Dark August

Sal DeVito (J. J. Barry), finished with New York City's problems, and separated from his spouse, has moved to Stowe, Vermont where he maintains his occupation as illustrator, encouraged by a new romantic involvement with local painter and gallery owner Jackie (Carole Shelyne). Unfortunately, soon after his arrival in the Vermont town, Sal kills a young girl who runs in the path of his auto, arousing the animus of her grandfather with whom she lived, who then places a curse upon Sal, as seen when action opens, the camera focused upon the old man's mouth as he utters a lengthy malediction. After Sal and those close to him begin to suffer from a series of mysterious misfortunes, a friend of Jackie's suggests employing a local sorceress, Adrianna (Kim Hunter), to raise the spell, and a confrontation inevitably ensues between the Forces of Good and of Evil. This is the basis for a plot developed skillfully by director Martin Goldman who, alongside the two principal players, is responsible for a script that is cobbled as the film is being shot, resulting in a naturalistic feeling with no lapse of interest to a viewer. A high level of intensity characterizes the acting by the entire cast, with the laurels not unexpectedly going to the accomplished Hunter, who cunningly creates her role as a latter-day shamaness within a mundane setting. Cinematographer Richard E. Brooks offers a wide gamut of techniques, including frequent use of a hand held camera and effective slow tracking, while his creative use of angles and lighting produces a quality akin to cinema verité. Solely filmed on location and with little available funding, a good deal is achieved in an aesthetic sense, although shallow production values are evident in a work wherein the teeming avenues of tourist choked Stowe provide an ironic and surreal background for matters of witchcraft.

After killing a little girl in a car wash, Sal (J. J. Barry) is plagued by a series of "accidents", and stalked by a tall, dark figure. It seems that someone hasn't taken kindly to Sal's actions and is slowly destroying his life.

Enter Adrianna (Kim Hunter), a mystic who could be Sal's only hope.

DARK AUGUST is a somber tale of supernatural dread and doom, culminating in a final confrontation between good and eeevil.

Both Barry and Hunter are believable in their roles, which is essential in a film like this.

Recommended for fans of paranormal revenge...

I'm no stranger to a slow burn horror film. In fact, I adore them, but there's a difference between a slow burn and a movie where almost nothing happens. For almost its entire runtime, Dark August appears to be building up to something really great an fails to deliver with one of the worst climaxes in film history.

As a concept, Dark August seems to have everything going for it. After accidentally killing a little girl, a middle aged man believes that the little girl's grandfather has put a curse on him and he has to find some way to get the curse reversed.

Every now and then, there will be a slightly unnerving shot of black cloak-clad stalkers peeping at the protagonist from behind a tree or another character will accidentally saw into his own leg because the protagonist is having some kind of a curse-induced dizzy spell, but these moments are few and far between and at about 85 minutes, Dark August feels as if it overstays its welcome.

Despite its narrative issues, Dark August is still pretty well shot with some beautiful images of the countryside and the actors are good, but it's in service of a story that might have needed to spend a little more time in the oven.

At least the title of this thing is accurate. I watched "Dark August" in August, and it most certainly made my month a little darker and a lot more boring! Phew, what a dud this is. There are numerous low-budget movies from the 70s that are dealing with occultists and garden & kitchen voodoo-spells, but this must undoubtedly be the most amateurish one.

Set in the nonetheless beautiful state of Vermont, "Dark August" deals with an artist who has been cursed by the grandfather of a young girl whom he accidentally hit with his jeep. The effects of the curse aren't so bad, though, as the artist only sees appearances of grim-reaper figure, and occasionally suffers from chest aches whilst at the grocery store. When there are actual accidents, it's other people that get injured, like his brother-in-law who plants a saw in his upper leg. Still, our protagonist gets slightly annoyed by the curse's burden and seeks help from a spiritual medium.

I don't know what else to write about "Dark August", except that it's boring, that the acting performances are pitiable, that the musical score doesn't fit the tone of the film, and that the lead actor looks fifty-five even though he's supposed to depict a man in his late thirties. The only worthwhile sequences are the ones featuring the white-bearded grandfather, like when he causes a little riot in the town center, or when he pulls out his hunting rifle. Bullets are definitely more efficient than lame curses...

It comes as no surprise that "Dark August" turns out to be the only movie written by its lead actor...because surely no one else would have cast this guy in a lead role, let alone one where he's frequently shirtless in order to show off a body that really does not cry to be shown off. He plays a very Noo Yawk fella who's left the stressful city for a Vermont small town, only that isn't working out because he accidentally ran over a little girl (she ran out of a field in front of his car), and now the entire town hates him. Worse, the little girl's grandfather may have put some curse on him, which manifests itself in various boring ways here--glimpses of mysterious hooded figures, the hero having seizure-like episodes, etc. But basically very little of interest happens, then the movie just stops.

Despite the modest budget, it's not badly made, with relative polish if no great style. But the script is the kind you can tell is "horror" only because the writer knew that genre was marketable; it doesn't manifest any real knack for or interest in horror, let alone original ideas in that vein. What it's really interested in is providing a vanity showcase for an actor whom it doesn't flatter. J.J. Barry is the type who would have been fine as "Cop #3," "Pushy Neighbor" or some other stock supporting figure, but he is not appealing physically or as a personality; in fact his protagonist comes off as a blowhard, yet the film (and actor) still seem to mistakenly believe we're rooting for him. Not improving things is the heroine, who is an OK actress but has a pinched, beaky face and rather alarmingly bony figure--so of course they both get nude scenes that are presumably meant to be "sexy," and are anything but. Also off-key is the rather cheesy-sounding electronic score, which might have been apt if stereotypical for a sci-fi subject, but is just wrong for this supernatural tale, which needed something less shrill and more unsettling.

Worse movies have gotten distribution (and even been commercially successful), but you can see why this one completely disappeared. It's not technically incompetent, and some of the supporting actors are decent. Yet in terms of the most basic rewards--lead actors you enjoy watching, a plot that goes somewhere, providing any thrills or novelty--it has almost zilch to recommend it.