A Shallow Descent

I like hiking. It's a great way to exercise while taking in the best our planet has to offer. It can make your body and mind feel satisfied in a way that few other activities can. 

It's also filled with wildlife and precarious rock formations and contrary to what many films may think, not in any way a cure for trauma. 

Quick Plot: Joy's boyfriend Derek is an abusive maniac. One night, after nearly strangling Joy to death, he settles for murdering her dog. Six months later, Joy has left that relationship but is naturally still carrying a lot of emotional weight. Her best friend Carmen encourages her to tag along for a wilderness retreat run by Dr. (and you better call her that) Carol Dunnley and populated with a few more wounded women.

As they hike deeper and deeper into the secluded woods, some of the women begin to question their safety. Joy and the twitchy Tara seem to be hallucinating and dreaming about the same humanoid monster, one who might have some Derek in him. Though she puts up a confident front, Dr. Dunnley eventually admits they're lost, only to fall victim to the same haunting voices that want to separate the group. Tough but traumatized army vet Shaina has her own issues, while the steady Carmen begins to doubt Joy's strength in walking away from her abuser.

This is a good foundation for a wilderness-set horror film. Unfortunately, Dark Nature never finds solid footing to really move things into place. It clearly wants to explore PTSD through a decidedly female lens, with a strong cast of women who come at their pain from very different angles. There are obvious similarities to the far more successful The Descent, but the more I think back on what Dark Nature was trying to do, the more I find myself thinking of another wounded-women-exploring-unchartered-territory tale that I liked less than most people: Annihilation. 

One is far more sci-fi and one more horror, but they actually pair well as a set. And both left me frustratingly unsatisfied. 

Director/co-writer Berkley Brady has a lot of confidence behind the camera in her debut. The Canadian mountain scenery is used to tremendous effect, and each member of her cast conveys a deep inner life that the script never fully addresses. There's an intriguing monster concept and design, but overall, Dark Nature just lacks a certain cohesion that keeps everything moving towards one place.

The pacing is certainly slow, which isn't necessarily a problem. On paper, the gradual sprinkles of terror are fine. But the actual tension just doesn't seem to accumulate in a way that puts you all the way over the edge for the finale. Ultimately, everything just feels a little undercooked.

High Points

As I've said before, I can watch Hannah Emily Anderson in anything (particularly indie horror) and it's no surprise that she holds our interest throughout

Low Points

It's a small thing, but such a distracting film trick that I despise so much that I can't ignore it: wet camera lenses. I don't understand why filmmakers think showing drops of water or spatters of blood on the camera is a good idea. All it does is remind the viewer that what they're seeing is actually a camera lens

Lessons Learned

Terrible therapists say things like "risk equals growth" (then send you off to die on the mountains)

The trauma Olympics are way more competitive than glee club

Rent/Bury/Buy

I found Dark Nature to be an adequate way to kill 90 minutes. It clearly shows a fresh and talented voice exploring deep themes, but overall, it just didn't fully come together in a way that really clicked into place. Worth a watch on Amazon Prime with tempered expectations.