Is the 80's horror gore-porn staging a full-fledged revival? Joining the list of last year's low-key masterpieces like
It Comes at Night,
The Ritual and
The Void is Brad Baruh's thrilling feature debut
Dead Night. The plot, a slight variation of
The Evil Dead and dozens of cabin-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-themed frighteners, doesn't so much subvert the genre as it plays like a collection of horror's greatest hits, but works very well as a sensationally well-executed nerve-mangler, coupled with atmospheric cinematography by Kenton Drew Johnson and an eerie musical score by Joseph Bishara (of
The Conjuring and
Insidious series fame). Thus what starts off as a relaxing vacation in the woods for the Pollack family doesn't take too long to go sideways, with blood and gore copious and a narrative curveball that cleverly dovetails the present and future to nightmarish extremes. Granted, like the
The Devil's Doorway that came before it, the movie doesn't exactly break any new ground, nor is the character development that exciting, but ghoulish, layered and mysterious it is all the same.
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