Of Darkness

Eventide Productions

R1 DVD

Web: http://eventideproductions.net

Of Darkness is a powerfully concentrated horror short, it is twenty minutes of carefully executed suspense and terror. The plot is simple and yet through the creative use of lighting, sound and excellent cinematography a mood of “edge of your seat” suspense is created. The shock of the bloodshed at the end is the icing on the cake. It is rather surprising what can be achieved on a low budget using a carefully designed film which focuses on the use of light and darkness, innovative use of camera angles and some solid acting from a team of fairly youthful actors. While the plot has a certain “Lovecraftian” feel and the book is clearly based on the Necronomicon, it is not a spoof or comedy and works to seriously explore the “mythos” in a modern setting.

Brian and Jeff have the unenviable task of cleaning out their deceased grandfathers belongings, as they pack away a truck of his more obscure possessions; they stumble on an ancient book. It seems their mother believed her grandfather was some sort of “Satan worshipper”, but of course they do not take that sort of talk seriously.

With their mother away, Brian sneaks out to a party and Jeff holds a sleepover, bored with the movies on TV, he pulls out the book to scare the group, especially the youngest member Charlie who they regularly terrorize.

In an attempt to prove he is not afraid Charlie opens the book, what they find horrifies them all, it is filled with images of sadism, torture and death. However, worse is yet to come, because Charlie has unwittingly let loose a malevolent entity which will not stop until they are all dead. This entity is hard to fight as it has no form, it exists in the darkness and since darkness is all round them, they cannot escape.

Special Features include “The Other Side of Darkness” behind-the-scenes featurette, storyboard Comparisons, filmmaker’s Commentary, trailers and a photo gallery.

Of Darkness has been well received at film festivals worldwide, indeed of the twenty one in which it has been shown, it has been nominated ten times for Best Short Film and won more than half of these, bringing home six best film awards. It also received awards for most “Most Promising Filmmaker”, “Best Cinematography”, and “Audience Award for Best Short Film”

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go back to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)