DVD Reviews

And Soon the Darkness – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jan 26, 2011, 15:17 GMT

Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, ...more

Two lone bikers are traveling across Argentina… not a good idea on any continent in the age of murderous kidnappers. Just keep telling yourself it’s only a movie. Well, it is a remake of a good, little known 1970s thriller.

Ellie (Odette Yustman) and Stephanie (Amber Heard) are two touristas biking across Argentina. They were with a large group but have headed off on their own. The two couldn’t be more opposite.

Ellie is outgoing and on the hunt for men, whereas Stephanie is more responsible and nursing a recent breakup with her boyfriend. Ellie thinks that an Argentinean fling is the cure for Stephanie’s ills, so she flirts with every guy she sees (it’s pretty obvious that she would do that no matter what).

Ellie starts flirting with a handsome local (Michel Noher). When Stephanie glances at mysterious American Michael (Karl Urban), Ellie springs into action by flirting with him but the sullen Michael want nothing to do with her. The girls miss their bus and decide to lounge around the countryside, but an argument has Ellie left alone by Stephanie.

When she returns to the location, Ellie has disappeared. Stephanie approaches the local policeman (Cesar Vianco) to try and find her missing friend.

In 1970, director Robert Fuest produced a film with the same basic plotline that had two girls cycling around provincial France and one of them vanishing leaving the other to try and find her friend aided by a mysterious stranger.

In our modern times, we hear of kidnappings on nearly a daily basis so perhaps the subject of the original film was ripe for remaking. That original was an effective version to begin with and the remake does have something to offer. Your enjoyment of this new version may be tempered if you’ve seen the original. It follows the basic plotline, even the surprise reveal.

It does try and make you think that there may be some Hostel torture porn in the film but that’s just a beginning of film tease. I’ve seen the original film and found it an effective thriller (probably didn’t hurt that I’ve liked Fuest’s other films – especially the Phibes ones) so the remake didn’t offer much suspense to me since it followed the original pretty closely.

The remake does add a human trafficking aspect and doesn’t follow some standard movie tropes when it could’ve (a character is shot but doesn’t pop back up for the big finale as other films would have them do). The Argentina locale is gorgeous, but the subject matter won’t make you want to venture there by yourself.

Yustman, Heard, and the dour Urban do well with their characters. I did wonder if I might’ve enjoyed the movie more if I had not watched the original.

And Soon the Darkness is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary with director Marcos Efron, editor Todd Miller, and director of photography Gabriel Beristain. You also get an 11 minute “Director’s Video Diary,” 6 minutes of deleted scenes, and the 2 minute theatrical trailer.

I’d give the point to the original since it did well with the same subject matter. The remake tries to throw a few turns but it’s basically the same plot (so if you’ve seen the first you’ll know where this one is going). However, it’s redone well. Worth a rental if anything.