DARK WINDOWS From Brainstorm Media Entertains At A Slow Pace.

DARK WINDOWS 2023

Directed by: Alex Herron

Written by: Wolf Kraft

Starring: Anna Bullard, Annie Hamilton, Rory Alexander, Jóel Sæmundsson, Morten Holst

Produced by: Alex Herron, Jens Ramborg, John Clark, David Kang

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Distributor: Brainstorm Media

Release Date: August 18, 2023

Running Time: 80 mins

After a tragic car crash in which kills their friend Allison. Teenagers Tilly (Anna Bullard), Monica (Annie Hamilton), and Peter (Rory Alexander) attend a memorial for Allison. Here, Allison’s uncle confronts the group and lays blame with them for her death. Monica suggests the teenagers get out of town and stay at her grandparent’s isolated summerhouse to work through their grief. Everything is normal for awhile until the group starts to hear their dead friend’s voice. Things get worse as a masked man terrorizes the group and punishes them in hideous ways.

Director Alex Herror (who is known for work on music videos) does a decent job of setting the groundwork for DARK WINDOWS. The story and the characters have depth, but the pacing is a tad slow (even for a slow burn). The first half of the film is paced well, but the middle point seems to linger too long until the eventual finale.

The cast does a decent job on making the characters and their emotions believable, especially Anna Bullard who plays Tilly. She’s exceptional at emoting the pain and torment of the loss of her friend on screen. There are reasons why she’s so tormented, but that won’t be revealed here. The main cast which consists of Tilly (Anna Bullard), Monica (Annie Hamilton), and Peter (Rory Alexander) gel perfectly together.

The bulk of DARK WINDOWS takes place within the walls of summerhouse which really adds to the anxiety and horror themes of the movie (although the movie would better fit under the thriller drama genre). The film does have a handful of jump scare moments, so I’ll give it a horror genre hall pass.

The camera work during action scenes is superior and adds a great deal to the believability of what’s occurring on screen. There are many interesting camera angles that are pleasing to the eyes with the bulk of these taking place in the finale.

The only real issue is the build up to the finale takes too long and by the time we’re there it doesn’t feel like enough of a payoff. That all being said DARK WINDOWS is worth a view for the character driven story. The film deals with loss and consequences to actions, sometimes those consequences are deadly and stay with you for the entirety of one’s life.

DARK WINDOWS releases in Select Theaters and On Demand on August 18.