HOLD THE DARK

US, 2018, 125 minutes, Colour.

Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgaard, James Badge Dale, Riley Keogh, Julian Black Antelope, Tantoo Cardinal.

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier.

Hold the Dark is directed by Jeremy Saulnier, who made an impact with small budget horror films, Blue Ruin, The Green Room. This film works on a far vaster scale, with his Alaskan settings, filmed there as well is in Calgary, remote towns, Native American population, forests, mountains and ever-present wolves.

Jeffrey Wright portrays Core, an expert on wolves who is invited to come to Alaska by a woman who declares her son, like of the boys in the town, has been taken by wolves and killed. He accepts and moves into a strange atmosphere, the woman puzzling in her ambiguous provocative behaviour and her disappearing. He goes in pursuit of the walls, encounters them, a stance between them but they run away. A woman in the village warns that the wife is evil and that is going on the wrong direction. Core discovers the body of the boy in the basement, strangled.

There is a transition to show the father, Vernon (Alexander Skarsgaard) on patrol, confronting rebels, his killing a fellow soldier who is raping a local woman, his being wounded and repatriated. He meets up with a Native American friend, Cheon (Julian Black Antelope). What follows is somewhat bewildering, Cheon complaining about harsh government attitudes and prejudices for the village, his going on a shooting spree and killing and wounding many of the local police.

Core is asked to stay by the sheriff (James Badge Dale) and is witness to the shooting. Vernon is also responsible for shootings and flees to some springs on the mountain where he teams up with his wife. Again, violence, confrontations – but, with Core surviving, rescued and finally reunited with his daughter.

Often very grim, some very brutal sequences, and the puzzle about the spirit of wolves, their possessing humans, and all the traditions of the folklore about wolves, full moons, the Wolfman.

1. A dark film? Gruelling subject, situations?
2. The Alaskan settings, forests, mountains, snow? The isolated towns? The musical score?
3. The wolf theme, traditions about wolves, Wolf man, full moons, legends and myths, the spirit of wolves, prowling, destructive?
4. The introduction to Core, his expertise on walls, his career, the message from Medeora, his decision to travel, arrival, the village, the Native Americans and their presence, the discussions with Medeora, the situation about her son, her talking, her husband absent at war, the wolves and her son, her manner, the night, the bath, naked, lying on the bed? Urging Core on his quest? His return, the disappearance?
5. Going on his mission, prepared, the Native American woman warning him evil, going the wrong way? Trekking through the snow, the encounter with the wolves, eating the young, his falling, reaching for the rifle, the wolves approaching, their stands, withdrawing?
6. Core in the house, discovering the boy’s body, calling the police, the coroner? His bewilderment?
7. The transition to the war, the mission, Vernon and his presence, the pursuit, the crashed car, the rebels, shot? In the town, wandering, the soldier raping the woman, killing him, giving the woman that night? His being shot, wounded, the blood, rescued, repatriated? The flashbacks and the memory of being with his son?
8. Vernon’s return, the meeting with his friend, Cheon? The meeting with the sheriff, with Core, thanking him and shaking his hand? The body of his son, digging it up and taking it? The shooting of the coroner?
9. The social background, the government, illness among the Native Americans, Cheon and his complaints? Taking up weapons?
10. The siege, the police, the tactics of the sheriff, core and his involvement, under the car? Cheon and his weapons, the number of deaths, police wounded? The sheriff, his tactic, getting into the building, cutting the trip wire, confronting Cheon, shooting him? The young police officer, his fears, having to run, shot, rescued?
11. The mystique of the wolves, with Vernon and his wife, the murder of the child, the evil spirit possessing? Their going to the springs?
12. The sheriff, Core, the plane, pursuing Vernon, going to the springs, the sheriff killed? Core wounded? Going into the cave, seeing the setup for Vernon and his wife? His being wounded in the neck?
13. Vernon, his wife, the relationship, power, sexuality, the springs? Vernon withdrawing the arrow from Core’s neck?
14. Vernon and his wife, going into the wilderness?
15. Core, rescued, transferred, in the hospital, his daughter present?
16. The unexpected aspects of the drama? Remoteness, Alaska, the walls and mystique?