DVD Review: "Dark Country"

Have you ever wondered what "The Twilight Zone" would look like if it were a modern television show? Well, okay, so they tried to re-launch it a few years ago... didn't go too well. In any case, the Twilight zone is the first thing that came to mind after I watched "Dark Country".

After marrying a girl in Vegas, our main character (played by Thomas Jane, who also directed the flick) takes his new wife out on the open road, heading to their honeymoon destination. However, after driving into the desert at night, they run into a tiny problem that starts a chain of unfortunate events. To say anything else would give away some of what happens... and I think it would be better to walk into this film not knowing anything (which is what I did).

I was never sure where it was going or what the ultimate threat would be. As the events unfold, questions are slowly answered and new conflicts are introduced. Yet, even as I started to find things out, the thought of "what the hell is going on here?", remained in my head.

It starts off as a film noir, with voice over narration by the main character and jazz music in the background. I was almost expecting the picture to turn black and white, or Jack Nicholson to appear out of nowhere and say "Forget it, it's Chinatown". But, thankfully, once our couple drives out into the dessert, the tone changes and it becomes like something out of... you guessed it... the Twilight Zone. Even their surroundings have a surreal look to them... almost cartoonish in some parts (especially when they're in the car).

I'm sure the director did that in order to make us feel like we were in some sort of other dimension... and if so, then he succeeded. The acting was pretty good. Nothing Oscar worthy, but I wasn't cringing at any of their lines. There's even a cameo by Ron Pealman (aka Hellboy), and he always has a good screen presence.

My biggest problem was that there were a lot of unanswered questions when the end credits started rolling. I'm sure this was done to make us think about it (which is what I did), but I was a little let down. I felt like he took the easy way out instead of explaining certain elements. But, besides that, this was a solid independent thriller, and I was engaged the whole time.

My Rating: 6 out of 10