Lovely, Dark, and Deep (2023)
Followers of Fortean phenomena and aficionados of surreal and sylvan horror should find plenty to admire in writer/director Teresa Sutherland’s slow-burn creeper Lovely, Dark, and Deep. Ranger Lennon (Georgina Campbell [Barbarian] in an engaging lead performance) has finally been assigned a job she has long waited for: being in charge, for 90 days, of a backcountry area that requires being taken there by helicopter and that leaves her virtually cut off from civilization except for communication by walkie-talkie and contact with hikers, campers, and fellow rangers. Riffing on what is discussed in David Paulides’ Missing 411 books and videos, the forest in which Lennon works is the site of many missing-person disappearances and occasional solved cases. Lennon’s backstory and motivation for being assigned to the remote spot she has requested involves that scenario, and giving away anything more about the plot would be traversing into spoiler territory. Sutherland, who wrote the screenplay for The Wind, has crafted a fine, eerie slice of cinematic trippiness that delivers a mind-bending third act of psychological horror touching on humankind’s relationship with nature.
Stay Online (2023)
Using a screenlife approach, director Yeva Strelnikova plunges viewers into a very personal perspective of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Stay Online. The Ukranian film takes place during attacks on Kyiv, as a young woman named Katya (Liza Zaitseva) installs GPS software on a laptop sent to her by her brother Vitya (Oleksandr Rudynskyi), who, much to the dismay of their mother, is fighting on the front lines with the siblings’ uncle. Katya receives a message from Sava (Hordii Dziubynskyi), a Spider-Man–obsessed young boy who became separated from his parents and thinks that Katya’s online activity is actually that of his father’s. Katya, who usually berates Russian mothers about their sons attacking Ukraine, makes a decision to communicate with the boy in the guise of a superhero, which will lead to life-altering incidents for them both. Not a traditional horror movie but certainly horror-adjacent when it comes to portraying real-life horrors in a narrative format, Stay Online is a gripping work fueled by Zaitseva’s terrific lead performance. Her character is put through the wringer and Zaitseva absolutely nails everything that is asked of her. The screenplay by Anton Skrypets and Eva Strelnikova is riveting, and though the screenlife method may be difficult to fully follow at times, the end result is a tense dramatic thriller that is a testament to the human spirit.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep and Stay Online screen as part of Fantasia, which takes place in Montreal, Canada from July 20–August 9, 2023.
