Movie Review: ‘AND SOON THE DARKNESS’ (2010)

Hello, all.  Once again, it’s another fabulous review given to you by the guy that won’t stop watching remakes. Up on deck this time around is the remake of the 70’s British thriller And Soon the Darkness. The movie is about two American girls biking through Argentina when their journey goes terribly wrong.

I’m a father of a son, and I think he will grow up to be a smart young man one day. If I had a daughter I would presume the same thing about her but I would certainly be nervous anytime I would be asked about going over seas with some friends to backpack or travel in other countries.   I would keep movies like this one,  Hostel 2, or Turistas,  around to pop in anytime she would ask.  Not that these countries are bad  (Hostel’s location looked great but I mean come on, they should have known something was up) but these types of films are guidelines on how not to behave when visiting foreign areas. Unless you are traveling with hordes of friends, stick to the tourist destinations please. We really don’t need anymore young white women coming up missing now do we? So … on to the film.

From the start, you know these girls are in trouble. It’s the classic case of the party girl versus the good girl. One wants to stay on schedule, see all the sites, take pictures, while the other wants to drink, dance, and tease some foreign boys. What usually happens in that scenario is obvious. The slutty girl gets in trouble, some guy goes too far and now there is tension between the two friends. It amazes me how even when people are thousands of miles from home they will let one petty argument ruin their whole trip. That is exactly what happens to our two ladies. What makes the scenario even worse is that they get so upset that they separate from each other. Separate? In a foreign land like Argentina? Are you serious?  Wait, let me start over and tell you exactly how smart these girls are.  Well in the start of the film the girls arrive in a small town and hit the local watering hole. The slutty girl played by Odette Yustman (Cloverfield, Unborn) decides to put on a show for the men at the bar. One guy in particular sparks her fancy, until the cool calm and collected Mr. Karl Urban (Chronicles of Riddick) steps in. He also grabs the attention of the good girl played by Amber Heard (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane).  Ellie (Odette)  follows Michael (Urban) to the bathroom and pees in front of him to get his attention.  Michael turns her down but does notice Stephanie (Heard) on the way out. Another thing Michael does is keep a sharp eye on the young man Ellie is attracted to. So of course, since she is turned down by Michael, Ellie throws herself at the other guy in the bar who offers to walk her home.  Michael, and a local cop have to intervene.

The next day the girls miss their bus out of town because of an alarm malfunction and are forced to spend another day in the village. They head out to check the local sites and decide to lay out for awhile which is when they have their confrontation with each other. I’m not going to tell you what it’s about but I’m sure you can figure it out by now. From this point in the movie it becomes an immediate fail. It’s almost as If someone came to the crew and said they have one day to finish this movie up. The girls separate and Ellie runs into the guy at the bar and Stephanie runs into Michael. So guy at the bar turns into guy that likes to kidnap white women and put them on the slave market. He beats up Ellie and takes her to his hidden location. We come to find out Michael has a sister who was also kidnapped in the same town and had been seen with the “guy at the bar”. Stephanie freaks out when she finds Ellie’s cell phone and goes on a rampage trying to find her. With no help from the only cop in the town, she tracks down the guy from the bar. Needing some kind of help to save her beaten and tortured friend, she finally reaches out to Michael.  Can anyone be trusted, though?

Similar to Last House on the Left, and I Spit on Your Grave, these women start off helpless but then get their revenge in the end. It was a common theme of films during the seventies, and that’s pretty much where this movie should have been kept …  in the seventies! And Soon is just another film that didn’t need to be remade. The studios keep finding these films and trying to make them treasures by redoing them for a new generation. It’s so unnecessary because even if the originals are good (which this one wasn’t), let the new generation of horror kids seek out the original versions.  I would advise that you leave this on the shelf. I watched the ending three times to see if my mind would change.  Unfortunately, it didn’t.