The Long Night (2022) User Reviews

Agree with most here... Great visuals, Loads of Atmosphere, very little substance...

[lathe-of-heaven · 5/10 · 15 February 2022]

I pretty much agree with 'Wormsoftheerth's review. He/She hit it right on, so I'll point you to that review for more details.

I will say that with the genuinely powerful visuals and soundtrack, at the beginning I was really hoping for a lot here, but as others have said, there just simply was not enough 'Story', and I honestly feel that they really lost any focus at all by the last 30 minutes. I think the IDEA itself is fine, although it has certainly been done many times before, but especially when you start a movie off this strongly, you absolutely HAVE to be able to ratchet up the tension as you go along, building to an effective ending, and unfortunately that just does not happen here.

I will say that the director is most definitely very strongly influenced by Stanley Kubrick, no doubt about it, even right down to the scene titles. Long, epic panning camera movements. Long, moody shots. Even some of the Space/Embryo imagery towards the end. Again, TONS of atmosphere which I really like and I feel is one of the most important elements in a good Horror film. But, you HAVE to build to something, and this just kind of whimpers out. Be sure to check out the review I mention above because I very much agree with pretty much all of this person's observations.

I think that if the filmmakers had just spent as much time on an effective development of the actual story as they did on the look, mood, and atmosphere, they really would have had something here. And, it is always great to see the excellent Jeff Fahey! Although I would guess that it probably didn't take much more than a day to shoot his scenes.

So, ultimately, especially after about the first hour, pretty disappointing. I gave it a '5' which was higher than the current 3.x that ones have rated it. Mainly giving a little extra credit for the fantastic look, sound, and feel of the movie. I would suggest that if you happen to like really atmospheric, moody Folk/Horror movies, just watch the first half, and when it begins to falter, go do something else 😁

The Long 90 Minutes

[ptf_rp · 3/10 · 13 February 2022]

This movie is not very good. The 'menacing' cult just stands around holding torches. The main couple is annoying. The story is really questionable, and I'm pretty forgiving. The final five minutes is kinda ok, but it's not worth it. This movie should've been titled 'The Long 90 Minutes'

Could have been a good music video

[wormsoftheerth · 3/10 · 9 February 2022]

Let's get right to it - this is a bad movie. The story is nearly nonexistent and what is there is the most generic, uninspired cult plot imaginable. The two leads would have made fine side characters in a slasher who get killed off, but they just aren't the type of character who can lead a movie like this. The male lead provides a solid portrayal of the obnoxious rich jockbro archetype, whose purpose is to simply be fodder...but that type of character has no knowledge or skills to lend to this type of story and feels awkward when left in for too long. Scout Taylor-Compton basically reprises her role as Angel Meyers from Rob Zombie's Halloween - a character who is the child of an unspeakable evil that spends most of her time screaming hysterically. However, in The Long Night she is just a forgettable shell of a character and is barely given anything to say or do, despite being the lead. Nothing of any significance happens so I'll leave it at that in terms of the "story".

That said, there were a lot of genuinely great visuals here. The cult looked excellent and there were a number of appealing shots of the cult doing cult things, such as igniting the giant unicursal hexagram symbol on the lawn. This movie seems to take significant influence from 70s cult/psychedelic horror, and the atmosphere was well done. Even though it lacked a lot of aspects necessary for a good movie, many scenes had a strong music video feel and would have worked extremely well in that context. As a movie it completely fails, but if distilled it could have made a great short folk horror film based exclusively around the strength of the visuals & aesthetic without needing to try to incorporate a story.

It's a southern thing.

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 25 April 2022]

Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton) wanting to know who her biological parents are, travels back to her home town to contact an investigator. Turns out they were part of a cult and she is the host blah blah blah.

There are a lot of films like this out there. I am not sure why the equinox would be called a long night as opposed to the winter solstice or why serpent worshipers wear elk.deer skulls with antlers. It has a nice effect, but doesn't make any sense. The plot is one that has been overdone and this one brings nothing new to the table.

Guide: No f-words as I recall. Nudity (Scout Taylor-Compton or body double)

Had the makings of a good film...and it squandered all of it.

[manuelasaez · 4/10 · 5 February 2022]

I have been on the look out for a good cult film for months, and this seemed right up my alley. For the first half of the film, it actually looked like it was going to scratch that itch. But then the cliches started to pile so high that it was like watching one of the many cult films I've already seen, almost verbatim. "Chosen one", "bring about the end", "you are vessel for yadda, yadda".... the same tired lines that have used in countless other movies can be found almost word for word in this one. Ever felt like you were experiencing deja vu while watching a movie, as if you've seen it before? Get ready to feel it with this film. Over and over.

The sad part is, this movie had everything going for it; a decently talented cast, a great (if cliched) premise, a tight script and some beautiful backdrops coupled with some great cinematography. So what went so horribly wrong?!? How could a movie that had all of the elements required to make a good movie fail so spectacularly? It didn't work as a horror film in the broadest sense of the term, and it certainly doesn't work as part of the "Cult/Death Cult/Demonic cult" sub-genre, so who was this film aiming to please? It wouldn't make even the passing horror fan happy so you can imagine how this is going to fare with actual genre hounds.

Overall, this movie is unfortunate. It could have done something interesting, unique or even relatively clever with what it was presenting and instead chose to do what so many other similar films have done. I guess filmmaking is like cooking; even with all of the proper ingredients, if you don't know how to properly utilize them, you can end up with an inedible mess. This film is that mess.

Lazy filmmaking

[redmondson-81269 · 2/10 · 9 February 2022]

Knew this was going to be bad as soon as they showed the painfully long silent car ride where they superimposed shots over the top of each other for no reason whatsoever. Reminded me of the unnecessarily long transition scenes in Birdemic that served no purpose whatsoever.

Gave it two stars for a good title cover.

Rosemary's Baby if it was bad

[TheBloodyBullet · 3/10 · 4 February 2022]

First of all it tries to be artsy when splitting sections of the film in chapters when it has no reason to do so, unike movies like Kill Bill where it serves an actual purpose to do it.

The main characters are boring and stupid, and the cult's actions made no sense. They could have grabbed her from the beginning of the film and yet they don't. The "plot twist" that it's her mother is very obvious. The story goes nowhere. Although there are some good looking transition shots that blend well together for the overall atmosphere the movie tries to pull of.

Basically a really cheap and mediocre version of Rosemary's Baby. 3/10.

The Long Cliche

[spinoff75 · 1/10 · 4 March 2022]

Cult, masks made of bones, hoods, tunicas, dark wood, old book, equinoctial ritual, bonfire, burning symbols, stupid victims trapped in a house far away from anywhere. . . That doesn't scare anymore. That's horror 101, horror for dummies. The music is so lame too, as a bonus.

The Coven

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 5 February 2022]

While searching for the parents she's never known, Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton, Rob Zombie's Halloween) has come back home to the south with her boyfriend Jack (Nolan Gerard Funk) to track down a clue as to where her family may have disappeared to.

But you know what I always say about never going home again? Well, when your home has an apocalyptic cult in it, maybe Grace should have stayed in New York.

Originally called The Coven, this story starts with Mr. Caldwell inviting the couple to his home and offering to share his research into where they've gone. But when Grace and Jack get there, he's nowhere to be found. There's a big snake in the kitchen, as Grace soon painfully discovers.

And then the car won't start, leaving them stranded.

And then Mr. Caldwell's brother Wayne (Jeff Fahey) shows up as a surprise.

And then there's that cult that worships Uktena, who just might be involved quite intimately in Grace's past, led by The Master (Deborah Kara Unger from the Silent Hill movies).

For a movie that starts out very cabin in the woods come back home to unearth dark secrets, this shifts into cosmic horror before it's done, which is a nice surprise. Writers Robert Sheppe and Mark Young have created an interesting tale for director Richard Ragsdale, who has directed several music videos (The Sword "Cloak of Feathers," Chevelle "Door to Door Cannibals") and has also composed the music for several movies and video games.

Come home to the Cult

[jeroduptown · 4/10 · 5 February 2022]

After a promising start, the Long Night's plot premise has nowhere to go - and the daughter that's come home to 'fulfill the prophecy' is surrounded over and over by people in folklore garb. The between the legs starburst of light moment was extremely painful.

Severely Underrated Artistic Gem

[isantistao · 10/10 · 16 May 2022]

I get that this movie may bore a lot of people because it is so slow moving and often is more like moving photography, but that doesn't make it a bad movie, rather the opposite. It's just not for most people. This movie won't make you jump much but it is technically horror. Just not super scary or gory or anything like that. But defintely horror. And good horror if you appreciate different kinds and these types of artsy indie films. This movie is indie. I would NOT call it a B movie though, not at all. The production value is in fact superb. It is extremely well done, edited, produced, great cinematography, scoring and ambiance, and the actors were pretty good too (not great of course, but everything else was). It was just extremely slow moving at times and you have to be able to appreciate atmospheric films with interesting visuals and different aspects of film making and cinematography and directing and production that you don't normally see. Just watch this on a night when you are looking for a horror movie that is a bit more relaxed. It is truly a great film as long as you know what its about and what to expect. And honestly I think that all of the technical aspects of film making are done quite perfectly on this one (to varying degrees of course), and give it a 10. And I will say that it is a damn shame that there are so many people out there who think they know enough about film to go around passing judgement on small movies like this that do things differently, and yet they don't know enough to be able to appreciate the art and creativity and craft that goes into making it? Well, I'd certainly like to see them do better than this on any budget.

Not Bad

[nothincomparez · 7/10 · 30 June 2022]

Wasn't the best movie I've ever seen and definitely not the worst, Kept my attention throughout. Don't understand the horrible ratings. To each their own.

Garbage.

[newyorkjetsafc · 1/10 · 9 July 2022]

This movie is as annoying as Scout Taylor-Compton-Hyphen-Hyphen. This movies synopsis on shudder sums it up. "A New York transplant returns to her own southern stomping grounds. But the weekend takes a bizarre turn when a nightmarish cult arrives fulfill its twisted apocalyptic prophecy". Yes... it's as cringe as you think it would be.

Typical

[adammalleck · 2/10 · 10 February 2022]

Typical beautiful couple fighting a demonic cult. Snooze. Not scary. Little creepy. Very boring. Acting subpar. Just the worst script and oh so predictable.

Predictible

[Pilolai · 3/10 · 7 February 2022]

Your typical satanic cult movie. The ending is what I expected, only I enjoyed was the house and location. I wanted to turn it off because it was giving me anxiety the way that I knew what would happen but I was already an hour in.

Starts Off Bad, But Wait, it Gets Worse..

[psxexperten · 1/10 · 23 February 2022]

Another worst film! Full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Avoid at all cost!

1 Star. I would give 0 Stars, but the rating system won't allow it.

With unoriginal scenes, poor acting skills, and just a terrible plot- this movie has managed to make amazed at just how AWFUL a movie can be.

I am honestly so shocked at how bad this movie was, that I won't even bother explaining it. Story was horrible, acting was horrible, effects were horrible, and the list goes on.

Anyone who gives this movie over a 1 or 2 was either a part of the movie, related to someone in the movie, or paid to rate it highly. Period.

This is a typical f-rated movie. The best way to watch is with the sound down while wearing a blind fold.

Low-budget Suspiria

[jwcstorage · 5/10 · 5 February 2022]

This movie hits like a low-budget Suspiria, not that thats necessarily a bad thing!

Everything was mostly "good enough", including whatever they shot this with, and most of the acting and scenery, though the scenery is quite limited.

The scream of the main actress is kind of annoying, to be brutally honest, and with this being a horror movie you can expect lots of screaming and yelling.

The pace at first is quite slow, and a few plot points forgot to connect to anything, for some odd reason. Maybe to pad the length? If you can get past the first chunk of the movie until the horror element shows up, it picks up after that, to various extents.

Its pretty good overall, but as stated, everything about this movie was pretty standard fare. Nothing really elevated it to the point it needed, but it was a fun watch, hence my dead-center 5/10.

Its worth your time if you have the time and want a creepy horror film with some gore (a smidge of nudity). If you're into occult horror with a bit of hammy acting, this would be worth a lazy Sunday viewing.

One of the worst movies ever!

[martindimchev · 1/10 · 6 February 2022]

Rich Ragsdale should never again make a movie! It was that bad. From music effects to visual effects. If you don't want to waste precious time just skip this one. I wish I've read somewhere about it or someone to warn me not to watch. It's better to just watch the walls instead of this one!

Don't let the preview fool you, it's awful

[reasonablewoman · 1/10 · 24 September 2022]

And whoever wrote and directed are clearly Christian dudes with some unhealthy hang-ups up women and sex. I'm pretty sure they co-opt Indigenous American face-tattooing customs, too. The nod to The Shining with the eagle's eye view of the car heading to their host's home near the beginning of the movie gave me hope, and there are a few other cool references to other classic horror movies, but that's about the only positive of this movie. The scene that ranks among the worst I've ever seen in a movie of any type, period: the main character spreads her legs and a purple light emanated from her private parts accompanied by an angelic choir - and not in an ironic way.

What Did I Just Watch?

[bowiebob · 2/10 · 9 March 2022]

Wow.....there are no words to express the stupidity of this script....bad lines, crazy story, not the best acting...and I even disliked the soundtrack. Pass on this, waste of an hour and a half.

The coven

[aowkelun · 10/10 · 28 April 2023]

Following up on a lead, a couple searching for her long-lost family ancestry is led to a remote Southern plantation under the guise of finally finding answers but find themselves the prey of a deadly supernatural cult using her for their demonic savior's rebirth and must try to get away alive.

Overall, this was a decent enough if somewhat mildly problematic entry. What works best for this one is the somewhat enjoyable and engaging starting point here to everything. The quest for understanding her family heritage and the unknown nature of what everything means to her gives this a strong start that's highly effective as their desire to understand that leads them into the obvious trap and subsequent threats by the cult. Their imposing nature and deadly powers provide a nice sense of eeriness that goes alongside their ruthless behavior and ultimately dark fate looking to bring a powerful demonic entity into the human realm which makes their encounters together that much more fun. The brutality doled out by their invasion of the house and the shortcuts through which they get the upper hand for their quest make for a deadly time here, resulting in some incredibly chilling scenes as well as some solid bloodshed along the way. These are what hold this one up for the most part. There are some issues to be had with this one. One of the biggest factors here is the rather bland and dull pacing to start this one off as the first half doesn't have much of anything interesting going on. The various scenes of the two going through the community not doing anything to further the plot due to the purposeful dead-ends in their search that are set up to keep them there which is only exacerbated by his tendency to be argumentative and combative with the locals. This is carried over to the rest of the film where he comes off as wholly unlikable and just plain irritating to anyone and everyone around him even when trying to help since he's supposed to be the macho male in charge which just makes this part of the film so tough to get into. The other factor here to get into is the rather unfocused action that transpires with the cult and their powers. Since they're clearly manipulating the events from the start with their ability to force hallucinations, bend the activities of others to their will, and are generally just capable of doing anything, why they're unable to barnstorm the house and take her makes this feel a bit underwhelming. They seem so powerful and in control of what's going on that their halted approach to taking her seems more like a convenience that the characters themselves acknowledge without delving deeper into. This would've gone a long way towards making this do something interesting than just have them stand outside watching them as well. The last issue is the use of several rather obvious and unrealistic cliches that pop up throughout here, making for a rather familiar feel at times involving celestial configurations and black magic that doesn't feel that original. These are the slight issues that hold this one back.

A generally better-than-expected cult film

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 5 April 2022]

Following up on a lead, a couple searching for her long-lost family ancestry is led to a remote Southern plantation under the guise of finally finding answers but find themselves the prey of a deadly supernatural cult using her for their demonic savior's rebirth and must try to get away alive.

Overall, this was a decent enough if somewhat mildly problematic entry. What works best for this one is the somewhat enjoyable and engaging starting point here to everything. The quest for understanding her family heritage and the unknown nature of what everything means to her gives this a strong start that's highly effective as their desire to understand that leads them into the obvious trap and subsequent threats by the cult. Their imposing nature and deadly powers provide a nice sense of eeriness that goes alongside their ruthless behavior and ultimately dark fate looking to bring a powerful demonic entity into the human realm which makes their encounters together that much more fun. The brutality doled out by their invasion of the house and the shortcuts through which they get the upper hand for their quest make for a deadly time here, resulting in some incredibly chilling scenes as well as some solid bloodshed along the way. These are what hold this one up for the most part. There are some issues to be had with this one. One of the biggest factors here is the rather bland and dull pacing to start this one off as the first half doesn't have much of anything interesting going on. The various scenes of the two going through the community not doing anything to further the plot due to the purposeful dead-ends in their search that are set up to keep them there which is only exacerbated by his tendency to be argumentative and combative with the locals. This is carried over to the rest of the film where he comes off as wholly unlikable and just plain irritating to anyone and everyone around him even when trying to help since he's supposed to be the macho male in charge which just makes this part of the film so tough to get into. The other factor here to get into is the rather unfocused action that transpires with the cult and their powers. Since they're clearly manipulating the events from the start with their ability to force hallucinations, bend the activities of others to their will, and are generally just capable of doing anything, why they're unable to barnstorm the house and take her makes this feel a bit underwhelming. They seem so powerful and in control of what's going on that their halted approach to taking her seems more like a convenience that the characters themselves acknowledge without delving deeper into. This would've gone a long way towards making this do something interesting than just have them stand outside watching them as well. The last issue is the use of several rather obvious and unrealistic cliches that pop up throughout here, making for a rather familiar feel at times involving celestial configurations and black magic that doesn't feel that original. These are the slight issues that hold this one back.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.

Nothing at all happens

[cnarde · 1/10 · 4 July 2022]

Boring af. Movie was so bad it's not even worth tearing apart. At no point in its 90 minute runtime did I care about nor was I interested in a single thing happening.

I do like how the guy says he's a black belt then proceeds to get rocked by literally everyone he encounters though.

The Long Night is about an hour and 15 minutes Too Long

[dougg-23440 · 1/10 · 18 February 2022]

The story is about 15 minutes long. The rest of the movie is filled with endless drone shots of forest landscape.

Mind-numbingly boring.

Acting was subpar.

Weak sauce

[kmbiddle-69053 · 2/10 · 27 January 2024]

Was doing fine, despite the obviously very low budget, until the deer face magically broke a guy's arms and whatnot. Stopped watching after that. This is so trite and overdone. Every horrible, over-played, worn out, horror trope makes a debut. The storyline is not well defined, but it's not smart enough to play out that way. Some films can get away with that. Not this one. The dialogue is, at turns, hilarious and pathetic. As with so many terrible movies, the only likeable characters get killed off early, leaving one to wonder why the writers saw fit to pollute our world even further with this drek. In short, don't waste your time. Take a bath in lukewarm water- you'll get more out of it.