And Soon the Darkness

I tend to have problems with many 70s Horror movies. I think this one got a little interesting the last 20 minutes - I'm not too sure because by the time it reached that moment I was asleep because it's extremely slow and uneventful till near the end. Yet, it's not the kind of slow that helps in creating suspense or tension, it's just not paced very well.

Trying to be generous b/c I think the filmmakers mostly got what they wanted (I was invested enough in wanting to know who did it & didn't want the lead to die), but this kind of pacing forces me to FF alot & that's bad. The problem is that these drawn out scenes of biking, walking, sneaking, hiding are meant to increase suspense, but they go on way too long for my taste- esp for a simple mystery w/ an increasing number of possible suspects, The detective's behavior is also often inexplicable.

Unlike what the mischievous title suggests, "And Soon the Darkness" is that rarest of thrillers that is sunlit from start to finish (usually a feature of films so indie they can't afford lights). To its credit, it has ways of creating mystery and creepiness despite this. Alas, having a character act extremely suspicious throughout for the sole purpose of arousing the audience's suspicion, dooms a film to mediocrity. Retroactively, he won't make a lick of sense.

Not all that interesting.

Little did I know when I saw the movie from 2010 with the same title, that it was a remake of this film. This is the better version, and is classic Hitchcock style suspension and camera work.

Pretty good thriller, I didn't think it was a horror movie though. The quiet shots of the countryside seem more ominous as the movie lingers on.

Not as lo-fi and atmospheric and French countryside-y as I had hoped, and entirely reliant on an obvious and poorly justified red-herring for suspense. The theme music is neat.

I like the idea. The execution, not so much. (And geez, these instrumental tunes you only hear in films from the 60's kill me, they're so awful.)

A tad slow, but effective when it needs to be. Solid British thriller.

A VERY solid chiller with nice tension and good atmosphere.

I would recommend it as a companion to 'Spoorloose'. Same mood, same tension. Love it.

Manages to be quite creepy even though it is mostly shot in summer daylight. Nice misdirection, and a good eye for off-kilter framing.