''Straight into Darkness'' is a 2004 American horror

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Jeff Burr and starring Ryan Francis and

Scott MacDonald Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

. It was produced by Mark Hanna and Chuck Williams.

Plot

Two American World War II soldiers, both about to be court martialed for cowardice near the end of the war, escape when the Military Police Jeep they are riding in hits a land mine. They flee over the presumably French or Belgian countryside when they run into a band of partisans consisting of children led by an adult couple. The partisans, believing the Americans are German impostors, initially take the soldiers prisoner. The partisans are later forced to trust the Americans when they are about to be attacked by a strong force of German soldiers who they falsely believe are after them. The Americans agree to help the partisans fight the Germans if they are released. The German commanders press the attack, however, they have ulterior motives for the attack and are not pursuing the partisans after all.

Cast

*Ryan Francis as Losey *

as Demming *

Linda Thorson Linda Thorson (born Linda Robinson; June 18, 1947) is a Canadian actress, known for playing Tara King in '' The Avengers'' (1968–69). Personal life Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she attended Bishop Strachan School, and then moved to the ...

as Maria *

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...

as Soldier *

Daniel Roebuck Daniel James Roebuck (born March 4, 1963) is an American actor and writer. His best known roles include Deputy Marshal Robert Biggs in ''The Fugitive'' and its spinoff film ''U.S. Marshals'', Jay Leno in ''The Late Shift'', and Dr. Leslie Arz ...

as Soldier *

David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...

as Deacon * Liliana Perepelicinic as Anna *

Gabriel Spahiu Gabriel Spahiu (; born 21 March 1968) is a Romanian actor. He appeared in more than eighty films since 1998. Spahiu was also chosen by Sony Pictures Animation to dub Wayne in the animated movies ''Hotel Transylvania'', ''Hotel Transylvania 2 ...

as The Lunatic Priest * Nelu Dinu as Nelu * Mihai Verbintschi as Buchler * Ion Bechet as Sergeant

Release

Home media

The film was released on

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Screen Media Films Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...

and Bleiberg on June 6 and November 13, 2006 respectively. In 2010, it was released twice by Screen Media, once again, as both a single-feature, and multi-feature movie pack. It was released for the first time on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

by Willette Acquisition Corp. on December 8, 2015.

Reception

Scott Weinberg from ''eFilmCritic'' gave the film 4/4 stars, writing, "Jeff Burr's ''Straight Into Darkness'' starts out like a straight war flick, almost turns into a horror movie, slowly becomes a moving piece of drama, and spits you out on the other side both impressed with the end product...and more than a little shaken."

Robert Koehler Robert Koehler (November 28, 1850 – April 23, 1917) was a German-born Painting, painter and art teacher who spent most of his career in the United States. Biography Koehler was born in Hamburg; his family spelled their name Köhler until ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "Jeff Burr’s neo-gothic WWII drama ''Straight Into Darkness'' ends up resisting categorization. There’s pleasure to be had in watching a period war pic made with a personal touch and with a self-conscious pedigree, but this diminishes as Burr excessively lays on themes and action." Ian Jane from

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

gave the film 3/5 stars, writing, "''Straight Into Darkness'' is an interesting and at times almost surreal war film that does a good job of mixing horror movie elements with some serious drama. Unfortunately it gets a little buried under its own message but that doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile." Jon Condit from Dread Central awarded the film a score of 2.5 out of 5, calling it "fundamentally flawed", but commended the film's visuals.

References

External links

* * * {{Jeff Burr 2004 films 2004 horror films 2000s war films American horror films American war films Films directed by Jeff Burr Films scored by Michael Convertino American World War II films Horror war films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films