The Long Night Review- Campy, Fun, And Strangely Hypnotic

An indulgent love letter to killer cult B movies, The Long Night is strengthened by strong visuals, committed performances, and a short run time.

The Long Night is the kind of film that, if marketed correctly, could become a fringe classic. The type of wacky unexplained hit for those that like things a little bonkers. Although the idea is solid and a few of the scares are good, the sum of the film can’t be considered frightening. It is, however, unique, ambitious, and wildly entertaining.

The film stars Scout Taylor-Compton(Rob Zombie’s Halloween) and Nolan Gerard Funk(The Flight Attendant) as a couple traveling to South Carolina to get answers about Grace’s(Taylor-Compton) childhood. As with most storylines of this ilk, she knows very little about her family or childhood before being left in foster care. Funk’s Jack carries the same posture and attitude as east coast elites with the upbringing and ivy league education to go along with it.

The couple has been lured to an isolated plantation with the promise of answers only to find the place is empty. In no time, strange things slither out of the literal woodwork, and they find themselves in a fight for their lives against something they can’t begin to understand.

There has been no shortage of killer cult movies. They work well because the entire idea of relinquishing control to an almost always malignant personality is dangerous. Jonestown and the Heaven’s Gate cults committed mass suicide in service to their masters. Movies like The Last Exorcism put a religious spin on things and make the cult more a roving demonic church. Apple TV +’s excellent Servant features a whopper of a mysterious cult in the Church of Lesser Saints. Groups with strict adherence to their own often nonsensical rules and absolute fealty to the leader are inherently scary. The Long Walk uses that to create an atmosphere of confusion and terror.

The group in question worships a Native American spirit. It’s an unexpected twist, even if the delivery feels a little too goat head and devil horns. Ignoring the questionable optics of white people freeing a Native spirit, Uktenna is ambiguous and powerful enough to scare Jack and Grace and intrigue the viewer.

Funk and Taylor-Compton are both committed to playing their roles, with Taylor-Compton selling the second-half reveal. Deborah Kara Unger(Silent Hill franchise) is a highlight. She is chilling as The Master under the mask and even more so once it comes off and her dead-eyed stare and signature gravelly voice is allowed to captivate. She is a genre icon, and her addition to the film elevates the eerie atmosphere.

The Long Night suffers from a few too many ideas that could have used a good edit. Cosmic weirdness sits alongside traditional demonic imagery and Native American spirits in a way that doesn’t quite come together. An inordinate amount of competing themes and ideas leave the film just this side of scattered, but the concepts are fresh enough and visuals endearingly wild enough that the film lands on the right side of uneven. No one will ever say it is boring and expected.

Sure, some cosmic silliness seems cut from some other very different movie, but weirdly, the bizarre addition makes things more interesting than the typical demonic cult slashers. Some of the choices are strange, but there’s a glimmer of genius in the chaotic madness of the outcome.

While thematically, The Long Night is all over the place, you have to admire the sheer audacity to deliver a Native American spirit worshipping cult group and their glowing lady bits. Combined with snake babies and over-the-top spacy wonderment shots, it’s not something you will forget. Unfortunately, the film feels like two incomplete warring ideas combined Frankenstein style. Some of the parts work, and others are downright strange, but the bits that land are undeniably memorable. If director Rich Ragsdale can learn to edit, he could be a real force in genre storytelling. Until then, the interesting camera angles and quick pacing show promise.

While there isn’t any lasting imagery, the shots are well-framed, and the set design is impeccably Southern, even if we are told one too many times that “it’s a southern thing”. Costume design is well done, employing a subtle approach to makeup and masking that is creepy without being overwrought.

There’s a B movie sci-fi quality visually and in sound design that plays really well if you don’t take it too seriously. Campy and nostalgic, The Long Night is surprisingly entertaining. Sometimes that entertainment comes in winces and scares, but just as likely in laughs.

The Long Night is in select theaters and VOD on February 4th, 2022.