Premise: A woman who witnessed an infamous murder as a young girl has to relive that trauma when she becomes involved with a group of true crime obsessives.
This is another film from the "OMG. This cast!" portion of my movie watchlist. No one has ever heard of this movie, yet it has Charlize Theron, Christina Hendricks, Nicholas Hoult, Chloe Grace Moretz, Corey Stoll, Tye Sheridan, Sean Bridgers, and Drea de Matteo. The only thing I can point to to explain why it got such a great cast is that it's adapted from a Gillian Flynn novel and this came after Gone Girl.
The movie itself is very forgettable, but it is interesting how weirdly ahead of the curve it was at every step. The story of the movie is more than a little inspired by the story of the West Memphis Three. I'd be stunned if Flynn hadn't watched Paradise Lost before writing the novel. While the story of the West Memphis Three was well-known before her book came out in 2009, it wasn't until the three men were released from prison a couple years later that the story really came together. They were released in 2011: the same year that the third Paradise Lost movie came out and got an Oscar nomination. Another doc, West of Memphis came out the next year with a dramatization coming in 2014. Flynn was ahead of all this attention. I wonder if the book would've been a bigger hit had it dropped in the middle of all this, around 2011. Then there's the Serial aspect of it. This movie was made right before the first season of Serial became a massive hit and set off the true crime boom that we're still in. Much of what's in Dark Places addresses this exact obsession, well before the rest of the movie industry was ready to comment on it. People didn't even know they were looking for a response to Serial when Dark Places came out. Oddly, the movie would've felt more of the moment had it come out a year later. Finally, this is an A24 release from right before they knew how to weaponize their brand. A24 was only 2 years old at the time of this release. It made a name for itself quickly, but 2015 was the year that it really established itself with the Oscar successes of Ex Machina, Amy, and Room. Dark Places ended up getting burned that year as a VOD release. Even a year later though, A24's reputation could've gotten this movie - starring an Oscar winner - some better attention. Then again, part of A24's brand is knowing what to bury.
Because, this movie is pretty bad. A lot of the thriller elements belong more in the late 90s. The time-hopping story feels needlessly convoluted so it can keep up the mystery. Most of the "based in truth" observations only have Law & Order level detail and insight. Everything with the true crime group feels like a writer's interpretation of it based on reading a New Yorker piece about it; not from genuine experience. I spent most of this movie just wishing I'd decided to rewatch Paradise Lost instead. Not an unwatchable movie by any means. It has some mild thrills. I do wish it could've been cut down by about 20 minutes for an even 90.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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