A reclusive man gets a late-night call from a girl in trouble in Erik Boccio’s Night of the Bastard. Boccio’s film weaves a brutal and nasty tale of depravity as it places innocents against a murderous cult.
Opening in 1978, Boccio wastes no time introducing the vicious cult. The film joins a young pregnant couple as they travel cross-country to attend a party. They arrive at their destination and make a ghastly discovery. A group of zealots is lying in wait and they quickly string up the couple and their unborn child. The family is the key to a vital ritual that forms the first step in a sequence to resurrect the ‘Dark Prince’. It’s a terrifying and traumatising way to open a film and points to a very disturbing ninety minutes.
Night of the Bastard then jumps forward forty years, joining hermit Reed (played by co-writer London May who lives a life of solitude in the Californian desert with just his pet turtle for company, The time jump is accompanied by a tonal shift. The bloody horror of the start is replaced with lots of somber shots of Reed going about his typical day in the desert. It slows the momentum right down, but not for long…
Just down the way, Kiera (Mya Hudson) and her friends are camping in the desert. After Reed discovers them and shoos them off of his land, the trio comes face-to-face with the opening cult. Now ruled by a new priestess, violence once again explodes onto the screen. Whilst her friends perish, Kiera escapes and seeks help from Reed. Reluctant at first, Reed soon steps up and a siege between the cult, Reed, and Kiera begins.
Once the siege sets in, the pace is lost again; the constant repetition of narrative points doesn’t help this. Night of the Bastard always feels like it’s stop-starting, and much like the trapped Reed and Kiera, never going anywhere. There are two key components to the story in The Night of the Bastard that needs to succeed. The first is the dynamic between strangers Reed and Keira. The second is that the cult has to feel like a valid threat. Night of the Bastard falls short on both counts. Conversations with Kiera and Reed are strained and not in a way that helps the story. Outside of the first ritual, the cult is never as scary as they should be. They instead come across as comedic. It’s a tonal jar and one that doesn’t come across as intentional.
Erik Boccio’s Night of the Bastard is a real missed opportunity. Whilst there is a market for the film (as there is every movie), the net for this one is likely to be very niche. A bloody and brutal opening quickly descends into repetition, and a slew of pacing and tonal errors cause Night of the Bastard to stumble.
Night of the Bastard
Summary
Night of the Bastard doesn’t push as hard as the opening suggests it might and puts the rest of the film in jeopardy.
Night of the Bastard was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2022.
