VOD Review: Super Dark Times (2017)

"A chilling coming of age story."

Remember the 90's?

When you had to look people up in the yearbook, because there was no Internet like we have today? When we had to use landlines to call people? When scrambled porn was a thing, and damn it if it wasn't worth sitting through, just to see a 2-second flash of an un-scrambled boob?

I love the latest trend that sees movies and TV Shows set in the 80's and 90's, because they feel like simpler times. They weren't of course, things have always been complicated, but many of the simpler" things that anyone who grew up in those decades got to experience are long gone now.


They just felt like more innocent times.

Maybe that's why this movie is so damned disturbing, because it shatters that innocence, weather pierced or not, with a bloody impact that still has us reeling.

It's honestly best not to discuss the movie's plot, and especially how it develops, too much, as this is a movie that deserves to breathe on its own, so we're going to keep things simple here.

Zach and Josh are best friends. They spend their days riding bikes, drooling over girls, and watching scrambled porn. They both have a crush on pretty Allison, though she seems to like only Zach in return.

SHE IS ON THE PROWL.

Following an ill-advised game of "Let's play with this sharp, sharp sword", someone is left dead, and the friends do their best to cover up the messy accident, and move on with their teenage lives... which proves to be near impossible.

Super Dark Times truly do ensue.

PROTIP: THE WONKY ONE DIES.

For much of its runtime, Super Dark Times doesn't feel like a Horror movie at all. It starts off as a coming of age story about two best friends, following them through their daily lives that are full of girl drama, bullies, and feelings of inadequacy. Then, it becomes something like 1986's River's Edge, where a kid gets killed, and how that tragic event sends shock waves through the lives of those involved. Then, in its third act, things get intense as suspicion is cast, bonds are tested, and everything comes to a truly macabre and unsettling climax.

The movies has a gorgeous look about it, calling to mind movies like Donnie Darko in its retro dimness. The whole thing is cast in a dark tint, which really makes the title into a literal description, both visually and metaphorically. This is a truly unnerving movie, and it's the way that the whole thing is played so quiet and understated that makes it so disturbing.

The cast does superb work here. Charlie Tahan, who genre fans may remember as the little kid from Burning Bright, makes for an ominous counterpart to Owen Campbell's shy, nice kid. They re best friends on the surface, but underneath, there are different things that make them tick, and that dynamic powers the movie.

Elizabeth Cappuccino also gives an eye-opening portrayal of the girl whom both boys are crushing on.

YEAH, HIDING ISN'T A BAD IDEA.

A sword wreaks some pretty bloody and disturbing havoc.

AND SO DOES HE.

Not that kind of movie, unless you count a brief bit of 90's era scrambled porn.

THIS THREESOME NEVER REALLY GETS OFF THE GROUND.

This is a finely-crafted story about the lives of a group of kids in a sleepy town whose lives spin out of control following a tragedy. It feels real, dark, and it's disturbing on a profound level.

Watch it, and bask in its disturing, 90's-feel glory. It's easily one of the best movies of 2017.

A

Super Dark Times is available now on VOD.

More like Super Sexy Times, am I right?