Carry the Darkness (2025) Review

Carry the Darkness (2025) Review

Set against the backdrop of small-town hysteria and inspired by the true-crime tragedy of the West Memphis Three, this atmospheric descent into paranoia and supernatural terror follows Travis Baldwin, a misunderstood metalhead teen cast as the scapegoat for a series of gruesome atrocities.

As a malevolent entity emerges from the nearby woods, claiming victims and warping minds, the town turns on Travis—driven by fear, fuelled by dogma, and blind to the real darkness stalking them. Blending the eerie surrealism of TWIN PEAKS with the investigative dread of THE X-FILES, this timely horror tale explores the high cost of moral panic—and the monsters it creates.

Douglas Forrester’s Carry the Darkness arrives as a supernatural thriller steeped in the paranoia of the Satanic Panic, blending coming-of-age drama, small-town mystery and supernatural horror against a distinctly Nineties backdrop. The film taps into a period when heavy metal, video games and anything remotely outside the mainstream were often portrayed as corrupting influences on impressionable youngsters, with moral outrage frequently taking precedence over anything resembling evidence.

For anyone who grew up during that era, there is plenty here to provoke a sense of nostalgia. Carry the Darkness captures the look and general vibe of the Nineties well, transporting us back to a time before the internet and social media had taken over virtually every aspect of our lives. It is perhaps ironic that society was so concerned about the supposedly damaging influence of heavy metal and console games when, in hindsight, social media arguably has far greater potential to influence and manipulate its users. But then again, those in positions of authority were hardly going to condemn a medium they could eventually exploit to their own advantage. Heavy metal and video games made convenient scapegoats; social media, not so much.

The film certainly has some worthwhile ideas at its core. The depiction of moral panic and the way fear can be directed towards those perceived as outsiders gives the story some substance beyond its supernatural trappings. The performances are also decent considering the film’s relatively modest budget, and there is clearly an affection for the period in which the story is set.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem for me is that Carry the Darkness doesn’t provide enough beyond its characters talking about things to really pull you in. The film becomes caught up in parent-and-child dynamics, schoolyard bullying and attempts to thwart the local bully and his cronies, while the supernatural elements that initially attracted me to the film are largely left waiting in the wings.

When the supernatural does finally rear its head, the film immediately becomes more interesting. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. Just as you begin to get a taste of what the film could potentially offer, it retreats back into its more conventional coming-of-age drama. There is nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but it left me wishing that Forrester had leaned considerably harder into the horror.

The film’s publicity also cites The X-Files and Twin Peaks as influences, which certainly sounds promising. As a fan of both, however, I struggled to see much evidence of either beyond the general Nineties setting. There is certainly an atmosphere of small-town mystery and the occasional suggestion of something lurking beneath the surface, but I was expecting considerably more of those influences to make their presence felt.

Carry the Darkness is by no means a bad film. It has a decent cast, an authentic Nineties aesthetic and some interesting observations about moral panic and the treatment of outsiders. Unfortunately, for a film marketed as a supernatural thriller, there simply isn’t enough supernatural horror to satisfy me. The glimpses we do get suggest that there was a far more compelling and sinister movie lurking beneath the surface, and I couldn’t help wishing that Carry the Darkness had embraced that side of itself more wholeheartedly.

The Horror Collective on home video, on-demand and digital platform everywhere including Tubi and Xumo.
Release Schedule
BloodStream Exclusive Streaming: Friday, August 14, 2026
Rent/Purchase on Digital via Amazon, Apple TV, Direct TV, Google Play, Vimeo: Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Blu-ray (with audio commentary and deleted scenes): Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Streamable everywhere on: Tuesday, December 1, 2026

Trailer