We Summon the Darkness

We Summon the Darkness was summoned into existence by writer Alan Trezza with direction from Marc Meyers. Despite the name, there isn’t a lot of darkness-summoning – it is comical and light. The premise even sounds that way.

Three girls, Alexis (Alexandra Daddario), Val (Maddie Hanson) and Bev (Amy Forsyth), head to a rock concert where a spilled milkshake leads to an encounter with Mark (Keenan Johnson), Kovacs (Logan Miller) and Ivan (Austin Swift). The after-party definitely becomes a celebration, but not in the way the guys expect. A series of party crashers, from a cop to a priest who is actually Johnny Knoxville, make for an unforgettable night.

Trezza is no stranger to these horror comedies (horredies?), with a feature named Burying Your Ex a part of his back catalogue. The awkward dialogue between the girls makes it apparent that this was created by men (not to mention the slow start). Almost twenty minutes is spent on the two groups having a conversation in one spot, and not a very exciting one. It seems to pat itself on the back with every heavy metal reference and 80s name-drop it pulls out. If there was a swear jar for every mention, the audience would be very rich. There is nothing new about this movie, so perhaps the constant references are there to remind us that it’s set in a time when its concept was original. To give it credit, it attempts to subvert most of the tropes, but without a compelling story or developed characters, this is pointless.

Although only having a small role, Allison McAtee shines as the coked-up stepmother. She was the most memorable character and didn’t seem like a complete cliché. Forsyth was the strongest lead, able to switch between emotions in a blink, Daddario’s bug-eyed looks to the camera made her convincing, and Hanson delivered her lines with just the right balance of humour and madness. Of course Knoxville stars in a movie about torture, since that’s what he does to himself in Jackass. He is definitely a highlight. With the strong performances, it’s hard to know who to root for, as sides constantly change through the night. In fact, the cast does what it can with the material, and with stronger writing and direction, this could have been good. The only great thing about the movie is that it’s short.

Regan Harle

We Summon the Darkness is released digitally on demand on 20^th April 2020.

Watch the trailer for We Summon the Darkness here: