Lovely, Dark and Deep (2023) Review – A Tense Missing 411 Inspired Wilderness Horror

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today’s movie is one that has been talked about a fair bit in certain communities on the internet. Teresa Sutherland’s feature-length directorial debut Lovely, Dark and Deep. Critics absolutely loved this film but I am not a critic so what do I think?

It’s not particularly original

Lovely, Dark and Deep follows the story of a young woman, Lennon (Georgina Campbell), and her journey through the dangerous wilderness of Arvores National Park. After losing her younger sister back when she was a child, Lennon is determined to do anything she can to get to the bottom of her disappearance. Little does she realise that the park she is working in harbours dark secrets and the disappearances of a large number of hikers and park rangers.

“Lovely, Dark and Deep borrows, quite heavily, from a few different sources to put together its fairly trope heavy horror story.”

Drawing on Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” for some title inspiration, Lovely, Dark and Deep borrows, quite heavily, from a few different sources to put together its fairly trope heavy horror story. The largest of which being David Paulides’ Missing 411.

Anyone with even a cursory amount of knowledge on the subject or, indeed, anyone who has listened to any of Paulides’ conversations with radio host George Knapp, will immediately recognise the source material for Sutherland’s tale of hikers disappearing in the wild.

It is so unoriginal, in fact, that Sutherland has even lampooned the aforementioned Paulides/Knapp radio interviews as a form of exposition, clueing the viewer in, early on, to the bizarre nature of people vanishing without a trace in national parks.

An actual tragic reality

Naturally, this is a genuine problem and a massive, ongoing, tragedy. Many of these victims are elderly people, some are disabled and a lot of them are children. To make light of the subject for a horror movie is somewhat tasteless but pretty on trend for the genre as a whole.

One of the more prominent, and fairly ridiculous, theories to explain these disappearances plays centre stage in Lovely, Dark and Deep. And it is almost fitting that something so unbelievable should slot so neatly into a horror format, while also being championed as a real life explanation for what is taking place.

Nevertheless, if you are a fan of Missing 411 stuff, you will either really enjoy this movie or hate it for being exploitative. The story tracks very closely with the experiences of certain hikers who were actually found. And much of what you see here will be entirely familiar to people interested in the subject.

Slow until it isn’t

As far as fans of plain old horror movies go, there really isn’t a lot to rave about here. Sure, we have bags of atmosphere. The woods play fitting host for some seriously creepy moments in the dark of night. And Sutherland manages to tap into some primal fears that, I am sure, we all have. But, outside of that and a few interesting, creepy, visuals, there isn’t a lot of substance here, at all.

“There is such an urgency to attack the viewer with scene after scene of scary happenings that the foundation of the movie is all but forgotten.”

The movie takes a long time to go anywhere. It’s over 30 minutes before the horror really starts. The first third of the film is fairly mundane scene setting and little else. It isn’t, really, until a hiker goes missing and Lennon is pushed into action that anything really happens.

Once things do get going, there is a decent amount of tension and atmosphere. Things still move slowly but some of the imagery here is particularly unnerving. For a few minutes there, Lovely, Dark and Deep is actually quite tense and scary. It isn’t until you realise that the movie is suddenly playing out as a montage of loosely connected, tropey, horror “events” that you start wondering what you are watching. 

There is such an urgency to attack the viewer with scene after scene of scary happenings that the foundation of the movie is all but forgotten. The story is thin on the ground, the tension evaporates in a haze of over-stimulating genre sequences, and the atmosphere is all but gone. Lovely, Dark and Deep ties itself in knots in a desire to scare. It’s almost like a fairground ghost train ride. One prop after another jumping out at you with limited effect. More often than not, provoking a sigh rather than a whimper.

Could have been more

It’s hard not to be disappointed. For a minute there, this is a legitimately enjoyable movie. It’s tense and quite unsettling. It just doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. There’s a distinct feeling of Sutherland throwing as much at the wall as possible, hoping that there will, at least, be a few pieces that stick enough to please everyone.

“I think Lovely, Dark and Deep is worth a watch purely for the cool location and the atmosphere, alone.”

With some tighter focus, a more developed story, and a significantly more satisfying final stanza, Lovely, Dark and Deep could have been a very effective horror movie. 

On the plus side, cinematography is decent. Filmed in Portugal, I would have loved this movie in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio but beggars can’t be choosers. The 1.85:1 ratio feels pretty fitting and does a nice job of illustrating the density of the imposing forest.

Some of the physical performances are great and rather freaky. Sutherland clearly understands the scariness of the human form moving in bizarre ways. Georgina Campbell (The Watchers) is fantastic throughout and everyone else is, generally, decent. A word of note. You are going to hear a lot of British actors here doing American accents. Some succeed, others definitely do not.

Tons of potential

There is potential here. I am genuinely looking forward to more from Teresa Sutherland. She has the foundations of a very watchable horror movie. Sutherland just needs to find a way to stick the landing. She obviously understands tension and atmosphere. I just think some more story development and some changes to pacing were needed, as well as a completely different final 20 minutes. The journey here is much better than the destination.

Lovely, Dark and Deep really reminded me of Lorcan Finnegan’s Without Name. Aside from the similar wilderness locations, both movies play host to some very similar issues, including odd pacing and some very unsatisfying sequences. The atmosphere is there in both and they both have potential but neither movie really manages to completely deliver.

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Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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