LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP, lands on U.S. VOD on February 22nd from XYZ Films. This mind bending thriller is for all horror fans, but especially those of us who love those Midnight, Film Fest screenings. There is a special vibe about those films, and this one checks off all of those boxes.
I have never dropped acid while camping in the deep woods. After watching this new flick from writer/director Teresa Sutherland I am not sure I ever need to. Sutherland does a wonderful job of capturing the claustrophobic nature of, well, nature. The dense surroundings, and isolated characters bring about feelings of disorientation and delusion. This is important with a film that relies on one main character to carry us through.
The character in question is Ranger Lennon (Georgina Campbell) who lands a position in a remote, back-country forest. I am not sure why anyone would want this role, but Lennon does. There are factors that drive her decision that we find out as the story progresses. People alone for days and weeks on end have no need to talk. Therefore Campbell has to rely mainly on body language and reacting to bring Lennon to life. I recently watched Georgina in the 2022 film BARBARIAN. She was so good in that and equally as engaging here.
Things are happening in these woods. Apparitions and a sinister presence that hangs in the air like a mist. The area in which Lennon is assigned has had its fair share of unsolved disappearances. Though many things just can’t be explained I admit a little clear explanation would have been great here. Yes we the audience get a decent “here is what is happening” moment, but it was thinner than I wanted. I do appreciate it not being so far fetched that it ruins the past 90-minutes. This story simply embraces the less is more plot mentality.
Along with the quiet, heavy moments there are a lot of scary and gross visuals. As mentioned, this is like a drug trip gone bad for Lennon. We see what she sees and they are things of nightmares. There are one or two jump scares and gross moments that seem to be there only to be gross and make us jump. They lend very little to the overall answers.
LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP will hit great with the VOD crowd. It is a perfect “curl up on the couch, in a dark room, with your favorite snacks” story. It is not rated but due to the visuals and themes I would recommend it for your 16 and over family members. The run time is only 86-minutes which was a perfect length. Any longer would have felt overkill with this subtle tale.
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