Hold the Dark

***Unpredictable bleak Alaskan adventure, mystery, thriller***

An author and wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright) arrives at a remote village in Alaska to help rid the town of a wolf problem that has resulted in a few dead children. Riley Keough plays the troubled mother and Alexander Skarsgård her taciturn husband coming home from Iraq. James Badge Dale appears as the local sheriff while Julian Black Antelope is on hand as a curious AmerIndian named Cheeon.

"Hold the Dark" (2018) is a combination mystery/drama/adventure/thriller/horror. It’s original, unpredictable and dead serious with elements of movies like “The Grey” (2011), “Runaway Train” (1985), “Wendigo” (2001), “The Frozen Ground” (2013), “The North Star” (1996), “Joyride” (1977) and “The Edge” (1997), not to mention a “Apocalypse Now” (or Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness) and even a little from the “Friday the 13th” franchise, albeit without the goofiness. Imagine if the band Agalloch made a movie and that’s pretty much “Hold the Dark” (there’s even a snippet from an Agalloch-like band in the movie).

It’s based on the book by William Giraldi and some viewers have complained that key revelations weren’t obvious enough in the film. Well, I never read the book and wasn’t able to figure out these revelations, but this didn’t prevent me from appreciating this artistic nigh masterpiece. Afterward, I looked-up the revelations and they put the pieces of the puzzle together; yet the clues are all there (in the movie) if you watch closely. My wife watched the film separately and WAS able to glean these revelations. But, again, not being able to figure out every detail did NOT prevent me from valuing this great movie.

The film runs 2 hours, 5 minutes and was shot in Alberta, Canada (Lethbridge & Calgary), and Morocco.

GRADE: A-/A