There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark

“The enormity of nature hits you like a freight train in the early scenes of [New Zealander] James Ashcroft’s taut and sinewy first feature, Coming Home in the Dark,” David Rooney writes in a review of the film for The Hollywood Reporter. The film has been very well-received by critics at this year’s Sundance festival, where it screened in the Midnight programme.

“The majestic rural landscape of greater Wellington changes in an instant from a place of enveloping tranquillity to one of terrifying, helpless isolation as a family’s encounter with a pair of murderous drifters uncovers past trauma,” Rooney writes.

“Working with strong actors capable of walking the knife edge between fear and moral revulsion, sadism and barely stifled rage, Ashcroft and editor Annie Collins maximise the psychological murk hidden between the lines, doing a remarkable job of sustaining extreme tension.

Coming Home in the Dark is a rivetingly nasty ride and an assured debut from a promising new director.”

Original article by David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, February 9, 2021.


Tags: Annie Collins  Coming Home in the Dark  Hollywood Reporter  James Ashcroft  

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Like many writers before her, New Zealand-born Amy Brown takes inspiration from the Australian feminist icon Stella Maria Miles Franklin in her captivating debut novel My Brilliant Sister – but instead…