Dark Spoilers!!!
In my search for that overlooked gem of a movie that no one knows about, I came across this movie which I had never heard of or seen in my entire moviegoing existence. DARK AUGUST is so obscure that it's not listed in Leonard Maltin's video guide or in either of Michael Weldon's two Psychotronic books. Seeing that few people have seen it and the film was made in the "anything goes" mid-70s, I had hopes that DARK AUGUST would be a good contender for my quest for that unique unknown horror flick.
Well, DARK AUGUST is obscure for good reasons, because it's not very satisfying. There's no point in trashing DARK AUGUST because its heart IS in the right place and the whole production is well made. But the biggest problem with the movie is the ending. There's NO ending. It just ends abruptly after the cursed man shoots his dog, who was possessed by the evil demon. Huh?!?! I think that's what happened anyway. The whole script is very murky and it's not helped with a lot of kooky improbabilities, like the old man walking in the house where the seance is taking place and he shoots the medium. Don't houses in Vermont have locks on their doors? Or you'd think the group would protect themselves a bit better after the cursed man's girlfriend stole that thing from the old man's house and the old man would be obviously angry. Details like this hamper DARK AUGUST and in the end, nothing works at any level.
The locations are beautiful and the music is good and moody. Some of the actors are okay but the script or lack of storytelling abilities from the writer and the director obscure all intentions of the production to the point that the end result seems pretty much pointless. It's a curio though and I recommend it only to those who like watching very obscure films.
In my search for that overlooked gem of a movie that no one knows about, I came across this movie which I had never heard of or seen in my entire moviegoing existence. DARK AUGUST is so obscure that it's not listed in Leonard Maltin's video guide or in either of Michael Weldon's two Psychotronic books. Seeing that few people have seen it and the film was made in the "anything goes" mid-70s, I had hopes that DARK AUGUST would be a good contender for my quest for that unique unknown horror flick.
Well, DARK AUGUST is obscure for good reasons, because it's not very satisfying. There's no point in trashing DARK AUGUST because its heart IS in the right place and the whole production is well made. But the biggest problem with the movie is the ending. There's NO ending. It just ends abruptly after the cursed man shoots his dog, who was possessed by the evil demon. Huh?!?! I think that's what happened anyway. The whole script is very murky and it's not helped with a lot of kooky improbabilities, like the old man walking in the house where the seance is taking place and he shoots the medium. Don't houses in Vermont have locks on their doors? Or you'd think the group would protect themselves a bit better after the cursed man's girlfriend stole that thing from the old man's house and the old man would be obviously angry. Details like this hamper DARK AUGUST and in the end, nothing works at any level.
The locations are beautiful and the music is good and moody. Some of the actors are okay but the script or lack of storytelling abilities from the writer and the director obscure all intentions of the production to the point that the end result seems pretty much pointless. It's a curio though and I recommend it only to those who like watching very obscure films.