We Summon the Darkness (2019) Review

We Summon the Darkness (2019) Review

Summer 1998: three boys, three girls, one hell of a night. Turn the music up and let the blood flow as ritual sacrifice becomes the ultimate party game. Alexandra Daddario, Maddie Hassan and Johnny Knoxville star in one house party that s ready to make the headlines. Delightfully madcap, zany and enjoyable, with exceptionally memorable and entertaining characters, this horror-comedy will bring the (satanic) house down!

WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS, directed by Marc Meyers (MY FRIEND DAHMER) and written by Alan Trezza (BURYING THE EX), starts strong before losing traction thirty minutes in by revealing exactly who the ‘satanic’ killers are. Admittedly it’s rather easy to guess who they are (it’s apparently given away in the film’s trailer anyhow) and once that cat is out of the bag the film resorts to rolling out ‘surprises’ that are anything but – you know, such as a cop turning up solely to end up as another victim rather than save the day.

It’s all surface thrills rather than looking to delve deep into characterisation. We know as much as we need to know about these characters in terms of how they’ll help drive the plot to its conclusion. What does work in the film’s favour is that we actually have empathy for the initial trio of potential victims, which is rare in modern horror. We genuinely care about whether they’ll survive such a horrendous turn of events. Solid filmmaking rather than remarkable WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS will fill the time nicely but will leave little lasting impact.