Darkest Night is a 2012 independent film in the horror film genre, directed by Filipino Noel Tan and written and produced by American Russ Williams. It stars DJ Perry, Anne Gauthier, Issa Litton, and Nic Campos. Its story is set in the mountains of Luzon in the Philippines. A large family gathers for a happy reunion and marriage announcement on Christmas Day at an isolated mansion, only to encounter a series of bizarre, demonic, and tragic events.
The film started shooting on May 2, 2011, and had its U.S. premiere at the Filipino Arts and Cinema (FACINE) International Film Festival in San Francisco on October 20, 2012. At this festival, the film won a special award for Valuable Contribution.Darkest Night at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 11, 2013. Darkest Night received a limited U.S. theatrical release on July 1, 2013, and full video release on July 16."GPI Announces Full North America Release for Our Latest Film Darkest Night". Company website. Retrieved October 6, 2013. Largely good reviews greeted the film from critics, its festival audience and general audiences alike. The film seeks to build bridges between Asian and American cultures, producing horror with a blend of both.
Plot The story in Darkest Night unfolds as a found footage "documentary" by a Filipino television journalist, Danny Valencia (Jonas Gruet). In what are purportedly his words, Danny writes that he created the film from videotape found at the site of a 2003 unsolved crime. The opening scene shows him and some workmen at the crime site, ruins of a mansion where a family disappeared.
Then, the video begins. On December 25, 2003, Michelle Espino (Issa Litton) and her husband, David (Allan Dale Alojipan), host their upscale family's Christmas Day reunion at their mansion in the mountains. Susan (Anne Gauthier) and American Ken Tyler (DJ Perry) are engaged after dating for months in Manila. They travel to the Espinos' home with Susan's live-in sister, Chelsea (Jill Palencia). When they arrive, Susan announces the engagement to the entire family and introduces Ken. An autistic cousin, Justin, a video camera savant, takes over videotaping from then on. (See Autism and Savant syndrome.)
After dinner, a mild earthquake jolts everyone, and the power goes out, plunging all into darkness. Everyone realizes that all batteries and electricity are useless except for Justin's video camera. A dense fog surrounds the mansion and the entire area. David goes out, walking toward a neighbor's house to seek information. Later, the television switches on by itself without power, showing a strange pagan ritual congregation with weird singing. Now more frightened, the family members try to guard each other. After several other family members die or disappear, Susan finds an old book bearing the French title “The Way of Baphomet" and the motto Ensemble Toujours (Together Always). Soon, only Michelle, Steven, Susan and Ken are left. They realize the time is 9 am, and it's still dark outside. Susan discovers the French words Ensemble Toujours written on a wall. An upset Michelle rushes outside, finding a prowler. She shoots him, only to find David's grotesquely deformed body. Michelle then shoots herself dead.
Later, Susan, Ken and Steven gather in the kitchen. She shows them the old "[Baphomet]" book and demands an explanation from Steven. He tells them Michelle was into black magic, and the book was her "Bible." She was able to learn powerful magic spells from it. Many years ago, a cult from France worshiped the demon god Baphomet and practiced black magic on this very land. They all mysteriously disappeared on Christmas Day 1914. Steven confesses he and Michelle also had an affair. Michelle later told him she had found an easy way to ascend magically into "heaven" along with the whole family. Earlier, she had cast a spell on everyone there. However, these rites actually required human sacrifice, mutilation and torture. When Michelle realized her "god" had deceived her, she killed herself. Susan reads from the book that, in the final rite, a man and woman must wed, and then the bride has to castrate her groom.
Trying to break the magic spell, Susan leads them all in a seance, calling on Michael and requesting release. Michael appears and goes to Steven. Both disappear. Finally, Susan finds that Ken is dead too, and only she is left. She places her engagement ring on his finger with a ring she gave him. Then he vanishes like all the others. The television flickers on again. They see the pagan cult robed in white, gathering outdoors around an altar. Before all, Ken and Michelle make love. She proceeds to castrate him as a human sacrifice. The set then shows a picture of the entire family, robed and near the altar, without Susan and Justin. The scene slowly dissolves. A robed Susan and Justin now stand with the rest of the family.
In the final scene the journalist, Danny, is still among the original ruins with the work crew, as at first. Everyone gathers by a box they had found, and inside is the old French book, “The Way of Baphomet." On top of the book are the two rings together, Susan's and Ken's.
Cast DJ Perry is an American actor. Justin Hoong-Fai Chan is Chinese Malaysian. All the other actors are Filipino: DJ Perry as Ken Tyler Anne Gauthier as Susan Reyes Issa Litton as Michelle Espino Nic Campos as Steven Espino Jill Palencia as Chelsea Reyes Justin Hoong-Fai Chan as Jeffrey Espino Zeny Sevilla as Reina Espino Kevin Vitug as Ricky Santos Elle Velasco as Carol Santos Marife Necesito as Agira Espino Jonas Gruet as Danny Valencia Allan Dale Alojipan as David Espino Raymond Osmeña as Alan Espino James Lomahan as Garry Santos Czarina Llane Kwong as Annie Espino Clark Gamul as Jason Espino Shierdan Pamintuan as Andy Cuevas Alexandra Marie Tan as Young Susan Crisanto Garrido as the Paramedic Christian Tan as Justin Espino Chris Joshua Tan as Michael Espino Giann Paula Martizano as Young Chelsea Stefano Rota as Andre Devereaux Trixie Dauz as Corrine Devereaux
Background and Development
The screenwriter and producer of Darkest Night, Russ Williams (originally from Tennessee) had lived in Los Angeles, California, for more than 20 years before moving to Southeast Asia in 2010.About the Author. Personal website. Retrieved October 6, 2013. His first film, set and shot in the United States in 2002, was titled The Last Year.Darkest Night at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 7, 2013. Williams wrote and also produced this film (his co-producer title was uncredited, according to him).Surviving the Night, Chapter 14 , by Russ Williams, GPI Press, Los Angeles, 2013. This book is Russ Williams' personal journal of his producing the film. It contains eyewitness accounts of his own experiences and those of others on location. The book is available online in his personal blog (see links), as well as published in hard copy by GPI. A long-time fan of horror film, Williams wanted his next production to be in that genre. Also a lover of Asian horror films, he came up with the idea of combining traditional American horror film tropes and concepts with the classic Asian ghost story as represented in Japanese horror films like The Ring (Ringu 1998, see Ring (film)), Pulse (Kairo, see Pulse (2001 film)) and Ju-on: The Grudge (Ju-on 2002).Online Interview With Russ Williams. Retrieved October 7, 2013. Williams reportedly had more reasons than just a lower budget for making Darkest Night as a found-footage film. According to what he wrote himself, he wanted the film to be a cinéma vérité recording of the way reality looks during a nightmare, specifically his own nightmares as a child. "These nightmares never had great production values or looked beautiful. They were always dark, fragmentary, claustrophobic and chaotic. I never had control over what my 'mental camera' actually saw. While dreaming, I felt like I was autistic in almost every sense of the word, unable to control myself while in that terrible world. In fact," he added, "My nightmares never look like a 15 million-dollar production."Surviving the Night, Chapter 14 , Williams, GPI Press, Los Angeles, 2013.
Nightmares portray some of our most deeply held fears, especially about family, according to the famous American horror observer, Joseph Maddrey. For example, he explains the huge appeal of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (1984 original directed by Wes Craven) as a result of its exploiting these fears.Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film, pp. 165-169ff, Joseph Maddrey, MacFarland Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC-US & London, UK 2004, . In Darkest Night Williams and the director, Noel Tan, draw a direct line from ultra-realistic cinéma vérité style into terrifying childhood-type nightmares, disjointed time, claustrophobia, bad family relationships and twisted ghosts from the past. The result is a formula for heart-sick, demoralizing fear. During the film, although supernatural dangers abound, the viewer slowly realizes that the film's story is about a desperate, truly dysfunctional family. Loved ones sought to rely on in a crisis instead lash out, buckle or commit outright betrayal.The Demons Behind Darkest Night documentary film, GPI, 2012. After the earthquake, and the lights go out, the film crosses over from ordinary life, into increasingly dread-filled dark scenarios.
Based on Malaysian 'Urban Legend'
After moving to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in May 2010, Williams sought to produce a film there based on an older Horror film screenplay he had previously written, titled Out of Time. This script was about an isolated family that fell prey to black magic induced by a family member. After coming across a Malaysian urban legend type ghost story, he decided to combine the subject matter of the script with this story. The local legend tells the story of a Chinese family that mysteriously disappeared in the Malaysian Cameron Highlands on February 1, 2003, during the night of a Chinese New Year celebration."Your Ghost Stories" (Malaysian), "Ghost Encounter at Ruins of Old Mansion." Retrieved on October 7, 2013. Williams investigated this story and interviewed, either by himself or through assistants, more persons in Malaysia to gather as much information as he could about this seemingly government-suppressed ghost story.Reviews & Ratings for Darkest Night, the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
As Williams learned more about this legend, he discovered many similarities between the plot of Out of Time and the reported stories of the "disappeared" family. In personal interviews with the press, Williams does not assert that Darkest Night is based on a true story. However, he has said he believes the Malaysian story is a valid account.Surviving the Night, Chapters 11, 12 & 14 , Williams, GPI Press, Los Angeles, 2013. Also he makes no claims about the authenticity of local tales of ghosts that supposedly inhabit the actual ruins and locale where the Malaysian family disappeared. When asked, Williams refuses to give the name of the family in this urban legend, citing privacy concerns for family members still living in parts of the country.