''Super Dark Times'' is a 2017 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

film, directed by Kevin Phillips and written by

Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski are an American film writer, film screenwriting and executive producer, executive producing team best known for their work in horror films, and for their collaborations with director David Bruckner, including ''S ...

. It stars Owen Campbell,

Charlie Tahan Charles Tahan (born June 11, 1998) is an American actor. Starting as a child actor, with appearances in the 2007 films '' American Loser'' and '' I Am Legend'', he has progressed through teen and adult roles. His notable roles include Ben Burke ...

, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Max Talisman and

Amy Hargreaves Amy Hargreaves (born January 27, 1970) is an American actress who has worked in film, television, video games and theater. She had a recurring role on ''Homeland'' as Maggie Mathison. In 1994, she starred in ''Brainscan'' with Edward Furlong. I ...

. It is Phillips' directorial debut. After a traumatic accident, an inseparable pair of teenage boys and best friends lose their innocence and sanity from jealousy, violence and paranoia.

Plot

In 1996, in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, two teenage best friends, Zach and Josh, rate the girls in their yearbook. They find a common interest in Allison. After school, the duo crosses the path of the universally-disliked Daryl and his eighth-grade friend Charlie. Later that week, the four boys meet up at Josh's house where they look through the possessions of Josh's brother, who is away in the military, and find a bag of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and a

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

. Afterwards, the boys play with the sword in a secluded park area bordering the local cemetery and notice that Daryl has stolen the marijuana. After a tense argument, Josh and Daryl fight, resulting in Daryl being accidentally stabbed in the neck with the katana. Daryl runs from the scene but only makes it into the adjacent forest where he dies. The boys panic and hide both Daryl's body and the weapon. At school, rumors circulate about Daryl's disappearance. Zach has nightmares and Josh doesn't attend classes. Zach wants to return to Daryl's burial site and attend Allison's upcoming party with Josh, who declines but goes to Allison's party separately where he shares his brother's weed. Zach, disturbed, leaves. Another student, John, is found dead. Rumors speculate that he fell off a bridge. Zach suspects that Josh is responsible for John's death. He returns to Daryl's burial site and finds the katana missing and Daryl's corpse mutilated. Zach goes to Josh's home and realizes Josh is with Allison. He tracks her to Meghan's house, where Josh has killed Meghan with the katana and tied Allison up. After Zach unties her, the former friends fight until a neighbor intervenes and subdues Josh, who is arrested, while Zach's fate is left unknown. Months later, Allison has recovered and returns to school. A camera shot shows three parallel lines on the back of her neck.

Cast

* Owen Campbell as Zach Taylor *

as Josh Templeton * Elizabeth Cappuccino as Allison Bannister * Max Talisman as Daryl Harper * Sawyer Barth as Charlie Barth *

as Karen Taylor *Adea Lennox as Meghan *Ethan Botwick as John Whitcomb *Anni Krueger as Mrs. Barron *Kortnee Simmons as Eugene *Casey Sullivan as Senior

Production

The film was shot in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

. According to Phillips, the opening deer scene "was based off of some sort of urban tale that happened at our school(...)(a)bout a deer in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

that broke through the window and bled to death on the ground."

Release

The film premiered at the

Rotterdam Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

. It made its North American premiere on April 20, 2017, at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' reported that The Orchard had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film in March 2017. The film was released in theaters on September 29, 2017, and digitally on October 3, 2017. It plays on Hulu streaming.

Reception

The film has a 90% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Rich in atmosphere and period detail, ''Super Dark Times'' is an effective teen thriller whose true power lies in its approach to deeper themes."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

reports a score of 75/100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film a B−.

Awards and nominations

''Super Dark Times'' won the best feature film award at the 17th

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) is a Swiss film festival dedicated to fantastic movies. The NIFFF constructs its programming around three central axes: Fantastic cinema, Asian cinema and Digital images. The films shown ...

. It was also the winner of Best Sound Design in a Feature Film at the 2017 Music+Sound Awards, and received a nomination for the

Saturn Award for Best Independent Film The Saturn Award for Best Independent Film is an award presented to by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Winners and nominees 2010s 2020s External linksOfficial Site References {{Reflist *Saturn award Indepe ...

at the

44th Saturn Awards The 44th Saturn Awards, presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other genres belonging to genre fiction in film, television, home entertainment and loca ...

. At the

33rd Independent Spirit Awards The 33rd Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2017, were presented by Film Independent on March 3, 2018. The nominations were announced on November 21, 2017 by actresses Lily Collins and Tessa Thompson. The ceremo ...

, Kevin Phillips was nominated for the

Someone to Watch Award The Someone to Watch Award is an emerging filmmaker award presented by Film Independent Spirit Awards that recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. History The award includes a $25,000 un ...

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, super_dark_times 2017 films 2010s psychological drama films 2017 psychological thriller films American psychological thriller films American independent films American coming-of-age films Films set in 1996 Films about missing people Films about murder Films about murderers Films produced by Ben Collins (writer) Films produced by Luke Piotrowski Films with screenplays by Ben Collins (writer) Films with screenplays by Luke Piotrowski Films about juvenile sexuality Films about child death Films about sleep 2017 directorial debut films 2017 drama films 2017 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films shot in New York (state) English-language independent films English-language thriller films Films shot in the Hudson Valley