THE LONG NIGHT (2022)
Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton) is a young woman who has decided to find the parents she never knew. When her search leads to a small rural town in South Carolina, she and her boyfriend Jack (Nolan Gerard Funk) decide to journey there to meet a man who claims to have found her family. Once they arrive at the isolated plantation, they find the house empty and themselves soon under siege by a cloaked, mask wearing cult. What do they want, and will Grace and Jack ever get out alive?
Flick is directed by Rich Ragsdale from a script by Robert Sheppe and Mark Young. While the plot is nothing new, Ragsdale does impress with a very striking visual style, especially on a modest budget. There are a few visuals that don’t quite work, but otherwise, he provides some very spooky shots and knows how to create atmosphere with his camera. There are some creepy sequences as well and a few moments of strong violence that have impact. Compton is a horror flick veteran and makes a strong heroine as Grace, a woman whose family history may have caught up with her in a bad way. Co-star Funk seems to get the worst of some stilted dialogue and it does hurt his character. There are also appearances by veteran actors Jeff Fahey and Deborah Kara Unger in small roles. If anything holds this atmospheric flick back a bit is that the last act seems drawn out and gets a bit pretentious before settling down to a more traditional horror ending, and sometimes, at just over 90 minutes in length, the film drags in spots. Otherwise, The Long Night is not a bad effort from Rich Ragsdale. Flick opens on VOD and select theaters on 2/4/22.
-MonsterZero NJ
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 