We Summon the Darkness Is A Wild Fuckin' Ride
We Summon the Darkness is a wild ride directed by Marc Meyers and starring Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller, Austin Swift and Johnny Knoxville. This movie has so many damn twists and turn and it will never be what you think it is.
Premise:
It’s 1988 and three friends; Alexis, Val, and Bev are driving to a heavy metal show. A van drives by throwing a milkshake at the girls which covers the windscreen and they almost crash. When they arrive at the concert they see the van and take revenge by setting off firecrackers inside. Out comes three male friends; Ivan, Kovacs and Mark. They’re in a band and the group of six quickly bond and hang out at the show. When it’s over the girls invite the boys back to Alexis’s Dad’s house to party. Chaos ensues.
“You shouldn’t believe everything you see.”
What I loved: FULL SPOILERS
All six of our main characters are instantly lovable which is a rare feat accomplished in horror movies. Val was hands-down my favorite – she’s this little blonde fire pixie who drinks, smokes, swears and has to pee every half hour. Loving all of these characters though does make it hard when the story twists and turns – I found myself rooting for everyone which is sort of impossible in this story.
Watching this as a female, I instantly distrusted the three guys our main ladies meet. Stranger danger X 1000. And what’s clever about this flick is that they do try to push you that way. The guys never do anything specific, but there’s occasional looks between them and small actions, that lead you to believe they’re ultimately up to no good. And what’s hilarious and what we don’t see coming is that in fact it’s the three women we should be wary of. Alexis drugs the men’s drinks and we soon discover these three girls are part of a group killing heavy metal fans across the country. As we continue on we realize how violent and wild Alexis and Val can be, but there’s still a part of you rooting for them because they’re so damn likeable. And when Bev switches sides and decides to help try and save Kovacs and Mark, I was rooting for them too. Basically this flick gave me an emotional crisis.
So, let’s talk about that genius plot point involving the killings. From the beginning of the story they drop little nuggets about how young people are dying in satanic ritual killings. Those young adults are usually heavy metal fans and the media is having a field day pointing out the evil in that kind of music. You may remember, or have learned about, the real satanic panic in the ‘80s. The way this story works is that Johnny Knoxville’s character; Pastor John Henry Butler, is the leader of a Christian sect who are actually committing these murders and staging them to look like satanic rituals, therefore driving the panic and encouraging people to turn to Christ. Alexis is his daughter. It’s a beautifully complicated and amazing story line that is really this movie’s best kept secret. And the final end twist where the Pastor survives and twists the whole thing to make him look like a damn angel is even better.
The acting all around is phenomenal. Standouts for me are Logan Miller who plays a slightly stoned but sweet-hearted Kovacs, Maddie Hasson as Val, of course, and Alexandra Daddario who steals every scene she’s in with her big ol’ eyes filled with emotion and a non-stop descent into crazy town. The only slight let down for me was with Knoxville. His pastor was creepy but I felt he could’ve gone a little further. But it was awesome to see him in a horror flick.
There’s some fun kills – one involving hairspray and a lot of fire. There’s tones of funny moments involving all the cast, one standout moment being when Alexis’s stepmom shows up unannounced and turns the plan into full chaos.
“You hear that bitches? We have a fucking gun!”
Overall:
I just had a really fun time with this movie. Is it bringing anything unique to the genre? No. Is it changing horror as we know it? Nah. BUT it is a great hour and a half filled with gore, laughs, outrageous performances and a tightly wrapped up story.
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