Hannah Emily Anderson first caught our attention after her remarkable performance in What Keeps you Alive. With roles in Jigsaw and The Purge television series since, the actor has slowly been forging a name for herself within the horror genre. Her latest project, Dark Nature, is yet another step along the journey and is an impressively creepy tale of trauma and control.
Anderson stars as Joy, a rather unfortunate name given the character’s current circumstances. She’s six months free of her abusive partner, but is still plagued by nightmares and visions of her former lover, Derek (Daniel Arnold). In an effort to help her combat her issues, best friend Carmen (Madison Walsh) invites her to a wilderness support group. A safe space for women recovering from trauma of all kinds, the weekend away is meant to empower the participants and help them face their inner demons. However, their route places them directly in the path of a monster, one that feeds on fear.
From the opening, Dark Nature is bathed in unease. The first scene introduces Joy’s former plight as the final encounter with her ex plays out on screen. Even before his violent tendencies are revealed there’s a veil of threat that hangs in the air. It clings to every word Derek utters, and through Joy’s overtly chipper responses, it’s quickly clear that this is not a happy household. The brutality displayed on screen is thankfully brief, but easily conveys all the audience needs to know about their dynamic. It’s a strong beginning for first-time feature writer and director Berkley Brady as she effortlessly communicates so much in just a few short moments. This sequence offers an almost distorted take on the extreme opening within Neil Marshall’s The Descent. There we meet Sarah and her family before they are horrendously and shockingly stripped from her. Whilst Joy doesn’t experience a bereavement, it does result in the same state of broken protagonist.
Echoes of The Descent continue in the interactions between Joy and Carmen. There’s a similar awkwardness causing a rift within this friendship as there is between Sarah and Beth. The grief and anguish felt by the lead characters mirror one another perfectly, and whilst Joy’s journey isn’t as extreme as Sarah’s, it’s still pretty bumpy. Things start out well, the group of women – many of whom are strangers to one another – quickly bond, their unspoken nightmares unifying them. Overseeing their treatment is Dr. Carol (Kyra Harper), joined by former soldier and group regular Shaina (Roseanne Supernault). It’s a diverse range of females whose troubles cover a wide breadth of issues, making a veritable feast for the beast lurking beyond.
This monster seemingly has the ability to manifest the terrors of its prey, making Joy and company the perfect meal. It takes a long time before Brady unmasks his woodland being. Up until then the fledgling director uses misdirection and a mixture of close-up and far away camera shots to keep the viewer guessing the nature of the threat. This is followed through with the character’s own experiences. Joy is quick to raise the alarm that things don’t feel right, but given her state of mind, she is overridden. Her paranoia that Derek is somehow stalking them plays perfectly into the creature’s designs and even before they’ve crossed into its territory, there’s horror in the air.
Anderson makes for a great lead. Her performance doesn’t quite achieve the heady heights of What Keeps you Alive’s Jackie, though there she was playing the villain. As Joy, Anderson makes a sympathetic protagonist and proves that she is capable of being more than just the baddie. Her support is solid, though many of the other characters are featured far less heavily. Daniel Arnold, as the abusive Derek, is worthy of special mention. He has perhaps the smallest amount of screen time of all and yet his turn impacts hard.
What makes Dark Nature even more compelling is that the bulk of it is told in the daytime. For too many years films in the horror genre have been synonymous with the night time. There’s been a resurgence of films in the last few years proving that day can be equally scary, and it works in Dark Nature’s favour. It makes sense for the events that happen to be occurring whilst the women are awake and walking. Were it to be a wait until dark the story would get repetitive and would land too closely to many genre films before it. The shift to daylight helps Dark Nature stand apart and will get keen hikers looking over their shoulders the next time they venture into the woods. A robust debut, with Dark Nature Brady generates maximum tension in the most unexpected of places.
Dark Nature
Summary
Paranoia, trauma and the survival instinct are all explored in Dark Nature, a robust and anxiety-inducing debut from new voice Berkley Brady.
Dark Nature was reviewed at Fantasia International Film Festival.
