Ghosts, Demons & Cold Hard Booze

The kicker line for the Malaysian-made evil-flavored horror movie, The Darkest Night: “The price of eternal life is eternal death.” Sounds like something Dracula would say at an emo cocktail party.

But don’t let the inherently BORING title and hammy tag dissuade you from seeing it; The Darkest Night is one HELL of an ambitious “found footage” endeavor that mixes Western and Eastern mythological traditions with a family during a holiday reunion. Think of it as a demonic throw down with festive snack platters. And cold hard booze.

So this family is partying at a secluded home in the Sagada Mountains. (I’ve been there – lots of really nice demons bringing meaning to the holiday seasons.) While everyone’s rockin’ the house, the party is shattered by “bizarre demonic and tragic terrors no one can explain.” Pffft – I can explain it in three words: cold hard booze.

The Darkest Night is said to be inspired by actual events reported to have happened to a Chinese family in Malaysia in February 2003. I knew those guys – it’s true; they most certainly were a Chinese family.

During the night the family in The Darkest Night begins dying or disappearing one after the other in “weird and terrifying ways, defying natural laws.” At the end, two are left standing (and by process of elimination, get all of the snacks and cold hard booze). The synopsis goes on to say that “a mystical book they find seems to hold the key to controlling unseen dark forces that threaten to unleash ghosts from an evil past.” This is not something that happens only to Asians. In Tijuana, for instance, you eat a food truck burrito (evil), and soon you are unleashing ghosts (evil flatulence).

The Darkest Night, arriving in the States and UK in August of 2012, contains a minimum of gore, violence and graphic special effects. That’s what it said on their website and I believe it. They also say that there are no cliché or oft-used thrill gimmicks, and that the viewer is led step by step into a dark, demonic world of sinister and fantastical events, where the familiar meets the supernatural, and your most cherished loved one could be your mortal enemy.

Good for them.

P.S. Cold hard booze.