A Knife In The Dark — A Knife In The Dark( VOD)
A Knife In The Dark is a murder mystery set amongst a clan of bickering & back-stabbing vampires. The film is a recent production from one of the more (usually) distinctive modern low-budget horror/ sci-fi directors Oregon’s Joe Sherlock (Odd Noggins, Channel 99, Drifter, etc). His work normally features the following tropes- bizarre chatty dialogue, self-referential moments, Tattooed larger ladies taking showers, reappearing cast, and lo-fi-at-points-wacky effects. This film really is a major departure from Sherlock, being more of a dialogue-heavy mystery.
It's a steamed/ VOD affair- which finds Sherlock releasing the film via Sterling Entertainment, which of course is run by prolific micro-budget producer David Sterling. Head to Joe’s site to find out more here
The film regards The Thorntons- a rather mismatched family of Vampires who live in plain sight in suburbia. A skull-masked, black-gloved, and monk-gowned figure is taking out the family members one-by-one, to get their hands on its fortune. The film kicks off with an eerier & relatively tense night time bed bound murder- before kicking into its credits which are very giallo-like with its Goblin-like brooding bass-fed score, inversed red stills, and black backdrop…but don’t be fooled this isn’t a giallo, as I said early it’s a dialogue-heavy mystery, set largely in one location- a fairly typical American suburbia house
Leading up the cast are the female leads of Gabrielle(Stephanie Marie) and Lindsay( Kate Schmidt)- two larger/well-proportioned ladies who like to go out clubbing to pick up fresh blood. The rest of the initial household is made up of laid-back, long-haired, and bearded Ross( Connor Sherlock), and the more uptight & on-edge mid-aged Lorraine( Jackey Neyman Jones).
The one hour and sixteen-minute film is largely set around the front room of the house- where we get a lot of banter & debate regarding families fortune, and who doing the killings. The dialogue is well enough acted/ presented- be quite lightly amusing & engaging. We of course have the creepy stalking/ killing scenes- these are well realized with a good feel of an eerie atmosphere & building tension- Unfortunately, the kills themselves are not great- largely bad CGI based, and we just see the aftermath.
Also added into the mix we have low-beat PI Stan(Calvin Morie McCarthy) who is brought to track down the family's lost brother. And puzzled/perplexed Detective Dugan( John Bowker) who is brought in after each murder. And a few other relations
As you’d expect with a Sherlock film we get a few returning cast members- taking in Neyman Jones, Bowke, and his son Conor. Marie has worked with Sherlock once before on Odd Noggins- she and Schmidt carry the lead roles well. On the whole, the acting here is good for a low-budget production- with all the cast being likeable & engaging.
It certainly is neat/ interesting to see Mr Sherlock doing something a bit more straight/ less wacky/ less fleshy than his normal fare with A Knife In The Dark. All in all, It’s an engaging enough chatty mystery. It’s just a pity the killings themselves couldn’t have been better, as the banter/ character interactions are entertaining, and the stalk/ kill elements are creepy…it’s just lacking the gore. Worth a look for general mystery fans, and those looking to see Joe Sherlock doing something a little different.