Super Dark Times – Film Review
As the title suggests, this film is one of the most dreary and unsettling films of the entire year.
After a terrible incident transpires between a group of best friends, the friends slowly start to drift apart and go down a disturbing path of life.
Before seeing this film, I was a bit skeptical as the title sounded somewhat silly to me. After watching the film though, I can happily say that Super Dark Times is one of the best films of the entirety of 2017, and left me feeling deeply unsettled after the credits had finished rolling.
Whenever the horrible incident does happen in the film, which I will not spoil what happens, it was extremely disturbing, and masterfully set up the rest of the film. Director Kevin Phillips was clearly unafraid to show some extremely disturbing images with Super Dark Times, but I am glad he did. Part of the reason why this picture works so well is because of how disturbing some of the scenes we see truly are.
The performances within the film are also terrific, mainly by Owen Campbell who portrays lead character Zach, and Charlie Tahan, who acts as Josh. These two are really great in the film, and they have to portray a lot of their emotion with facial expressions, and they do so excellently.
Owen Campbell as Zach Taylor in Super Dark Times (2017)
Also, the cinematography is exceptionally great as well by Eli Born. This film is set in the 1990s, and honestly, if you were to tell me that this film was actually made in that decade, I would probably believe you. The filmmakers do such a great job at recapturing the 90s. There are several scenes where we see old 1990s technology, food, and other things. Everything in the film looks extraordinarily dull and grey, which further adds to the disturbing tone of the film, which was great to see.
One of the greatest strengths with the film is the exploration of friendship, and how one event can forever change the friendship between two people who thought they would be best friends no matter what. The film explores this in an extremely upsetting and almost scary way that we see little of in film these days.
The last twenty to thirty minutes of Super Dark Times, while suspenseful, did come across as a bit pretentious, and felt a little bit too long.
Super Dark Times is an excellent look at how a horrible event can change lives and boasts great performances and gorgeous cinematography.
Overall Grade: A
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Cast: Owen Campbell, Charlie Tahan, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Max Talisman
Directed by: Kevin Phillips
Distributed by: The Orchard
Running Time: 103 minutes