Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton of Rob Zombie’s Halloween remakes) decides to rediscover her roots by making a return to the southern hometown her parents, whom she has never met, called home.
Along for the ride is her boyfriend Jack (Nolan Gerard Funk) and ride they do as they arrive to the homestead in a haze of droning music, aerial shots, and dissolves that’ll have you screamin’ “The Shining did it!” in a New York fuckin’ second.
Once at the remote homestead where they will be staying, our heroes begin to realize they are the targets of an evil, animal skull and robe wearing cult, and they seem to be none to pleased at the couples intrusion… but Grace’s past may have more ties to the mysterious group than she can ever imagine!
If director Rich Ragsdale (working from a script by Mark Young and Robert Sheppe) delivers anything with The Long Night it’s atmosphere… gobs n’ gobs of it in fact, which helps smooth over the film’s rougher edges.
What are those edges you surely didn’t ask? Well, they include the fact that there are no surprises (okay there is one delightfully batshit surprise involving a vagina that you will just have to see to believe) in the narrative, the characters are paper-thin (though all involved do a damn fine job in the acting department), and my man definitely, definitely loves himself some Kubrick.
Does any of that shit matter to those of us that are just lookin’ for a damn fine evil cult-centric nightmare ride (like yours cruelly)? Fuck no!
Let me tell ya, you may know all the notes in The Long Night, but you have never heard them sung quite this beautifully. Every shot is so stylish and visually rich that the film is just a ton of fun to set your putrid peepers upon! Additionally, there is a damn solid slow burn lead-up that inspires some palpable dread, and of course the Satanic shenanigans at hand well and truly satisfy, as does the design of the bone masked cultists.
If you check out the flick and like what you see, there are a host of bonus materials on this Blu-ray release from Well Go USA Entertainment including: an audio commentary with Ragsdale, a short film by the same, three behind-the-scenes featurettes, and the movie’s trailer.
Best described as a ’70s occult shocker filtered through the lens of Kubrick, The Long Night will scratch that devilish itch for damn sure even if you’ve traveled this wretched road before!
