[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Long Night (2022)

Scout Taylor Compton plays a young woman searching for her missing family. Upon hearing they might be back in their old South Carolina home where Compton grew up she returns there with her boyfriend to their former home and unwittingly become the target of a supernatural cult about to fulfill an ancient prophecy of evil.

Although Taylor Compton and Nolan Gerard Funk as boyfriend Jack are decent enough the likes of Jeff Fahey and Deborah Kara Unger don't get enough screen time in this stylish but ultimately empty horror film.

There are lovely aerial shots and the cult look suitably terrifying and demonic donned in their robes and animal skull masks yet despite them standing outside the house for great swathes of the film looking menacing with flaming totems, not an awful lot happens between the half hour mark until the last fifteen minutes. There's a nice unnerving atmosphere of dread but it can't sustain a whole movie.

As far as indie horror goes The Long Night is technically excellent and really looks the business, it's just a shame the script lacks the required thrills to move this into the higher echelons of indie horror.