A survivor of domestic violence joins her friends on a group therapy retreat in the remote Canadian Rockies. What first appears to be delusion quickly evolves into a great evil that they all must face. They’re being hunted by a creature that preys on their trauma.
Dark Nature compliments itself with its location in the Rockies, reinforcing notions of isolation and struggle to find help that appears to be a common theme among the personal lives of the traumatized characters. The creature uses the caves and thick woods to its advantage while inflicting hallucinatory flashbacks on its victims, bringing them to their deepest states of fear and vulnerability. The cast turns in solid performances, and it’s a visually pleasing film.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Hannah Emily Anderson, Madison Walsh, Roseanne Supernault, and Kyra Harper star in Dark Nature, which is written and directed by Berkley Brady. Dark Nature recently saw its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, and in celebration, Brady joined MovieWeb to discuss its making.
Landscape and Creature in Dark Nature
“It’s definitely a major element of the story, and something they’re always interacting with,” commented Brady when asked about the location of the film. “I think, especially if you go out on land or camp, you’re at the mercy of the weather, if you have a fire — do you run out of food? And so, I really wanted the land to be this place of incredible beauty, but also, it can be really dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. And no matter what, there is an element of risk just being out there away from service.”
The greatest element of risk in Dark Nature, though, is the creature that stalks the land. Brady explained a bit about the process of creating it, noting that there was an effort to not make it look like anything from The Descent, as she “tried to move the monster away from that,” although there are some similarities like appearance and cave-dwelling.
Epic Pictures
“In Dark Nature, in the beginning, the monster is sort of emaciated. It hasn’t eaten for a while; it hasn’t been treated well in a while. So, it’s just very much like the trees, it’s like the bark. Then as it starts hunting down victims, it starts getting more bloody and more torn… The way I saw it, as the powers it has, is that it can target you… when there’s that contra zoom, it’s looking and focusing on you and triggering your fear. For any hiker, it would be a bad situation, but especially for this group… and it is increasing in power as you move towards its base… the cave is very much like a power source. So, as we’re moving closer and closer, the intensity of what the monster can do, and even just being near the cave becomes more intense. By the end, she’s totally in another world when she’s in the cave.”
Drawbacks of Dark Nature
Dark Nature does well as a creature feature, but the runtime feels a bit rushed. Taking more time to explore the traumas of the characters and the process of healing — the backbone of the plot — could have developed a heightened sense of care and connection, making everything else that much more impactful. But that shouldn’t discourage anyone from seeing it. The film has plenty to offer; the effects are well done and there’s strong symbolism between what we know of the main character’s trauma and her fight for survival against the creature. The gore throughout, but especially towards the end is sure to satisfy horror fans.
Dark Nature is Brady’s directorial debut. Her work in film has premiered at festivals across the world, including Berlin Binnale and Sundance, and she has directed for episodic TV, commercials, music videos, and short films.
Dark Nature is produced by Brady and Michael Peterson, and Jason R Ellis and Tim Cairo executive produced. Patrick Ewald, Katie Page, and Kalani Dreimainis executive produced for Epic Pictures.
