And soon the Darkness - DVD

Movie: The two American girls Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie (Odette Yustman) enjoy their adventure vacation in Argentina. On their bikes, the girls explore the country and its people. But since they are bored with their travel group, they want to complete the last stage alone. A serious mistake, because not only do they miss their bus to the airport and get stuck in the middle of nowhere. On top of that, they get into each other's hair and break up in a fight. When Stephanie returns to make peace with her friend, she has disappeared. The tourist is only smiled at by the local policeman, no help is expected here. Stephanie suspects something bad has happened to Ellie. But alone in the foreign land, she doesn't know who to trust.And once darkness falls, any help could come too late for Ellie.

And soon the Darkness is the remake of the 1970 British thriller Deadly Vacation.While the story was set in France at the time, it was moved to the picturesque landscape of Argentina for the 2010 version. Director Marcos Efron has also tried to make what is in itself a very tense kidnapping thriller more appealing to fans of torture horror a la Hostel - but without the crude slasher interludes. Even though the lack of too bloody scenes is a positive thing in the end, the result here is a somewhat half-baked mix of thriller and horror, which is nice to look at, but always remains too superficial. The biggest problem here are the two main characters, who are drawn in an arguably template-like fashion. Stephanie is the brave one, Ellie the wild, arrogant tourist who prefers to drink and seduce men rather than care about catching the bus on time.

As a viewer, it's hard to feel sorry for such characters when something bad happens to them. It doesn't help when the two ladies are lolling in the sun in skimpy bikinis - if the viewer can't form an emotional connection with the characters, a lot of the suspense potential is lost in a kidnapping and survival thriller like this. Even the shady sidekick Michael, portrayed by Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek) has been stripped of much of the menace possessed by the comparable character from the original by giving him a tragic backstory that he is allowed to reveal far too quickly.

Despite all the clichés and weaknesses, And soon the Darkness also has many good aspects. The lead actresses, even if their characters remain superficial, are well cast and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain's work is really something to behold. In the first half of the film, Efron also does a very good job of establishing an alienating atmosphere that provides a good breeding ground for rising tension. Unfortunately, he does not reap at the end what he sows at the beginning and loses himself again and again in genre clichés, which clearly diminish the overall impression, which is positive in itself.

Who is not looking for more than a nice looking thriller with some good moments of suspense, beautiful scenery and attractive actresses, will definitely get his money's worth with And soon the Darkness. But if you expect well-drawn characters and an arc of suspense maintained to the end, you will be disappointed.

Picture + Sound: Technically, the realization of the thriller is on a good level. The picture could still improve in the areas of detail sharpness and contrasts, but the color mixing can convince. The sound remains largely discreet, but manages due to well used effects and coherent ambient sounds to create a menacing atmosphere, which is quite conducive to the film enjoyment. Good!

Extras: Let's get started with an audio commentary by director Marcos Efron, Todd Miller, who was responsible for editing the film, and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain. It's an interesting, somewhat technical commentary that doesn't provide any big "aha" moments, but does offer some interesting insights into the production, which had to be managed on a comparatively low budget. A good complement to the commentary is the director's nearly 11-minute video diary, which offers a brief but entertaining look at the making of the film.

Nearly seven minutes of cut scenes, though they add little to the actual story, and the trailer for the film round out the uncluttered but watchable bonus package. Good!

Conclusion:And soon the Darkness is a solid, but not really mind-blowingly suspenseful thriller that is visually convincing, but never matches the tension of the 1970 original. The DVD is well realized and can please both in terms of technical realization, as well as bonus material. No masterpiece, but still good entertainment for a quite exciting video evening

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp