Pros: camera work; muted colors that create atmosphere; The film’s budget is small, but that doesn’t stop it from scaring the viewer Cons: the plot is similar to other horror films about a house near the forest “Deep Evil” / The Hole in the Ground
Genre horror
Director Lee Cronin
Starring: Shana Kerslake (Sarah), James Quinn Markey (Chris), James Cosmo (Des), Kati Outinen (Noreen), Simone Kirby (Louis), Owen McCann (Jay), etc.
Savage Productions, Bankside Films, Head Gear Films
Year of release 2019
IMBD site
Deep Evil introduces us to a young woman named Sarah who makes the typical horror mistake of moving to an alienated suburb with her young son. Trying to forget the past in the person of the father of her child, Sarah moves into a house on the outskirts of the forest. The heroine is trying her best to adapt to a new place, but her son Chris does not like such changes.
One day the boy runs away into the forest, and then returns home as if nothing had happened. From this moment on, Sarah begins to suspect that something is wrong with Chris – she sees changes in her son’s behavior and cannot explain them. Perhaps all this is just the result of stress, because of which Sarah begins to see something unnatural.
The film was directed by Irishman Lee Cronin, who also participated in writing the script. It cannot be said that Cronin came up with something that had not been seen in cinema before, but he extremely successfully managed to build a depressing environment around ordinary everyday things. And this works well in the world of the main characters, who even before the strange events began did not feel comfortable in their new place. It’s not about the scary details of the house, but rather the morale of the family.
Deep Evil has a fairly modest budget, but that’s what makes it stand out from other horror films this year. The entire film is shot in muted tones, which gradually lead to the idea that alarming events are approaching. The camera work also hints at this. Take, for example, one of the first shots of the road along which the characters are driving: the camera is turned upside down, creating the illusion of a car rushing into the abyss. Sometimes such techniques work much better than colorful special effects designed to unexpectedly frighten the viewer.
The very fact that a parent has fear of his child inspires horror. He is constantly hidden behind a mask of calm by Sarah, played by Shana Kerslake. The actress made her debut in Irish dramatic cinema several years ago, and later demonstrated her readiness to play in horror. Shana looks very natural in the frame, so her problems at home do not seem divorced from reality.
The best thing about Deep Evil is the suspenseful atmosphere that the director and actors were able to create on set. Based on this, Lee Cronin tries to intimidate the viewer with the main types of fear, starting with the common arachnophobia. Again, it does this without any extra expense on the graphics, which deserves a lot of credit for the film.
The film is hardly worth putting on a par with the best horror films, although it does contain one reference to The Shining (this is just a tribute to Stanley Kubrick). But you can watch “Deep Evil” at your leisure. In an hour and a half, the film captivates and draws in the Irish manner of telling family stories about terrible things.
Conclusion:
The Irish film is especially interesting to watch after Hollywood horror films. It instills an atmosphere of anxiety in the viewer and, without unnecessary special effects, shows the paranoia that the main character cannot get rid of.
