7 Nights of Darkness
by Allen Kellogg
I've talked about the "found footage" subgenre in the past, so strap in for more because I have a tendency to seek them out. They have the ability to be amongst the most effective horror films out there. They do, however, also have the potential to be the most boring films out there and that is unfortunate. Even the "Blair Witch Project" one of the most profitable films of all time, was pretty much a bunch of kids doing improv and screaming a bunch. With television shows such as "Ghost Hunters" being produced and growing in popularity, the crossover of these two worlds was inevitable.
"7 Nights of Darkness" is from Brain Damage films, whom I have been familiar with for over a decade now. It seems especially in line with films such as "Grave Encounters" and shows such as "Ghost Hunters" and "Taps." The plot concerns a group of contestants who are competing for a million dollars to spend a week in a supposedly haunted asylum. The characters don't really stand out from one another and break down into basic archetypes. There's the guy who is way too scared of everything. There's the spiritual woman who is way too into the game. Then there's a scattering of basic "normal people" who are all making their grab for the prize money.
To the film's credit, it jumps right in. The characters start on their first task right off the bat and it gets going immediately. The enthusiastic girl goes about trying to make contact with the dead while the scared guy goes about freaking out over everything. Even before anything supernatural happens he acts like they've just witnessed someone get hacked to death and she's trying to play Marco Polo with the killer. As the group goes about inspecting the asylum and following the enveloped directions, they get into fights that would make any reality show proud.
After a séance attempt, one of the contestants finds themselves in an uncontrollable situation and the scares begin. The film mainly consists of jump-scares and seeing things out of the corner of your eye. There isn't really much to figure out and you just kind of let the actions play out. The acting is fairly good and you do, at times, feel like it might be something you would see in a real reality series. The movie relies on conflict between the contestants for most of the running time and the scares that do happen are far apart. I did find myself curious to find out how it all culminates, but none of it really ties together.
The biggest concern I have with the film is the emotional responses of the characters. One second, a character will be losing their mind because another contestant simply walks into the room but when another goes catatonic and cold, they all respond with the least enthusiasm they can muster. It is never boring and keeps moving, but the odd choices and interactions of the characters hold the film back from seeming at all genuine.
The movie made me feel that I wished I had seen it in theaters. I can see a lot of it being quite spooky in a dark room with a big screen and the sound cranked up. But the film itself can become a bit dull from the light of a simple television screen. It relies on some cat-scare clichés to keep it moving, but it never feels too devoid of true suspense. It did strike me as odd how little the players understood what was expected of them, considering the prize money. If a show is able to offer a million dollar prize, I would think there would be a little more production value to it, but instead it just looks like a group of amateur ghost hunters going on a little adventure.
Overall, the film is not a failure. It moves along nicely and I'm glad I watched it. It has some problems with being obvious and dabbling a little too much in well-tread areas but it's an easy film to watch and doesn't take too much of an effort to enjoy. While I have seen much better found footage style films, I have seen plenty more that were just about unwatchable because they were so boring. This is not one of those. While it could have done with some improvements, it could have been much worse. In the end, I was entertained and that's really all I ask.
If you're into the concept of haunted houses and paranormal entities, then "7 Nights of Darkness" is at least worth checking out. I look forward to seeing more from this style of film, but this type of story should be retired for the moment. It's been done many times and I'd like to see a little more creativity injected into the subgenre.
PJ Griffin, HMS