The Emmy nominated Andrew P Jones is Writer, Director, and Producer of the new supernatural horror movie, Darkness Reigns. He presents for us a found footage chiller that really tries to impress and for the most part succeeds.
The opening scenes introduce us to Daniel Whitaker, a filmmaker, as he arrives at the premiere of his new movie, Darkness Reigns. It’s a behind the scenes documentary that was filmed whilst making another film, ‘Defanatus Soul’ which was never finished. Production was forced to stop due to mysterious and horrific circumstances. People had heard the rumors about the tragedies that occurred on set, and it’s with a heavy heart that Whitaker takes to the stage and introduces his film that will at last shed light upon the truth of the incident. From this point on we view the action through the lens of the documentary camera and learn what really happened to the doomed production.
Jones has gathered a cast and crew that are both familiar to him and can, of course, bring a little star quality. Zachary Mooren puts in a strong performance as Lead character Daniel, as does Linara Washington and the theatrical Peter Mayer as Sidney the Medium. Casper Van Dien of course provides some star appeal as a fictional version of himself, it’s just a shame that he doesn’t have longer screen time.
The majority of the action occurs on the film set, which happens to be a real haunted building. There are naturally many skeptics amongst the crew, however, when the ‘big bad’ decides to kick off they immediately eat their words and become believers. From this point on, the movie steps up a gear and it’s all non-stop thrills and chills until the end credits roll.
Expect lots of death, vomit, human barbeques, spewing swarms of flies, and demonic possession – and that’s all within the space of about five minutes. As soon as the building goes on demon lock-down, there’s only ever one way this is going to end – bloody. What we do learn about the mysterious and vicious entity is that someone sold their soul and its now payback time. After some playing around with his prey, the lizard-tongued soul collector eventually appears in the flesh to claim his prize, only to end up making one final deal that could change everything.
Warren Yeager does an inspired job as Cinematographer, and the practical special effects department deserve a grand pat on the back for a job well done. My personal highlight was the very bizarre and nauseating scene where we see the intestines fall from a gaping hole in a woman’s stomach only for her distraught son to desperately try to cram them back in.
Darkness Reigns is a fast-paced if sometimes cliched paranormal horror. Well worth looking for and a fine addition to the genre.
See Darkness Reigns now with Amazon VOD!
About The Author
