SHOCK reviews the flawed but interesting Canadian thriller THE DARK STRANGER.
Director Chris Trebilcock’s indie psyche-horror/drama THE DARK STRANGER has plenty going for it, chiefly a buoyant central performance from actress Katie Findlay who stars as as unstable but spunky artist who may or may not be spiraling further into a state of being unhinged. And while not all of it really hangs together, it comes stacked with great ideas…and it has plenty of Findlay.
Findlay plays Leah, a girl recovering from a breakdown after her artist mother’s tragic final months and ensuing suicide. She lives with her chill dad (Enrico Colatoni) and whiny younger brother, the former who dotes on Leah, the latter who thinks she’s playing the depression card to get a free ride.
And though Leah seems to be on the mend, when her dad aligns himself with a gallery owner interested in her mother’s paintings (played by Canadian genre film standby and PONTYPOOL star Stephen McHattie), she puts ink to page and begins creating a graphic novel, an outlet for her anxieties. Said comic features the ghoulish figure of the film’s title and he bears more than a passing resemblance to the shady art dealer who keeps coming to call.
Meanwhile, it seems as if The Dark Stranger himself is marauding around, getting up to mayhem most foul.
Are Leah’s fantasies coming to lethal life or is it all in her mind?
THE DARK STRANGER doesn’t really work as a horror film. It’s too talky and chipper by half and the domestic stuff is too one dimensional to offer anything other than a distraction to to the grimmer main narrative. Thankfully, Trebilcock is as in love with Findlay as the audience is. She’s an absolute joy. Funny, intense, glib, vulnerable and heroic. We believe her. We like her. We’re with her. And we’ll follow her anywhere and the director gives us plenty of space to do just that.
Ultimately, THE DARK STRANGER become too literal in its terror and would have worked far better as a single character psychodrama rather than the cluttered bid to become a standard issue, pedestrian horror-thriller it settles for being.
THE DARK STRANGER opens in select Canadian theaters tomorrow, July 15 before its July 26 release on VOD through Raven Banner Releasing. Terror Films will give the picture a wider release in the U.S. this October. And keep your eyes on Findlay. She’s a marvel.
