Hold the Dark

''Hold the Dark'' is a 2018 American action thriller film directed by Jeremy Saulnier from a screenplay by Macon Blair. It is based upon the novel of the same name by William Giraldi. The film stars Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough, Tantoo Cardinal, and Julian Black Antelope. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2018 and was released on September 28, 2018, by Netflix.

Plot

In December 2004, Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright), a writer who studies wolf behavior, is summoned to the village of Keelut, Alaska by Medora Slone (Riley Keough). Medora wants him to hunt down the wolves blamed for the disappearance of three small children, including her 6-year-old son Bailey. Core stays at her house, and unsuccessfully tries to convince her that this is not wolf behavior. Medora tells him that there is darkness there, and tells him of a hot springs to the north of town, which is the only warm place she's ever known. She also says her husband is away fighting in the war, and that he told her he would never leave her. In the middle of the night, Core wakes and sees Medora scrubbing her skin in the bath. When she is finished, she lays down naked next to Core without saying anything and puts his hand on her neck.

Medora's husband Vernon (Alexander Skarsgård), overseas in Iraq, returns gun fire on Iraqi insurgents. Stationed at a checkpoint when shooting breaks out, Vernon rescues a local woman raped by another American, wounds him with a knife and hands the bloodied knife to the woman. Leaving the house, he is ambushed and shot, but survives. As he is air-lifted away, Vernon mumbles Bailey's name.

In the morning, Core sets off to track the wolves, and meets Illanaq, an old native woman who tells him he is going the wrong way, and that Medora 'knows evil'. Core finds the hot springs Medora mentioned, and spots a pack of wolves eating their young. Unwilling to shoot them, Core returns to Keelut. At the Slone house, he finds Medora missing and discovers Bailey's frozen, strangled body in the cellar. The police investigate, and native villagers claim Medora is possessed by a wolf-demon called a ''tournaq''.

Cheeon (Julian Black Antelope), Vernon's friend and father to another missing child, brings him to the morgue to identify Bailey's body. He meets police chief Donald Marium (James Badge Dale), Core and other police officers. After Core and Marium leave, Vernon kills the officers and the coroner and takes Bailey's body. Cheeon builds a coffin and Vernon buries his son in the snow after marking the body with his blood, a Yup'ik burial ritual.

Vernon reads the case file, burns it and visits Illanaq. She tells him the wolves had come before and claims no responsibility for what happened. She tells him about the influenza which spread through the village and took the lives of many, with nowhere to bury them with the ground frozen.

Discovering the officers and coroner murdered and Bailey's body missing, Marium realizes Vernon is responsible. Core, remembering the old woman's warning, arrives in Keelut at the same time as the police only to find Illanaq dead.

As officers take up position around Cheeon's house, Marium approaches it to ask about his involvement with the murders and to give him an opportunity to surrender. Cheeon talks about the government's neglect of Keelut and how it has affected their village. Cheeon refuses to turn himself in, and as Marium returns to his cover, opens fire with a M60 machine gun. A shootout ensues, with many officers being wounded and killed before Marium can sneak into the house and kill Cheeon.

At an inn outside a tourist mine, where Medora was sighted, Vernon meets John, an elderly hunter who treated him with wolf-oil as a child for his apparent psychopathy. At John's invitation, Vernon takes a mask from the wall. He dons it and kills John, and is shot by the innkeeper on his way out. He visits Shan, an old friend, to gets his wound treated. Waking up from a dream of himself and Medora in the hot springs, Vernon overhears Shan talking to the police and kills Shan.

Core and Marium theorize that Medora killed Bailey to “save him from darkness”. Believing Medora is at the springs, the two resolve to find her before Vernon does.

Core and Marium fly to the hot springs in a small plane. As he examines the wolf tracks, Marium is shot through the neck by Vernon. Hoping to intercept Vernon in the springs, Core finds Medora, and tells her he is coming. Core is shot in the chest by an arrow from Vernon. As Vernon strangles Medora, she pushes the mask off his face, and he releases her. They embrace, and Core falls unconscious.

After Core awakens, Vernon removes the arrow and leaves with Medora. Core crawls outside the cave, encountering a pack of wolves, and is rescued by a father and son. Vernon and Medora dig up Bailey's grave, and pull the coffin behind them as they trek through the snow. Core wakes up in the hospital, his daughter Amy at his bedside.

Cast

* Jeffrey Wright as Russell Core
* Alexander Skarsgård as Vernon Slone
* James Badge Dale as Donald Marium
* Riley Keough as Medora Slone
* Julian Black Antelope as Cheeon
* Macon Blair as Shan
* Tantoo Cardinal as Illanaq
* Peter McRobbie as Trapper John
* Beckham Crawford as Bailey Slone
* Jonathan Whitesell as Arnie
* Bobbi Jaye as Amy Core

Production

In September 2015, it was announced Jeremy Saulnier would direct the film, based upon a screenplay by Macon Blair; while Eva Maria Daniels, Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder would produce the film under their VisionChaos Productions banner and Addictive Pictures banners respectively, A24 would distribute the film. In January 2017, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film, with Anish Savjani and Neil Kopp joining as producers. In February 2017, Alexander Skarsgård, Riley Keough, James Bloor, James Badge Dale and Jeffrey Wright, joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography began on February 27, 2017, and concluded on April 26, 2017. Filming took place in and around the areas surrounding Calgary, Drumheller and Kananaskis Country, Alberta, which were used to substitute for Alaska.

Release

It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2018. It also screened at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2018. It was released on September 28, 2018.

Critical reception

''Hold the Dark'' received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The website's critical consensus they, "''Hold the Dark''s unsettling aesthetic offers more of what filmgoers expect from director Jeremy Saulnier — and is often enough to prop up shaky narrative underpinnings." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

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{{Jeremy Saulnier

2018 films
American action thriller films
Films set in Alaska
English-language Netflix original films
Films directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Films based on American novels
Incest in film
2010s English-language films
2010s American films