Lovely, Dark, and Deep review.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep is more than your standard “horror in the woods” movie. It becomes a surreal nightmare built on its main character’s trauma…and something seemingly unexplainable.
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Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Directed by Teresa Sutherland
Written by Teresa Sutherland
Starring Georgina Campbell, Nick Blood, Wai Ching Ho, Edgar Morais, Ana Sofia Martins, Soren Hellerup and Maria de Sá
Lovely, Dark, and Deep Review
I owe this land a body.
With those words, written down and taped over a signpost, Lovely, Dark, and Deep sets a tone that will only grow the deeper we travel into the wood. The note is left by park ranger Varney…to cover up a sign indicating that someone is on duty. The next time we see Varney’s face…it’s on a missing person’s flyer. There are a lot of those hanging around. In fact, we learn that Arvores National Park is the site of the largest number of missing people in the world.
Ranger Lennon (Georgina Campbell) is no stranger to missing people. She is haunted by a traumatic incident from her childhood. The disappearance of her sister Jenny. It’s what drives Lennon to become a ranger. “I can help” she says repeatedly throughout Lovely, Dark, and Deep. Her new assignment taking over Varney’s outpost provides ample opportunities to prove that. Help, in this case, may come at great cost.
Lennon is stationed deep in the woods. She can go days at a time without seeing another person. The monotony of those lonely days is shattered one night by a frantic pounding on her outpost door. A man needs help. Someone has gone missing. He runs deep into the woods and Lennon gives chase. Her flashlight cutting through the darkness…each move offering the terrifying chance that it lights something we don’t want to see.
The rangers form a posse and head out in search of the missing person. Lennon is ordered to stay behind. Someone has to be there in case she turns up. That’s not good enough for Lennon, of course. She can help. Lennon heads out to search for herself. There will be consequences for the disobedience…but someone needs her help. She’s lost enough. Her gambit is rewarded when she finds the missing girl in the woods. Shaking, terrified and repeatedly asking “are you real?”
Lovely, Dark, and Deep intercuts much of the story with brief snippets of flashbacks. We see Lennon’s trauma and how it is slowly creeping into her day-to-day life. That’s before strange things even start happening. Lennon starts to see and hear things that can’t possibly be real. Whispers in the woods and over her walkie-talkie. Visions of people who aren’t there. Shadows on the walls of a tent soak the lovely, dark atmosphere of the movie deep into it. Then things get even weirder.
With the positioning of Lennon’s trauma woven into the fabric of Lovely, Dark, and Deep’s first act…it’s clear that it is going to become a major factor in the story. What you can’t foresee, however, is what the movie is planning to do with it. There’s a lore to these woods that Lennon is not aware of. There’s a reason that so many people go missing. And there is a reason that the rangers so rarely manage to find them. Lennon found someone. Now the woods are coming for her.
The back half of this back-country horror story flips the expected on its head. Lennon descends into a surreal nightmare. Her fears…her trauma…the confusion over her situation…they envelop her journey. A journey to find answers…a journey to return to safety…and a journey she has no control over. The tone set early in Lovely, Dark, and Deep becomes unshakable.
Georgina Campbell, who people will remember for her star-making turn in Barbarian, is in excellent form again in Lovely, Dark, and Deep. She spends a lot of time visually alone on screen…but her performance never lets you forget that she is carrying a substantial ghost with her. Confronted with her deepest fears…often in ways that she struggles to understand at first. She needs to understand what is happening…even though it appears to be something that can’t be understood. She saved someone. Now she owes this land a body.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a gorgeous movie. We’ve written before that the woods are an obvious choice for horror because they’re inherently creepy. Writer/director Teresa Sutherland layers an existential dread on top of that creepiness. The camera gives us a clear look at the horror ahead of Lennon…and the nightmare behind her. The movie constantly shows off great shot design. If you’re worried that you’re in for an hour and a half of trees…don’t be. Once Lennon’s nightmare truly takes hold…the story takes us to some interesting places. Both literally and figuratively.
The most surprising thing about Lovely, Dark, and Deep is how satisfying the explanation is for what is happening. The story does a great job building Lennon’s personal journey. So much so that you might not even question why this is all happening. We’ve seen enough trauma horror to chalk things up to madness, after all. Lovely, Dark, and Deep has something bigger in mind. A destination worthy of the journey.
Scare Value
Atmospheric, gorgeous and unnerving…Lovely, Dark, and Deep is more than meets the eye. There’s something strange in these woods…and it won’t let you out until you give it what it wants. An excellent lead performance guides us through a surprising journey with an even more surprising detitanation. The ranger may owe this land a body…but you owe it to yourself to give Lovely, Dark, and Deep a look.
4/5
Lovely, Dark, and Deep Links
Check for tickets in a theater near you – Fandango
Get on Video on Demand from VUDU and Amazon
