Low budget horror is a tag that rarely works in a film’s favour. Conjuring up images of a confused plot, muddled back story, bad effects and wooden acting. Occasionally though there is a diamond in the rough a film that uses its low budget to its advantage, and has a script dripping with black comedy. Unfortunately Dark Nature firmly falls into the former.
The film is billed as an eco-thriller-cum-slasher but, but the message of being kind to nature really doesn’t ring true. Most of the characters who are killed off within the film and for some bizarre reason no one really notices. None of them seem to be doing any overbearing damage to their natural surroundings. Dark Nature should ideally been billed as mindless killing with no apparent reason. As with most low budget slashers the gore is the main focus and is definitely a plus point, taking a heavy nod to the Italian horrors of the 70’s and 80’s we get lots of heavy breathing and POV killing shots throughout.
The film’s strongest aspect is its locale, shot in beautiful rural Scotland, director Marc De Launay uses this as a fallback for some great cutaways but, for an eco-thriller it never really becomes more than just a transitioning tool. Ideally, nature here is the killer, as with the classic eco-thriller Long Weekend, but nature does absolutely no killing within the film. Instead we have a faceless murderer who dispatches a group of one-dimensional fodder walking aimlessly into a variety of familiar endings. Bear trap, machete, crossbow, knife and as many pointy objects as the crew could find.
The characters within the film are literally there to be killed. The writer has tried to come up with a few oddballs such as a psychic and a researcher, but because plot points are spliced in and out of the film without care, there’s no back story and unfortunately we’re just left with some laborious acting made even worse by incredibly clunky and unnatural dialogue. The family dynamic doesn’t really make any sense, and there’s little follow through, such as a scene in which a book is mentioned during a tarot reading but never really followed up on. The only slight positive about the acting is the groundskeeper who does being disturbed very well, albeit looking a bit mental behind the eyes and grunting a lot. Comparing him to the rest of the cast, who look like they’re reading one word lines from just off camera, he comes off very well.
Originally distributed by Troma, who are well known for their low budget yet comedic releases, it does make you wonder why Lloyd Kaufman picked this film up. Dark Nature has promise within its location but the rest of it feels confused, muddy and in no way funny. The gore, although well done, is nothing new and for a film that’s supposed to be an eco-thriller they should at least have nature kill something.
Overall Verdict: A confused and messy affair, with clunky acting and no real message behind it. The only real positive is the location and even that isn’t used to its full potential.
Special Features:
The Making of Dark Nature
Short film: The Last Noel
Short film: Contorted Hazel
Trailer
Reviewer: Gareth Haworth