COMING TO THEATERS! Winner of the SXSW Midnighter Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for Feature Film at the Overlook Film Festival, the horror thriller Never After Dark comes from writer/director Dave Boyle. A wandering medium who acts as a modern-day ghostbuster is on assignment at a haunted country house where she encounters more than just a restless spirit.
The film begins with Airi (Moeka Hoshi), recently hired by Teiko (Tae Kimura), who purchased a house once operated as a hotel and has run into a ghost (Mutsuo Yoshioka) she wants exorcised. On her drive, Airi talks with her teenage sister Miku (Kurumi Inagaki) in the rearview mirror, who we soon learn is not alive. When Airi arrives, she meets Gunji (Kento Kaku), Teiko’s son, who’s skeptical of Airi’s abilities.
Teiko walks Airi through the house to show her where she encountered the spirit, which centers on one specific room and a grandfather clock whose hands always seem locked at 12, whether it’s day or night. Airi explains to Teiko and Gunji how the process works and that the spirits just need a guide to help them leave. Her only rule is that she performs her exorcism during the day. Miku senses the spirit in the home and warns her sister that this one is different.
” A wandering medium who acts as a modern day ghostbuster at a haunted house …”
The next day, Airi attempts to contact the spirit to see what it wants. The ritual revolves around a burning candle, a mirror, and a lock of her own hair. As she enters the netherworld, she comes across a male spirit who walks into the room Teiko mentioned and keeps clawing at a floor cabinet, unable to access what’s inside. The spirit soon becomes aware that Airi is there and disappears. When he reappears, he grabs her arm, but she manages to escape and return to the land of the living. A mark is now left on her arm from the angry spirit, and she goes to investigate what was inside the cabinet. Her discovery unlocks a bigger mystery surrounding the house and its previous guests, along with another warning from her sister about staying versus running and leaving everything alone.
The relationship between the two sisters is at the heart of the film. Even though Airi is alive and Miku is deceased, they are very close and can interact using reflective surfaces such as a window or a mirror. The teenage ghost is protective of Airi and has her own influence on the story. The fact that Miku exists and is introduced right away lets us know that Airi isn’t just some grifter out to make a quick buck.
I have to say that I’ve always appreciated Japanese horror films, and I definitely preferred Ringu to The Ring, which disappointed me as a Hollywood remake. Writer/director Dave Boyle doesn’t fail here, giving a proper homage to the J-Horror genre. The film isn’t overly bloody, and the spirit is creepy enough to scare you without being overdone. Just think of the long-haired girl in Ringu or the little boy in The Grudge; their mere existence in those films is frightening.
Never After Dark not only played well at SXSW but was also praised by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Black Phone) and Stephen King himself.
"…a proper homage to the J-Horror genre..."
