The Dark Red review: A young woman goes to extreme lengths to rescue her baby, who may, or may not exist in Dan Bush’s mysterious revenge thriller.
Signature Entertainment
The Dark Red opens on a striking sequence in which a social worker stumbles across a woman dead in her trailer during a routine house visit. There’s another shock in store for her as, after hearing a noise, she discovers a young girl hidden inside a drawer. The story then jumps forward in time and joins Sybil (April Billingsley), the young girl whom is now a young woman. Life hasn’t been great for Sybil, her foster mother has recently passed away and her baby has just been stolen – or has it? Sybil suffers with not knowing what is real, and blames her psychic abilities. However, all that could just be her diagnosed schizophrenia manifesting itself in strange ways, and the baby too could just be part of that delusion. Doctor Deluce (Kelsey Scott) is the doctor tasked with determining how much, if any, truth there is to her story.
The bulk of The Dark Red is played out through flashbacks as Sybil recounts her story during three sessions with Dr Deluce. The titbits of information are drip-fed slowly and purposefully, placing the viewer firmly in the doctor’s shoes as we join her in trying to work out what is fact and what is a delusion, at least in the beginning. It’s not all left for the audience to decipher and decide as eventually, the film lands on a definitive side. In some ways, this finality is a little disappointing as there’s something rather seductive about an open-ended narrative.
The flashback technique can become quite tedious if not managed correctly, but director Dan Bush knows exactly when to stop and change tact. This change-up of story-telling style or action is a trend that seems to be occurring a lot at this year’s Frightfest. We’ve already seen it with Come to Daddy and Sadistic Intentions amongst others, with The Dark Red seemingly the next of a potentially long list. After session three, and Sybil has revealed her truth, The Dark Red moves into the revenge action arena. Whether justified or not (you’ll have to watch to find out), Sybil sets herself the mission to destroy those who stole the child she may, or may not, have birthed.
To complete this task this she transforms herself into a Sarah Connor level assassin. Much like the transition of Sarah Connor in The Terminator to the Sarah Connor of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Sybil has noticeably changed. Billingsley taps into her inner machine and fully epitomises the term cold-hearted killer. In fact, Billingsley’s entire performance is noteworthy. Typically an actor would only have to play hysterically erratic and emotional, or kick-ass warrior, but she has to convey both within the same character, in the one film. Even Linda Hamilton had a few years and a sequel to change her mindset.
Kelsey Scott is great as the sympathetic but practical doctor. For once, we get a hospital worker in a genre film that isn’t more disturbed than the patients they’re looking after. The women share only a handful of scenes together, but they are some of the best in the film.
Signature Entertainment
There are some niggles with the film, primarily that it takes a little while to get into as, in a way, the film starts several times – meeting Sybil as a young girl, meeting her as a young woman, and then meeting her again in flashback form. Another issue is that once you get past the sudden genre switch-up partway through, and the flashback story-telling technique, you’re left with a story that has been seen and done many times before. The switch between tones also doesn’t pull off quite as seamlessly as you’d hope, and the jarring you experience as you put together what is happening takes you out of the story momentarily.
Those few issues aside, The Dark Red is an interesting way of exploring the hysterical mother trope. Helped massively by a great lead performance, The Dark Red may just have birthed the next screen Sarah Connor.
The Dark Red was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest 2019. The Dark Red is available on Digital HD from Monday 18th November 2019.
