WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS (2019)
What seems like a debaucherous night of metal and booze and youthful wild abandon quickly takes a deadly twist in this incredibly fun new horror film. Three best friends embark on a road trip to a heavy-metal show, where they meet with three metal head wannabes and lead them back to one of the girls’ secluded country home for an after-party. There’s a serial killer obsessed with satanism on the loose and the booze is flowing but who can trust who?
We Summon the Darkness plays with the trashy cliché horror genre with a hell of a lot of fun while turning stereotypical slasher teen films and the ‘final girl’ trope completely on its head. Directed by Mark Myers (more well known for directing “My Friend Dahmer”) takes on the trashy horror slasher genre with a tongue in cheek approach while still delivering a few twists and turns along the way. There’s plenty of cat and mouse gameplay and girls gone wild comradery. Whilst the film is set in the 1980s, it does seem completely organic and is done well and along the way, you may even pick up some subtle homages to old 70s/80s horror films.
This ’80s psycho-thriller plays off the mythology of satanic heavy-metal murders and the horror party schema while delivering a good dose of blood and guts — stabbings, slashings, power tools, but leaves the over-done gore of the genre at home and it works perfectly. All while exposing the toxic Christian hypocrisy and the cameo by Johnny Knoxville as the preacher is a blast. We Summon The Darkness takes a common genre and flips the switch and brings female power and villainy to the forefront.
We Summon the Darkness is a genuinely enjoyable fun hell ride that uses all the horror tropes and clichés to its advantage while still managing to pull a bloody rug from under you and delivers a simple horror formula film that is a fresh breathe air and a murderous amusing story filled with 80s aesthetics and good old fashion trashy horror charm.
Alexandra Daddario, Maddie Hasson, and Amy Forsyth make a great final girl trio and really bring their own to each character in a modern spin on the women running horror concept. Overall, the film is a great effort for the first horror directorial debut by Myers. This is the perfect film for a little fun, horror and lazy night at home. I’d be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the hell out of this film. Despite its mostly mediocre reviews, We Summon the Darkness has definitely been overlooked and underrated. Sometimes horror is meant to be fun and in this case, there’s no denying We Summon the Darkness brings just that.
