We Summon the Darkness

Director: Marc Meyers

Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller, Austin Swift, Johnny Knoxville, Allison McAtee 

Running Time: 91 min.

Rating: R

 

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

 

We Summon the Darkness joins movies like The Hunt as one of the horror-thrillers released in the past year that's gained unexpected relevance and attention for how its subject matter mirrors recent cultural events. The latest from My Friend Dahmer director Marc Meyers, it kind of landed with a thud on VOD in April before eventually catching steam on Netflix to become one of the more frequently streamed genre titles of the summer. It isn't hard to see how, as what starts as a standard horror entry pulls off a twist that really does elevate the story and delivers a certain degree of scathing social commentary that makes it a trip worth taking. You could also say its blessed, or maybe even cursed, with almost improbable timing that lends this to a deeper analysis than it would have otherwise gotten. 

All these circumstances could have made it even harder for a script centering around a particular group attempting to force their beliefs on society through violence and murder, to resonate. Who wants to watch that now? That it's not a depressing dirge, and at points a lot of fun, speaks to the control Myers has over the material's tone. It isn't perfect and doesn't completely swing for the fences, but there's a feeling that had he done that, the results may not have been as effective. And it certainly wouldn't have been the escape from reality it turns out to be despite its disturbingly timely themes. So with some good performances, excellent pacing, and a villainous motivation from the film's antagonists that heighten the remainder of its run time, you could say it overdelivers.

It's July 1988 when Alexis (Alexandra Daddario) and her two friends, wild child Val (Maddie Hasson) and shy, reserved Bev (Amy Forsyth) are driving together to a heavy metal show in Indiana. On the way, they have a run-in with three guys who throw a milkshake on their windshield, discovering them at the venue's parking lot to be Ivan (Austin Swift--Taylor's brother), Kovacs (Logan Miller) and Mark (Keean Johnson), a fledgling metal band about to break-up as the latter prepares to move to Los Angeles. After some apologizing, the girls soon bond with them over their shared musical tastes, with the guys unsubtly letting it be known they're interested. Alexis takes the hint, inviting them to her father's empty mansion to drink and goads them all into playing a game of "Never Have I Ever."

This isn't a particularly wise time to be hanging around with complete strangers, as a string of Satanic killings are sweeping through the region, drawing the ire of pastor John Henry Butler (an almost unrecognizable Johnny Knoxville), an well-known evangelist preaching about the sins of heavy metal music all over local news programs. Early on, no secret is made of the fact that these girls are looking to lure the guys into a trap, as we're led to believe they're responsible for all the aforementioned carnage. That's only about half-true, as all parties prepare for a showdown, from which very few will walk out alive.  

Meyers takes the approach of pretty much making it an open secret that the girls are the predators right from the start, with Alexis serving as their ringleader. While they're the main characters and we're objectively following them from the first scene, it's clear something's amiss from the start. And when they meet the guys, that becomes painfully obvious, which is fine since the screenplay doesn't seem all too interested in suggesting otherwise. When the reveal does come about a quarter through, all the movie's adrenaline is generated from the "why" rather than "how," with these guys suddenly fighting for their lives against these female perpetrators with sick, if somewhat surprising, intentions. 

What Alan Trezza's script does best is give the girls three really distinctive personalities that are heavily showcased early on with their comedic banter, most of which really hits. As their mission escalates, this gradually gives way to this twisted power struggle that exists within the group, with Alexis establishing herself atop the food chain with loose canon Val as her sidekick. Both soon assert their control over a terrified, intimidated Bev, who quickly realizes this isn't her at all and she'll have to fake her way through the violence they're about to unleash, despite her obvious interest in one of their intended victims. 

With this dynamic in place, the film takes off with Alexandra Daddario's wildly unhinged performance as Alexis, which surpasses much of what she's done since first infamously breaking onto the scene with that memorable True Detective role that was supposed to put her on track to become a major star. While it's led to steady work since that's been hit-or-miss, that obviously didn't pan out. But this might be the first part since to at least fully exploit what's been her calling card. With giant, almost inhumanly blue eyes and distinctive look, someone finally decided to just go ahead and cast her as a raging psychopath, and she eats it up, stealing the movie along with Maddie Haddon, who's equally impressive as her out-of-control cohort, flipping a familar horror character on its head. Amy Forsyth has the least to do as Bev, mainly because she's just being dragged along for the ride until her inveitiable redemption, but she delivers what's needed nonetheless. 

As their motivations come to light along with some clever turns, what unfolds is a night of carnage that does eventually settle into a groove that resembles a more traditional horror entry, albeit a thoroughly entertaining one that explores some inriguing themes. Johnny Knoxville's small but somewhat pivotal role as a pastor is well-handled in that it's not only a reversal of expectations, but a chance to see him give a darker, more dramatic turn that veers heavily from his usual big screen schtick. That is once you get past the fact he's playing older than we're typically used to. Or rather, pushing 50, he actually is older, with this representing the kinds parts he should probably be taking more of. 

Despite being set in 1988, it may as well have been 1998 or 2008 or even present-day, since there aren't many period details in We Summon the Darkness that will invoke a ton of nostalgia, even for the most dedicated metalheads of the era, which is a debit. Even with a solid soundtrack and some witty dialogue centering around the music scene of the time that captures how these people would likely talk, it definitely isn't some kind of immersive 80's experience, with the only midly successful exploitation of the period coming in a late scene revolving around Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth." Stranger Things it's not, but luckily the story and action hold up well enough that this isn't a major issue that would detract from anyone's enjoyment or harm the experience. The only question is how many viewers will still be in the mood to watch this once they realize what it's actually about. It's definitely more fun than it looks, especially for a movie that seems superficially intended to just kill 90 minutes. This it does, and then some.

Elvis & Nixon

Director: Liza Johnson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Michael Shannon, Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Knoxville, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters, Tate Donovan, Sky Ferreira, Tracy Letts, Ahna O' Reilly, Ashley Benson, Dylan Penn
Running Time: 86 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

On the morning of December 21, 1970, a meeting took place at the White House between two of the most important and controversial public figures of the 20th century. It created a moment immortalized in a legendary photograph that became the the National Archives' most requested image. Thankfully, Liza Johnson's Elvis & Nixon isn't exactly a movie about that, at least in the strictest sense. If it was, there's a chance we'd be exposed to a reality that's nowhere near as funny or subversively entertaining as what ends up on screen. And while we all probably could have lived without the disturbing knowledge that "The King" and the disgraced 37th President of the United States share an alarming amount in common, isn't it kind of strangely unsurprising? The casting would imply the film's a big joke, and while that's true to an extent, it's at least a really funny joke that also works as a deep dive into the complicated personalities of these two eccentric figures.

Clocking in at a breezy 86 minutes, the film never overstays its welcome, focusing tightly on the immediate events leading up to this infamous meeting and the actual event itself, which definitely doesn't disappoint, thanks largely to the two immersive performances carrying it. This is one of those little footnotes in history that upon reflection signifies much more than it did at the time, with the film's strongest aspect being how well it conveys that. Everyone involved is so blissfully unaware of how simultaneously important and ridiculous this all this. It's hard watching without drawing parallels to current events, contemplating just how thin the line separating politics and celebrity has become. For better or worse, you could easily argue that this rarely discussed encounter helped pave the way, its implications still reverberating through the culture. 

It's 1970 and singer Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon) is enjoying somewhat of a career resurgence off the heels of his late '60's comeback special, his fame and public recognizability at an apex. But despite this enormous success, the problems currently facing America heavily weigh on him as he lounges in his palatial Graceland estate, joined at the hip by best friend and "Memphis Mafia" cohort Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer) and bodyguard Sonny West (Johnny Knoxville). Disturbed by the hippie movement and worried the drug culture is rapidly eating away at the minds of the era's youth, Elvis makes it his mission to get sworn in by President Richard Nixon (Kevin Spacey) as an undercover "agent-at-large" in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

To accomplish his lofty goal, Presley will have to find a way to reach Nixon, and after showing up at the gates of the White House with a handwritten letter, his request eventually makes it into the hands of top administrative officials Egil Krogh (Colin Hanks), Evan Peters and Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, After initially brushing it off as a ridiculous joke, they soon recognize the obvious, very real opportunity the meeting presents for Nixon to overhaul his out-of-touch, old fashioned image, particularly with young southern voters. But getting the President on board is full of an entirely new set of challenges, culminating in an encounter for the ages as Elvis meets Nixon.

There's a reason the film is titled Elvis & Nixon and not Nixon & Elvis, as the script devotes a considerably larger amount of time to Presley. He's the one on the journey, he's the mind we're granted access to, and at times, it's a fairly strange place to be. Torn between his loyalty to and love for a profession that's afforded him so much and the discomfort of having strangers viewing him as "Elvis" 24/7, he sees a lot of himself in Nixon, who also came from humble beginnings and shares similar conservative values.

The casting of Michael Shannon, known for playing psychotic creeps and menacing weirdos, is unusual not only due to him lacking any physical resemblance to The King, but because the choice seems like it could be some kind of inside joke on audiences. If this were an all-out mindless comedy that might be true, but anyone truly familiar with Shannon knows just how much more he's capable of bringing to it. And he does.

Shannon really gets under Presley's skin during a period of his life where he really did come across as a disturbed eccentric, albeit a likable, well-meaning one. When Elvis is at first informed that the President has no desire to meet him, Presley's not insulted that Nixon doesn't want to meet the one and only "King of Rock n' Roll," but rather sad and disappointed as an American because he has some ideas to share and thinks and they'd be friends. The deflated look on Shannon's face is more akin to an overgrown child being told they won't be meeting Santa Claus than a spoiled celebrity not getting what he wants. It's a small but crucial example of one of many nuances the movie gets right.

Much of the comedy comes from those closest to the two men trying to control uncontrollable personalities since no one really has any idea what will happen when they meet. Nixon is portrayed as an insulated old man, so stubbornly grasping to traditional values it comes as little surprise he has no idea who Elvis Presley even is. That he may have in reality has no baring on the fact that this movie believably theorizing that he didn't is just perfect. It isn't even until his team have to use his daughter to get through to him that they're able to finally set the wheels in motion.

No stranger to playing the Commander-in-Chief on House of Cards, Kevin Spacey now gets to tackle a real one and his physical embodiment of Nixon's mannerisms, posture and way of speaking are frighteningly on point, even taking into account the great actors who have previously tackled the role. While he doesn't get the screen time Shannon does, he makes the absolute most of it, conveying the type of defiant personality that would eventually lead to his downfall. He definitely lived and worked in a bubble, and there's no getting around the distracting fact that Spacey's portrayal will draw inescapable comparisons to our current President.

Finding plenty of common ground in their mutual disdain of hippies, The Beatles, and communism, it was inevitable Elvis and Nixon would hit it off, their discussion as off-the-wall as you'd expect and then some. The rest of the characters are mere window dressing, as they should be, attempting and often failing to keep their bosses' worst tendencies in check. Like how Presley basically tries to sneak an arsenal of firearms into the Oval Office and the person most perplexed as to why that's not  permitted is Nixon himself.

While all the characters' quirks are on full display in the eventual encounter, this semi-biographical account still somehow avoids feeling like a parody because it has genuine affection for two otherwise good men who each had their personality flaws magnified by the pressures of the spotlight. Under different circumstances, maybe both would have been regarded a bit differently, and perhaps even deserve to be. Elvis & Nixon zeroes in on that to become a fun, engaging trip back in time that's as straightforward and direct as the meeting itself.