Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: Nolan Gerald Funk, Scout Taylor-Compton, The Long Night

The Long Night Is Really Good, And Worth Your Attention {Review}

Published Fri, 04 Feb 2022 15:17:09 -0600

The Long Night is a new horror film out on VOD today, starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Nolan Gerard Funk, and Deborah Kara Unger, directed by Rich Ragsdale. Instantly interesting from the word go, the film really packs a punch and is way better than it has any right to be. It does have a few flaws, but it overcomes them with solid performances from Taylor-Compton and Funk and some really disturbing imagery that sticks with you after you click stop.

The Long Night Is Really Good, And Worth Your Attention {Review} — Credit Well Go USA Entertainment

The Long Night Is Death Cult Done Well

Grace (Taylor-Compton) returns to her childhood southern stomping grounds to look for leads on her long-gone family with her boyfriend (Funk). Still, their weekend quickly goes to hell when a cult and their leader terrorize the couple while attempting to fulfill a twisted ancient apocalyptic prophecy. Right off the bat, the cult's costumes are spooky. Nothing that we haven't seen before, but the way the actors underneath give them life makes them creep you out.

The cast is great. Taylor-Compton, who broke out in the two Rob Zombie Halloween films, has an uncanny ability to get inside these characters' heads and really go for broke. Admittedly, she and Funk get on your nerves a little at the start, but once they settle in and the cult really takes hold, you care about what happens to them, Grace especially. Funk's boyfriend has a bit of an elitist air to him as well, so that doesn't help in the likeability department, but he plays it so well. The biggest problem with The Long Night is the filmmaker's reliance on atmospheric noise and such to try and make the viewer jump and such. They didn't need to do that, and boy do they ever. It can actually be a little hard at times to hear what is going on in the film because it is drowned out so much by overbearing noise. We get it: you want us to be disoriented.

That being said, and while this film owes quite a bit to films that have come before it, the cult stuff in the second half of the film is really well done, and Taylor-Compton is as good as she always is. The Long Night is a solid cult horror/thriller that could gain a little "cult" following in the years to come. For sure worth your time and a solid watch on the couch this weekend.

The Long Night