Film Review: COMING HOME IN THE DARK (2021): Grim And Violent Film Is Well Acted But Occasionally Redundant

Coming Home In The Dark Review

Coming Home In The Dark (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by James Ashcroft and starring Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Matthias Luafutu, Billy Paratene, Frankie Paratene, Desray Armstrong, Alan Palmer, Ike Hamon, Sam Carter, Bailey Cowan, Timon Zeiss, Tioti O’Donnell  and Kaira O’Donnell.

New Zealand director James Ashcroft makes a promising debut with his violent film Coming Home In The Dark. This is a disturbing and frightening portrait of what happens to a family while vacationing together. There are many tense moments in the film but a lot of them are undermined by the fact that the reasoning behind the movie’s central character Mandrake (Daniel Gillies)’s actions is never truly brought fully into focus. This film is, like many recent films, hard to discuss without giving away some plot points but some details should be unveiled in order to discuss why some of the elements of the picture don’t necessarily work as well as they should.

Erik Thomson portrays a Dutch teacher named Alan (also known as Hoaggie) who is married to Jill (Miriama McDowell in one of the film’s best performances). They have two sons (Billy Paratene and Frankie Paratene) who are riding in the back of their car on a road trip they have embarked on. At a nice picnic, two vicious men appear all of a sudden. One is the very vocal Mandrake and the other is the much more quiet Tubs (Matthias Luafutu). Mandrake seems to have a very specific agenda here and a couple of characters are removed from the film through violence. Two key people are left and are kidnapped. One of these characters, at a certain point in the film, has to go to the bathroom so they pull over into a gas station where the said character tries to leave a message for help. More senseless violence ensues instead.

Here is my major quibble with the film: Mandrake is obviously trying to right the wrongs of the past through his actions in this film. However, by keeping a couple of characters alive and not the others, it feels like the point the character is trying to make and the lessons he is trying to teach are being thrust upon the survivors unfairly. And does he want survivors? If so, why, exactly, does he choose the two he chooses? The person who is responsible for the acts that Mandrake seeks revenge upon should have been immediately eliminated if that was Mandrake’s ultimate goal. Instead, the audience gets graphic depictions of violence that are unnerving and difficult to watch but with some innocent characters rather than the one the two mysterious men seemingly hold a grudge against.

As the wife of Alan, Jill, McDowell is absolutely spellbinding. She keeps the characterization she displays on screen to the point and extraordinarily captures the despair her character faces in the film after brutal events take place. Thomson fares less well in his role because the director doesn’t make it totally clear whether or not Alan is a man of horrendous character and integrity. It hints that he has done some things that are unspeakable in nature through his actions (whether directly or indirectly). The two violent men, Mandrake and Tubs, have good reason to be upset but one wonders if their violence towards the characters (other than Alan) is even slightly justified throughout the film.

You could argue about the movie’s justifications all day but at the heart of the film, is a devastating series of events which we learn has propelled the two violent characters to do what they do in the picture. There’s no room for debate that the information revealed is heartbreaking. But, for instance, in a scene later in the picture where some people consider helping one of our key characters, more violence takes place that makes the spiral of horrific events absolutely terrifying. As a horror movie, this one is definitely very over-the-top.

The performance by Daniel Gillies is electrifying. In scenes that Mandrake justifies his actions through dialogue, the riveting turn by Gillies is simply too intense to be ignored. It’s a true star-making performance. There is so much complexity in the film’s storyline but Mandrake’s character is finally shown to be evil by another character’s actions late in the picture and, finally, the ties of the movie are put together for an interesting finale.

Ashcroft has made a film that is sure to anger audiences and keep them on the edge of their seats as well. Holding his own in the cast is Matthias Luafutu who surprisingly makes his part a memorable one despite a lack of substantial dialogue for his character. Coming Home In The Dark is hard to ignore. It may stir up some emotions and make viewers invested in the material as a result. I found the film a little too violent for my taste and some of the character justifications were not entirely believable but it’s a well made film nevertheless.

Rating: 6/10

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