Coming Home In The Dark Review: Never trust a man with a fire-extinguisher
Coming Home In The Dark just had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021 in the Midnight section. This year the Festival will take place digitally via a feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform and in person on Satellite Screens across the country (public health permitting) from January 28-February 3, 2021.
The New Zealand thriller film is directed by James Ashcroft and written by Eli Kent with James Ashcroft. Starring Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell and Matthias Luafutu.
Synopsis
A school teacher is forced to confront a brutal act from his past when a pair of ruthless drifters takes him and his family on a nightmare road-trip. At first the family’s terror seems to be born of a random encounter with two sociopaths who seem intent on god only knows what. But after some time, Hoaggie (Erik Thomson) and Jill (Miriam McDowell) realize that this nightmare has been set in motion 20 years earlier. As they approach their mysterious final destination Mandrake (Daniel Gillies) reveals the horrible secret driving his actions leaving Hoaggie to face a questionable past before the sun rises.
Plot
The thriller opens with a brutal sequence, within the first 15 minutes, that sets the tone for the rest of the film. So, in my opinion you can divide the film into two parts. The first part is about this harrowing act which then leads to the second part. This one is focusing on the past of Hoaggie. We get to know more about what he did during the car ride, where they are taking several short stops. Some of those come as a surprise, whereas some others are planned by Mandrake and Tubs (Matthias Luafutu).
Before all of this happened, the family was just about to enjoy a beautiful day in New Zealand. They had absolutely no idea what was coming. All they wanted to do was hiking and having a restful picnic afterwards. But that’s not what happened. As soon as one of the teenage sons spots those two drifters on top of the mountain, waving, you know things are about to change. Not in a good way indeed.
This disturbing act of violence, when those two worlds are colliding, was a turning point. It went from a pleasant day into a nightmare really fast. The tension is growing to a point where it’s almost unbearable.
Characters
Mandrake
He is able to establish so much fear with nothing but a menacing stare. It’s insane. You do realize pretty fast, that it’s not a good idea to start a conversation with him. It’s going to end in a nightmare. A horrible nightmare. However, there’s no chance for anyone to out-detective him. At least it seems to be like that. Tubs is his so called partner in crime. He would let him do the cleaning after killing some people, or letting him run after the hostages. Sometimes there’s no dialogue between them. Just a whistle. Then you know it’s time for Tubs to get things done. But in general, what a psychopathic character. He is cold blooded and stops at nothing. But let me tell you this: Just about everything in life changes at some point.
Tubs
His quiet and soothing personality fits the saying “still waters run deep” perfectly. Most of the time he’s just blindly following orders from Mandrake. At least that’s what we are thinking. He is not saying much. Just taking care of the hostages and catching them whenever they’re trying to flee. Every time Mandrake whistles, it’s like he’s waiting for his little lap dog, Tubs, to do something. Why is he putting up with everything? What is he waiting for? You have to watch the movie to find out.
Hoaggie
He seems like the perfect dad, who would do everything for his children and wife. One happy family. But this little roadtrip changes everything. He is showing his true self and believe me, you are not ready for this.
Jill
You can’t tell her a thing. She is a strong woman, who’s breaking after she realized the truth about her husband. All these years she thought that she had this perfect life. She did. But she didn’t know that her husband was capable of doing things like that. It’s all going to her head after some time. Maybe this is too much for her to handle.
Acting
What an outstanding performance from Daniel Gillies as Mandrake. Even his menacing stares are giving me goosebumps. And I guess I’m not the only one, am I right? One can see that he literally put everything into this character. From the very first scene until the end. He definitely is really really frightening. His acting is, in my opinion, the highlight. Let’s just say he’s delightfully terrifying. Excellent job! He’s really stealing the show. WOW!
And also, a character like that is only as good as his captives, is only as good as his victims. I was only able to go into those places once they achieved a certain sort of frequency of their hysteria, you know?
But let’s not forget about Erik, Miriama and Matthias. Both, Erik and Miriama, did an incredible job playing these hostages and radiate such a hysteric energy. After everything they went through as their characters, they inspire me over and over again in every scene. They embody all this fear, panic, hate and pushback. It’s all changing from time to time.
Matthias did an excellent job playing this quiet and mysterious character. He doesn’t have to say much. It’s all about his actions and facial expressions. You do realize how he feels after some time. You know what’s going on inside his head. He’s trying to hide something, but after some time he just can’t hold it back any longer.
Final review
Man, what a rollercoaster ride! You need to get ready for this. Get ready to question things. Get ready to despair. Get ready to cry and most important: Get ready to scream. Believe me. This is a film you won’t soon forget. It’s really intense and not for the faint-hearted. There might be moments when you find yourself holding your breath. James Ashcroft and all the actors did an incredible job. If you are up for some horror, suspense and storyline, that comes full circle in the end as it ties everything together, you will love Coming Home In The Dark.
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