Sean Parker
I rarely have the chance to introduce a trailer for a film I’ve already seen, but with the number of festivals I’ve been able to attend virtually this year, it isn’t as strange as it sounds. Making its way around the festival circuit and an official selection at Sundance this year, I saw James Ashcroft’s Coming Home in the Dark a few weeks ago as part of Chatanooga Film Festival’s secret screenings, and I was absolutely floored. It’s a shocking and brutal road trip horror movie and a masterclass in tension that I’ve not been able to stop talking about with friends and family.
Coming Home in the Dark is about a family hiking trip gone awry when two cold-blooded thieves turn the family’s good time into a heart-stopping nightmare. When the pair recognizes the family’s patriarch as someone from their past, they kidnap the family. From there, an intense road trip of vicious intensity begins as they travel to where their propensity for violence started. It’s, without a doubt, one of the best horror films I’ve seen so far this year, and I’m excited that Dark Sky Films has picked up the rights to distribute the film stateside late this year.
I suppose it’s probably not as much fun to do a trailer breakdown when I already know how Coming Home in the Dark’s story plays out. I don’t want to give anything away, so instead, I can provide a bit of insight into the film. The film plays like an abject morality lesson through its early-on Martyrs or Wolf Creek-style ruthlessness and falls into a gripping noir style reminiscent of 2008’s Edgerton Brothers thriller The Square. The acting, directing, and screenplay, based on Owen Marshall’s short story, is top-notch. But the thing you’ll most remember is the incomparable savagery of Mandrake (Daniel Gillies), and his cohort Tubs (Matthias Luafutu, who plays his role in a state of stoicism comparable to No Country for Old Men’s Javier Bardem) provides a dark, ominous tone that translates to this trailer immensely, especially when Mandrake utters
“I’m a magician. I make things disappear.”
Coming Home in the Dark is slated for VOD release in Australia on Sept 9 and is currently scheduled for stateside VOD release in late 2021.
So what do you think of the trailer for Coming Home in the Dark? Do you agree with Sean that it’s dark and ominous? Let us know in the comments! And if you’re looking for more trailers, we’ve got you covered!
