>>REVIEW
THE DARK HOURS
STARRING Kate Greenhouse, Aidan Devine and Gordon Currie
DIRECTED by Paul Fox
Opens Friday, November 11
Uptown Screen
From the outset, The Dark Hours seems like a promising film, one that hearkens back to an era of psychological horror movies that questioned our perceptions and values by blurring the boundary between illusion and reality. Unfortunately, by the time the film is over and its bloody carnage is wrought, it’s clear that it cannot achieve the level of sophistication to which it aspires.
It’s too bad because the film’s scenario, which involves a psychiatrist (Kate Greenhouse) confronted at a remote cabin by one of the violent sexual offenders she has treated in her work, isn’t lacking in compelling ideas. I’m not one to regularly make such comparisons, but think Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden crossed with Michael Haneke’s Funny Games – only with exceptionally poor acting and an unfortunate propensity to prioritize rather obvious plot twists over moral complexity. What does that leave, you ask? A formulaic psychological thriller that leaves too little to the imagination.
Whereas most great thrillers rely on suspense to create tension, The Dark Hours relies on physical violence. Implied or otherwise, off-screen or on, physical horror is rarely as excruciatingly uncomfortable for the audience as a well-played game of cat-and-mouse.
To be fair, the film does set up this dynamic between calculating doctor and psychotic patient (Aidan Devine), but it also involves a lame jealousy subplot and the supporting performances (from Gordon Currie and Iris Graham, respectively, as the shrink’s husband and sister) are so shrill and one-dimensional that the focus is ultimately lost.
Were Greenhouse and Devine given better opportunity to explore the central moral dilemmas posed by the film, The Dark Hours may have made a highly compelling two-hander. As it stands, the film is not contributing much to our understanding of medical ethics, mental illness, justice and rehabilitation, sibling rivalry or romantic jealousy.
It may be laudable that director Paul Fox and writer Wil Zmak are even trying to address all these concerns in what is essentially a conventional genre film, but The Dark Hours doesn’t contain enough surprises to be an entertaining thriller. Fox certainly has the potential to become a major player on the Canadian film scene, but unless he becomes more comfortable with moral complexity, he will not be able to deliver on that promise. |
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