‘The Dark and the Wicked’ is a Disturbing Depiction of Old School Horror

It’s rare for a horror film to scare me. I’m not the screaming type, but if I do feel a sense of fear, an actual chill will shoot down my back. Perhaps I will begin to feel uncomfortable, wanting to stare at any mysterious dark corner in my home.

I never forget these kinds of scary films, due to their incredible stories and terrifying imagery. One movie that left me feeling this way was The Dark and the Wicked that was released on Shudder.

The story focuses on two siblings that go to visit their sick father, who is being cared for by their mother. The siblings are told by their mother they never should have come, and they find themselves placed in a terrifying surreal situation, when they discover something evil is on the farm.

What makes this film special is the ambiguity behind the evil.

You never actually know what kind of evil is terrorizing the family. This remains a mystery throughout the entire film, but it is strongly theorized that it is possibly the Devil.

There is one character in the movie that hints at the invader being the devil; a nurse that was hired to care for the father of the siblings. The nurse tells the family that they should pray, to save their souls from the devil.

The siblings shockingly never take anything seriously, despite the terrifying things they are witnessing in the farm. Once their mother is mysteriously found dead, the evil begins to ramp up to new heights, leaving the siblings even more scared as the film progresses.

The imagery that we see in the movie is definitely like something the Devil would do, and let me say…it is haunting what we witness in this film.

It’s a slow burn horror that uses powerful imagery to scare the crap out of you. So many scenes from this movie are forever implanted in my brain.

One scene involves one of the siblings, the brother; looking out the window in his bedroom. My heart stopped when he saw what was outside. It was his dead mother, and she started to float, a smile on her face. That part haunted me so much, and I had to avoid looking through a window at night for about a week.

This film felt I was watching something I was never supposed to witness.

Every single scary scene or uncomfortable moment felt so…off. Like I wasn’t supposed to be watching any of these scenes. The scary scenes are so terrifying, that I feel like the siblings in the film.

I’m confused and left wondering what the hell I just saw. You know that feeling when you think you see something out of the corner of your eye?

That’s what this film felt like.

It was one of the best horror experiences I have had with a horror film in a long time.

You would think this film would be given a good ending after everything the siblings experience, but even that doesn't end well for them. The brother decides to escape the farm for good, abandoning his sister. He goes back to his family, and he finds them all slaughtered.

He ends his life, but as he is dying, the realizes the bodies were never there to begin with. He had been tricked by the Devil, and his real family finds him dead in the kitchen.

His sister stays behind to try and save the soul of her father, but things don't work out well for her either. The nurse is killed by the evil, and the sister tries her best to remain by her father's side, no matter what. She is also killed by a possessed version of her father, but we actually don't know if she does die here or not.

I think she did, but since the Devil is pretty damn evil in this film, it makes you wonder what her fate really was.

If you ever want to watch this film, make sure you are completely in the dark, all alone.

You might be scared to look out your window at night after you are done watching this film.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn