Dark Places

This film tells the story of a woman whose mother and her two sisters were murdered on their farm at night. Her brother is convicted of murdering the three family members. She gets contacted by a club that is intrigued by mysterious murders, and she is forced to confront her multilayered traumatic past.

Ever since I saw the trailer I was driven towards seeing "Dark Places". Firstly, I always like Charlize Theron as an actress and a woman and I enjoy seeing her characterizations which often are full of depth and underline subtext, which divides great actors from good ones. The poster itself was quite interesting to look at. It's Charlize as the protagonist Libby Day being in the fetal position trying to find peace and serenity. The screenplay was adopted from the Gillian Flynn's novel by the same name who is also known for his contribution to very well executed movie of 2014 in "Gone Girl". "Dark Places" might not be equal to the standard and quality set by David Fincher movie but it is enjoyable enough to justify seeing it.


Boasting great cast and linger mystery, Dark Places delivers a harrowing, if not slightly disturbing display of juvenile crime that resonates decades into the lives involved. This is a trip down memory lane, not for romantic purpose, but an eerie repressed nostalgia. However, it might be slow at times and the twists in store might not be as shocking as expected.

This movie does a huge disservice to the book. The screenwriter/director went on an ego trip and cut and/or drastically changed characters, changed the setting, and then did lip service to most of the major scenes. Some of the most pivotal scenes in the movie were present, but the setup for why they were important was never made, so when those scenes took place you were just sitting there going "meh."

The stand out for me was Christina Hendricks who delivers a solid performance as this single mother of four who is trying her best to keep up float. Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult are also solid, but their performance doesn't even come close to what they did in Fury Road. The flashback scenes were the highlight of the movie for me, and I didn't care too much for the present investigation so that might be a reason why I wasn't blown away by either of Theron or Hoult's performances. Dark Places isn't as tightly constructed as Gone Girl and the characters aren't as interesting, but the mystery still had me engaged during most of the film's running time. In a better director's hand this film could've been great, but it still managed to be slightly entertaining.

6.3/10 IMDb

24% Rotten Tomatoes

40% Metacritic

/1- VERDICT