Sal (J. J. Barry) escapes the rat race of the big city and ends up in a Vermont artists' colony where he gets a new girlfriend, and takes up sketching. He has also attracted the wrath of a local elderly man after accidentally running over his granddaughter. The old man puts a curse on him and as Sal tries to get on with his life, he keeps seeing a hooded figure in the woods. Enter Adrianna (Kim Hunter), the local town witch who tries to remove the curse. As sides are drawn between Barry and the old man, the finale leaves something to be desired.
You may not know J. J. Barry's name, but you probably know his face as he has been in many films, usually playing a mobster. He cowrote the screenplay, and does a fine job of making us sympathize with his character. Goldman's direction is especially good, with some great angles and a lack of noisy musical score. The opening credits show a farmhouse against a sunset, and all the viewer hears is the wind. He returns to these types of quiet scenes often, and they work. The hooded figure scenes are chilling and creepy but I was disappointed with the film's lack of intensity- this does slow here and there. I would have liked to see more: more violence, more gore, and more "what is going on?"-type emotion. When Adrianna appears on the scene, everyone just sort of lines up and follows everything she says to do. She is an enigma, purporting to be a witch, but saying the Lord's Prayer in incantations. I know from Bible study that witchcraft and Christianity usually do not go hand in hand. "Dark August" was filmed in Stowe, Vermont, and was made in the mid 1970's. This was before the slasher era, when horror films had to rely on basic story, acting, and atmosphere.
You may not know J. J. Barry's name, but you probably know his face as he has been in many films, usually playing a mobster. He cowrote the screenplay, and does a fine job of making us sympathize with his character. Goldman's direction is especially good, with some great angles and a lack of noisy musical score. The opening credits show a farmhouse against a sunset, and all the viewer hears is the wind. He returns to these types of quiet scenes often, and they work. The hooded figure scenes are chilling and creepy but I was disappointed with the film's lack of intensity- this does slow here and there. I would have liked to see more: more violence, more gore, and more "what is going on?"-type emotion. When Adrianna appears on the scene, everyone just sort of lines up and follows everything she says to do. She is an enigma, purporting to be a witch, but saying the Lord's Prayer in incantations. I know from Bible study that witchcraft and Christianity usually do not go hand in hand. "Dark August" was filmed in Stowe, Vermont, and was made in the mid 1970's. This was before the slasher era, when horror films had to rely on basic story, acting, and atmosphere.