Written & Directed by Nicholas Reiner
For the
sake of their young son Dylan, Jaime and Christian have committed to
giving their tumultuous marriage one last try. While Chris gave up on
his dream of making it as a rock god, he found himself unable to give
up the trappings of the lifestyle. His hard partying antics, fueled
by whiskey binges and hard drugs have left his relationship with wife
and child in tatters. However it looks like Chris has turned things
around. He has a new job as a stock broker, he's managed to beat his
addictions and as he and Jaime attend marriage counseling, she
determines that it's okay for her and Dylan to move back home. Of
course things are never as...HEY WHY THE FUCK DID THAT CLOWN JUST POP
IN OUT OF NOWHERE?
All Dark Places
desperately wants to be a dark
and dramatic thriller but instead comes up far short, veering too
close to camp territory to be taken seriously. Joshua Burrow does his
damnedest to channel Jack Torrance with his portrayal of a recovering
addict, but a script that has him doing bumps of coke in the basement
the second night his wife moves back home does him no favors. The
presence of the invisible clown (Liam Seide), meant to give voice to
the turmoil roiling in Christian and his son's head, up the
unintentional comedy scale considerably. To his credit Seide gives it
an honest go, but the gibberish and nonsensical sounds he makes fail
to budge the creep meter at all. Clowns can be terrifying but lest we
forget they can also be very, very funny.
It's
not a total loss as the film has one inspired bit of insanity in the
form of the hippy marriage counselor Dr. Spago (Tim Douglas). The
good doctor delivers two gems: first he advises the couple, one of
which is a recovering drug addict remember, to drop acid together as
away to open up to one another about their problems. This leads to a
bizarre, Kafkaesque sequence where the troubled couple take a
psychedelic journey with each other and the clown (who tags along for
the ride). The second comes when Christian asks how a guy with three
failed marriages qualifies in giving marriage advice. Douglas'
responds by saying he has still has relations “SEXUAL relations”
(his emphasis) with each of them in an earnest, no bullshit tone.
It's high comedy.
Unfortunately
it's not enough to elevate All Dark Places. Marred by ham fisted
performances and subplots that do little aside from padding the
runtime (the ex-bandmate turned stockbroker is running a Ponzi scheme
for what reason?) it's a tough slog to get through. The
Shining influence leaves its
thumb prints all over the film but the stakes seem so small and the
principles only capable of community theater levels of acting, that
drags the whole thing down. Burrow is the guiltiest party here. As the film progresses and his mental well being deteriorates, he makes a habit of falling into a slack jawed blank expression which rather than look dangerous, just makes him seem like a guy in need of a cup of coffee.
The allure of a homicidal clown may be meant to draw the horror crowd in but don't be fooled. This is family drama, which is fine when executed well. That's not the case with All Dark Places.
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