And Soon The Darkness DVD Review
And Soon The Darkness DVD Review
Giallo by way of Britain, with a detour through France
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Although it's not directed by an Italian and it doesn't quite hit all the right cliché notes, I still say 1970's Brit-flick And Soon The Darkness is a worthy example of the genre's considerable body. The movie starts off as a minimalist disappearance mystery, but towards the end many giallo hallmarks come into play, including killer POV, gloves, strangulation, and hidden identities.
And oddball in Robert Fuest's otherwise kooky, darkly comical fare (The Abominable Dr. Phibes springs to mind), And Soon The Darkness has a deliberate, intense and serious vibe. It begins with two young English roses out on a leisurely biking excursion along the country roads of what they call "the real France." No Parisian parties for them!
Jane (Pamela Franklin) is enjoying a lovely and relaxing retreat, while her wilder blonde friend Cathy (Michelle Dotrice) is bored rigid, quickly regretting forgoing the City of Light for fields of flowers. The friends have a petty row and in a fit of pique, Cathy insists that Jane go on without her. Cathy will go to where the guys are hot and the champagne is cold, and Jane can get stuffed for all she cares. Jane cycles off, leaving her bikinied buddy sunbathing just off a lonely road.
Of course, Jane's worry gets the better of her, and she returns to the rest site a few hours later, only to find remnants of Cathy's belongings… but no Cathy. No real sign of a struggle either, so maybe Cathy did go on to the city after all. But there is something not quite right. Jane remembers the story of a blonde tourist about Cathy's age who was found dead along this very stretch of road not a year ago… could the killer be out there somewhere?
Meanwhile a handsome stranger, eyes shielded by his dark sunglasses, offers to help Jane out; he remembers seeing Jane and Cathy in a café earlier that morning and is sure that the impulsive girl cannot have strayed far. But Jane insists on calling the police… the gendarmes make a notation, but don't seem overly concerned. Then a reporter who worked on the year-old murder case steps in, and the chase begins. But it's a doom-driven, deliberate, suspicion-laced cat and mouse kind of stalk thriller, not a run and scream slasher.
For the most part, not much happens. Yet, the movie is so craftily directed and so beautifully filmed, cinephiles won't mind a bit. The score is eerily effective, and the acting is 70s sublime. Belying its title, And Soon The Darkness takes place almost entirely in the daytime, making it one of the few horror films brave enough to let its subtle scares hide in such plain sight. The DVD version, thankfully, does not use captioning to fill in the French-language sequences involving Jane and the locals, helping the English-speaking audience to identify with our heroine's mounting sense of frustration, puzzlement and isolation.
Although I do still prefer the exploitative and highly stylized gialli, I must confess that And Soon The Darkness surprised and pleased me in every sense.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson