Robert Frost followers will recognise the title of this psychological horror. Taken from the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Night, the related strains run thusly: “The woods are beautiful, darkish and deep. /However I’ve guarantees to maintain, /And miles to go earlier than I sleep, / And miles earlier than I fall asleep.” This can be a neat, if indirect, manner of describing writer-director Teresa Sutherland’s debut movie, which sees a newly minted park ranger head into the wilderness, after the disappearance of a younger girl, to confront shadowy forces focused on stealing extra than simply your picnic basket.
The nationwide park in query has an extended historical past of assorted vanishings (however what desolate rural area of the US doesn’t?), and the plucky ranger can be processing a private trauma relationship again to childhood (however what lead character in a 2020s horror film just isn’t?). Naturally, the disappearances and trauma will intersect.
Georgina Campbell is nicely solid within the lead position: a compelling, likable heroine within the glorious Barbarian from 2022, right here she achieves a steadiness between vulnerability and energy which means you’re rooting for her to outlive, however she’s not an invincible badass. Victory just isn’t a foregone conclusion; she is resourceful, however she’s up in opposition to one thing huge and terrifying.
Nonetheless, the forces of darkness in Beautiful, Darkish, and Deep are lower than clearcut. Up to a degree, this looseness is intriguing, although there comes a time the place the little bit of your mind that hungers for a satisfyingly neat decision could begin to grumble. Counterbalancing that is the truth that the vibes-based horror is fantastically staged, with loads of creepy dream-logic tableaux taking part in out with gnarly appeal and a well-judged sense of environment. Maybe on this occasion, a way of place trumps plot; props then, to cinematographer Rui Poças who conjures a completely believable and creepy imaginative and prescient of the moonlit American wilds out of what’s actually the landscapes of his native Portugal, the place the movie was principally shot. Just like the movie itself, it’s a little bit of sleight of hand, however one which’s somewhat efficient.
