The Darkest: Written Review

July 8, 2018

The Darkest

Written Review

Hi everyone and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, the show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.
Today I’ll be reviewing 2017’s indie horror film The Darkest, by French indie filmmaker Robin Entreinger.

Thank you, Robin for sharing your work with us.

The story is about a young physics teacher, Christophe, and his wife Céline, portrayed by Valentin Bonhomme and Claire Suchet.

Upon being introduced to Christophe and Céline, we can understand they have secrets and subtle tension between them. Christophe is presented as an avid nature lover. He initiates a romantic weekend, a hiking trip in the mountains with his wife. Being a city girl, Céline shows some reluctance but ultimately goes along with it.

The two park their car at the bottom of a mountain and spend an entire day hiking in a route Christophe knows well. Come sundown, they camp for the night. That’s when things start to get weird.

This is more than just a horror film. The story displays an interesting dynamic between our two characters as it dives deeper into their personalities. It shows us in very subtle and interesting ways, just how different Christophe and Céline are from one another. Watching it unfold, you might understand why they are having marital problems. Christophe tries, in his own way, to bring Céline into his world. Though he could be more sensitive while doing so, you could say he means well. Céline seems out of place, and I’m not necessarily talking about the hiking trip, but rather the life she’s leading.

Come nightfall, the horror they deal with forces them to look deep into themselves as they become exposed not only to what threatens them, but to each other as well.

Entreinger wisely builds tension in a horror element that takes place in disturbingly dark surroundings. There is very little light on that mountain. Once things get weird, we as viewers might feel our imagination kick into gear. That alone makes for a very interesting experience.

There is something admirably clever happening within the carefully constructed horror element in the film. As the story progresses in a very visually-challenged way, there is some uncertainty regarding what is happening, or why, but at the same time we gain some insight with regard to Christophe and Céline.

Looking at The Darkest from a filmmaker’s point of view, the film largely has only two characters throughout. There are an entire conflict sequence and climax scene shot with very little light. It is a great example of just how far solid vision and creativity can carry a film.

To sum up, this is an intriguing and thought provoking film that has a lot more depth to it than what’s on the surface. It was very wise and brave of Entreinger to utilize darkness in the manner that he did.

Highly recommended!

The Darkest gets a 7.5/10 on the Look At Me, I’m a Film Critic scale!