Coming Home in the Dark

Directed by James Ashcroft, Coming Home in the Dark follows a family of four (Erik Thomson’s Hoaggie, Miriama McDowell’s Jill, Billy Paratene’s Maika, and Frankie Paratene’s Jordan) as they’re accosted by two criminals (Daniel Gillies’ Mandrake and Matthias Luafutu’s Tubs) while on a peaceful picnic – with the film primarily detailing the subsequent battle of wills that unfolds between the characters. Filmmaker Ashcroft, armed with a script written with Eli Kent, kicks Coming Home in the Dark off with a tremendously effective and almost unbearably suspenseful opening stretch that benefits substantially from the actors’ sterling efforts, although it’s clear, certainly, that Gillies’ magnetic, electrifying work here, which remains an ongoing highlight, plays a key role in sustaining the picture’s tense atmosphere even through its less-than-taut portions. It is, as such, a little disappointing to note that the movie eventually (and perhaps inevitably) segues into a hit-and-miss midsection that spins its wheels to a sporadically distracting degree, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the erratic vibe is compounded by Ashcroft’s continuing reliance on some of the genre’s hoariest clichés and conventions (eg Mandrake’s charming, verbose demeanor) – which, when coupled with a climax that isn’t quite as enthralling as one might’ve hoped, cements Coming Home in the Dark‘s place as a periodically spellbinding yet relentlessly uneven thriller.

*** out of ****