1988. Middle America. Heavy metal is the music du jour. The religious folk of the heartlands don't like it and that makes it even more appealing to teenagers looking to rebel. 3 young women, Alexis, Val and Beverly, are on their way to see The Soldiers Of Satan and want to make it a night to remember. Outside the venue the women cross paths with three young men, Ivan, Mark and Kovacs. They've a long and bloody night ahead of them.
I like when you're watching a film and you can sense the people involved had fun making it. I like it even more when it's a genre piece made by people with an affection for the genre. It's obvious director Marc Meyers likes his horror because We Summon The Darkness is a very entertaining affair. If you've any bit of a working knowledge of 80's horror it will all seem very familiar to you. The teenagers who think they know it all, the pure girl, the promiscuous one who dies first, the suspicious dude, the fella who seems deep but hides a secret, the adults tutting and frowning at their behaviour. Everything is present and correct but We Summon The Darkness is smart enough to mix things up. All the blood and screaming you'll expect is present and correct but the way it plays out puts a nice postmodern spin on things that lifts the film above most direct to streaming watches. It's satisfying to see overdone genre conventions thrown up in the air in a fun, knowing way and it's the kind of work that would justify a second watch just to see how prior knowledge changes your POV. I liked too the satirical spin on that icky puritanical streak that consciously haunted American horror for far too long. It's one of the main reasons why the 80's will never be looked upon as a golden era for horror so it's nice to see it played with. Kudos Mr Meyers.
The best horror films work when you feel a connection to the characters onscreen. The characters here feel like actual friends, both boys and girls, and the film sketches them out just enough to give us an idea of how they'll react as the film moves forward. Then it up ends those ideas gleefully. Also welcome is the sight of metal fans who are actually treated with a modicum of respect at last. Anyone who's been to a metal gig knows the camaraderie you'll get there, even with strangers and it's nice to see that acknowledged instead of fans just being treated as meathead or weirdos as movies tend to do. Drunken conversations about first concerts and dead Metallica bassists feel genuine and help deepen the people onscreen before the inevitable carnage.
Speaking of carnage, some may find the bloodshed rather muted compared to gorier recent offerings but it worked for me. Too much would have sucked the enjoyment from the film and here we get the sweetspot between fun and gruelling and anyway this is a story more about the people onscreen than what happens to them. Alexandra Daddario and Maddie Hasson both have great craic in their parts as the mania builds to a crescendo while Austin Swift's amiable Ivan is a fun addition. Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame turns up as a metal hating preacher too but fails to make any real impact. He's the only really forgettable thing here thankfully.
We Summon The Darkness is available to stream now. It's an amusing way to while away an evening.
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