… Dark Nature is totally, utterly, mind-numbingly boring. 75 minutes of pure tedium with absolutely no sense of reward, even for such a comparatively small investment of time. Heard the recent controversy about The Hobbit in 48FPS HFR; how it often makes character movements seem unnaturally fast? Well, Dark Nature seems to suffer from precisely the opposite affliction. Even at only an hour and a quarter of screentime, it’s such uneventful, painfully slow viewing with so little of interest to offer the viewer that you’ll be begging for it to end within fifteen minutes at least.
Now that I’ve said that, it’s hard to find a great deal else to say. In fairness, there’s nothing inherently wrong with de Launay’s atmosphere over narrative approach, but that kind of minimalism is only going to work if there’s sufficient chemistry between the cast, but there’s simply none here: Imogen Turner and Vanya Eadie utterly fail to convince as the squabbling mother and daughter at the centre of the action, nor does any other player come off as anything but forced and unnatural. The vague hints of ecological theme were done better by Long Weekend, the blend of horror and domestic drama in a picturesque setting was done better by The Children, and everything else was done better by innumerable backwoods horror films.
Yeah… I don’t usually like to be this brief but this film really isn’t worth dwelling on. Dark Nature is an absolute waste of time, so don’t waste yours with it.
Dark Nature is out on Region 2 DVD from 31st December 2012, from Matchbox Films.