WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS Review
If I was to find myself in the throes of an Indiana-based Satanic death cult, the least my devil-worshipping assailants could do is show me a good time. Sadly, in Marc Meyers’ WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS, the convergence of the 80’s, death metal hair bands, and murderous zealots fails to bring out much energy or fun, instead content to just waver uneasily between straight-faced horror and retro kitschy-ness.
To Meyers’ credit (as well as screenwriter Alan Trezza), the film doesn’t take long to get into the actual Satan slashing shenanigans. As with other high school/college(??) kids in the 80’s, we follow the trio of Alexis (Alexandra Daddario), Val (Maddie Hasson), and Beverly (Amy Forsyth) as they make their way through the fields of Indiana to catch some off brand death metal band absolutely thrash it on stage. Each girl filling out their respective horror movie stereotype (Alexis the straight and sturdy central figure; Val, the horn-dog; Beverly, the quiet one), it’s not long before news of a rampaging Satanic cult takes over their radio, which of course, they wave off. After all, there’s a concert to attend and boys to meet, which arrives in the form of coincidental trio: Kovacs (Logan Miller), Ivan (Austin Swift), and Mark (Keann Johnson), who also fill out their respective roles as horror movie male stereotypes. In this beginning phase of the film, WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS also quickly reveals the startling lack of character both on and off-screen as the film deals plain imagery, turning even a cheesy-as-hell death metal concert into something that looks like it was filmed for some tv commercial, leaving the film’s equally one-note characters to sway in the wind as they desperately try to crack any funny jokes or display any sort of emotional depth to their archetypes.
In the remaining portion of the film, Meyers shifts into intrigue and twists, with hardly either making much of a noticeable impact on the enjoyment of the film. Even when WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS finally reveals its true colors, unearthing the deadly and demented secrets of our six boys and girls in the film’s one “gotcha” moment, Meyers brings these out in such muted ways with little to no tension or energy that one wonders where the director’s keen sense of impending doom displayed in MY FRIEND DAHMER went. Additionally, the cast of characters the director is working with hardly does any favors as Trezza offers up blank stereotypes who are really just banking on the viewer being surprised by their nefarious turns as the film goes on, leaving us to watch the likes of Daddario and Johnson just kind of be there and be as generic as the wheat fields that surround them. Granted, it was nice to see Maddie Hasson as the constantly volatile wild-card of the girl trio step up to the plate and actually try and inject some vivacious fun into this drab affair. While her performance can border on the over-the-top, that specific energy isn’t so out of place for a movie about crazy Satanists, try as this movie might to say otherwise. Even so, it’s a shame that no one else manages to match her vibe as even poor Johnny Knoxville, playing an extremist Christian preacher, kind of just shuffles on the sidelines; a far cry from the unhinged mania of his real life persona found in those wonderful JACKASS films.
So if there’s not much to say about the performances in this thing, what is left to recommend? The answer: not a whole lot else. Whatever WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS brings to the table in its final act, which really just narrows down to some screaming and lackluster “action” sequences, Meyers and his crew really seem to mail it in here as the aforementioned action sequences are left to twiddle around in near-darkness, with only the bluest of blue lights illuminating the next unimaginative sequence the film has for us. What’s left is just a literal exercise in throwback horror without any of the fun. Everything in WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS is adequately made but that seems to be maximum amount of effort the crew was aiming for with this flick. It’s hard to make Satan boring, but WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS tries its darnedest to make that a reality.
1.5/5
