Category Archives: Dark

2013, 2014, 2016, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Action sequences, Anxiety Attacks, Bloody scenes, Boarding school, Cold Cases, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cover-up, Crime thriller, Cruelty, Danish, Danish Detectives, Danish Police, Danish TV series, Dark, Disrespect toward women, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Extremely Violent, Failed Father, False Imprisonment, Father-son relations, Fight Scenes, Flirting, Grim, Grisly, Hunting, Kanopy streaming, Murder, Murder Investigation, Narcissistic Personality, Panic Attacks, Police Culture, Prostitutes, Rape, Revenge, Sadism, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Thriller, Violent

Department Q (2013)

From Kanopy you can stream 3 full-length episodes of this series of intense crime Danish dramas. Unfortunately each episode will cost you one viewing credit.  There are many more Department Q episodes which are not available on Kanopy.

As you learn in the first episode,  chief detective Carl Mørck is such an oddball, that the police assign him to a dead-end job in the basement running Department Q where he is supposed to merely catalog unsolved cases.  Instead, he and his new partner Assad prove to be determined detectives doggedly solving difficult and ugly cases.

  • The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) 1 hour 36 minutes

Police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases, joined only by his assistant Assad. They dig into a case about a missing woman.

  • The Absent One (2014) 1 hour 59 minutes

The murder of young twins initially implicates a group of upper class students as the killers, though the case takes a turn or two from its starting point.

  • A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) 1 hour 52 minutes

Two intertwined cases linking the past with the present require the aid of Department Q to catch an elusive serial killer while time is running out.

All these stories involve brutal, ugly crimes. If  you can stand the nasty tension, then

DO NOT MISS!

2016, Abduction, Abortion, Abuse of Women, Adultery, Art as worthless fakery, Art Gallery, Author, Bullying, Cancer theme, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crude Talk, Cynical, Dark, Depression, Detective, Disrespect toward women, Disturbing Image, Eccentric Detective, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Extremely Violent, Failed Marriage, Failing Marriage, Grim, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Psychopath, Rape, Romance, Ruthless Killer, Serial rapist, Social class differences, Suspense, Tragedy, Unhappy Ending, Upsetting ending, Violent, Vulgar

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

From Netflix:

Reading her ex-husband’s violent novel manuscript destabilizes gallery owner Susan’s life, upending her present while digging up their past.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 56 minute complete film.

WARNING:  Almost certainly you will find this extremely violent film upsetting.  In addition the  opening videos of an especially obese naked woman are  quite revolting.

However, as usual, Jake Gyllenhaal delivers his usual impassioned performance.  Just don’t try and sleep afterwards.

Basically the entire film is a downer:

  • Amy Adams as Susan Morrow has reached the pinnacle of an unhappy life.  Her failing faux-modern art gallery features worthless but expensive junk.   She rejected the real love of her life, Tony Hastings. Her second marriage to Hutton Marrow is a lonely empty shell.
  • Armie Hammer as Hutton Morrow is the handsome, suave, and habitually unfaithful second husband.
  • Laura Linney as Susan’s mother Anne Sutton plays the completely materialistic, domineering Texan society matron.
  • Michael Shannon is the tough, chain-smoking lawman who is dying of metastasized cancer.
  • Jake Gyllenhaal is Susan’s first husband, a writer whom Susan loved but discarded as impractical.
  • Robert Aramayo as Turk.  His portrayal of a violent, psychopathic alpha thug is pitch perfect.

What!!! You still want to see this movie?

 

2018, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Amazon Prime, Amputation as revenge, Amputee, Bloody scenes, Boating, Bullying, Clever Plot, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Corrupt policemen, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Creepy, Dancing, Dark, Dark family secrets, Disturbing Image, Dysfunctional Lives, Eccentric Detective, Ethical struggles, Explicit sexual discussion, False Accusations, False Imprisonment, Father-daughter relations, FBI, Flashbacks, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Gory, Grim, Grisly, Hopeless Love, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Masturbation, Murder, Narcissist, Nuns, Occasional gore, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Prostitute, Psychopath, Revenge, Ruthless Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual Perversion, Sociopath, Strongly Discouraged, Suicide, Suspense, Unscrupulous drive to power, Upsetting ending, Violent, Well developed plot, Wrongful Arrest

Goliath Second Season 2 (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

Billy McBride returns to criminal defense, taking on a grisly double murder case. His client is a 16-yearold boy, and Billy’s damn sure he’s innocent. Billy, Patty, and the team fervently build their case in the seedy underworld of Los Angeles. As the murders’ true culprits come to light, the implications reach as far as the mayoral race — and the city’s preeminent billionaire developer.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 4 seasons of this lawyer series.  This review is just for season 2 which consists of 8 episodes where each episode is roughly one hour.

Normally I am recommending films. Here, however, I am strongly warning you that this is a ugly season. For one example, the chief villain amputates limbs from people who offend him.  For another example, one of the chief’s underlings suffers from “eroticized childhood trauma”, in which he can only get sexual pleasure from watching someone sooth an amputated limb. Heard enough?

To further clinch my discouraging review,   although some of the criminals suffer their just punishments, several innocent people are falsely imprisoned or killed.  As a final nail in this season’s coffin is that I purposely reveal that the chief villains succeed gloriously in their crimes and are so clever that they escape prosecution.

On the positive side (really?) the plot, good acting, detailed clever deceptions, utter evil of the conspirators, and the interactions of multiple characters make the story grimly watchable.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!  STRONGLY DISCOURAGED!

2021, Arson, Attempted Murder, Bullying, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Could Be Hard To Watch, Dark, Eccentric Detective, Failed Father, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Fist Fight, Forensics, High school students, Israeli culture, Israeli Detective, Jealousy, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Police Investigation, School Shooting, Teenagers, Torture, Violent, Wrongful Arrest

Black Space (2021)

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From Netflix:

A rogue detective with unorthodox means leads an investigation into a massacre committed by unicorn mask-wearing assassins at an Israeli high school.

From Netflix you can stream 8 episodes of this Israeli high school gun massacre series. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Rami Davidi is the detective. He is losing his left eye because he was attacked in his high school days by fellow students at the same high school when the assassinations take place. As such, he carries a grudge against the school whose principle never helped him when he was attacked.

For awhile a Palestinian school maintenance man is accused. But Rami figures out that the shootings were carried out by some of the students.  When everyone finally believes Rami,  then little by little the students turn on one another.

Unless Israeli high school students are really a vicious, depraved set of people, I would prefer to assume that their portrayal in this series is an ugly exaggeration for the sake of a crime story.  Perhaps I was just plain lucky to attend an all-boys Catholic high school in Baltimore.

Overly long, almost to the point of boring, watching the fairly large set of students with unfamiliar names devour each other is a bit of a blood sport.

Yikes!

2018, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Dark, Depressing, Dystopia, Father-son relations, Good Production Values, Government mind-control, Human spirit, Lesbian Theme, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Nasty Aliens, Pessimistic, Possibly upsetting ending, Pseudo Utopia, Psychological Drama, Sci-Fi, Suspense

Electric Dreams (2018)

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From IMDB:

A sci-fi anthology series with stand-alone episodes based on the works of Philip K. Dick.

From Amazon Prime:

Based on the short stories from one of science fiction’s most prolific authors, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams explores humanity in 10 standalone episodes. From 5 to 5000 years in the future, each story in the anthology will question what it means to be human in uniquely ambitious, grounded, yet fantastical worlds.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 10 episodes, each lasting about 50 minutes.

Highly original, sci-fi fantastical, expensive production details, but for the most part DEPRESSING.

Do most futurists promote dim prospects for the future?  If there is one recurring theme in these episodes it is that of mankind surrendering its self-determined responsibility.  Do we allow some domineering authority to think for us?  Has earth become uninhabitable?  Do we prefer dream life to reality?  Shall we program robots to take over?  Will aliens inhabit our bodies?

At least episode 8 has an impossible but happy ending.

Great sci-fi but somewhat dire prospects for humans.

2021, Abandoned child, Abuse of Women, Adultery, Bloody scenes, Child abduction and murder, Dark, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Grim, Horror, Masturbation, Mediocre, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Police Investigation, Psychopath, Sad small town, Sociopath, Spousal Abuse, Strange Ending, Suspense, Violent

Things Heard And Seen (2021)

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From IMDB:

An artist relocates to the Hudson Valley and begins to suspect that her marriage has a sinister darkness, one that rivals her new home’s history.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 1 minute horror film.

What! You waste your time on a horror film? Normally I would not except that since Grantchester I have not seen any sign of James Norton who played the priest sidekick to Robson Green’s detective. In this film James Norton plays George Claire alongside Amanda Seyfried who plays his wife Catherine Claire.  Somehow a horror film seems a step down for Norton.

Less a real grewsome horror film, the story is the gradual unpeeling of the layers of deceit which comprise George Claire. Granted there are a few ghosts haunting their house which is infamous for its tragic history.  And there is no harm in a hokey séance.   In a way the entire film is somewhat hokey.

At least give Norton some acting credit.  He can play a good man as in Grantchester. But he can portray really evil people as in this film as well as in Happy Valley with Sarah Lancashire.

In fact you would do well to watch Happy Valley instead of this horror of a film.

2020, Accidental Death, British, Brother-Sister relations, Complicated, Cooking, Creepy, Dark, Drama, Extramarital Affair, Flashbacks, Ghost story, Good Production Values, Horror, Lesbian Theme, Love Story, Mother-daughter relations, Netflix Streaming, Revenge, Strange Ending, Uncle-Nephew relations, Uncle-Niece relations, Unusual, Unusual ending

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

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From Netflix:

A bright-eyed American au pair hopes to make a difference caring for two orphans in a grand English manor. Yet the feeling of dread is undeniable.

From Netflix you can stream 9 episodes of this one season “horror” story. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes.

Probably it is fair to call this series a “horror” story.  But there are no cheap theatrical tricks or ugly monsters.  Almost unfortunately the acting and production details are so good that I was willing to watch the complicated plot to the end.  Little by little the underlying premise and explanation for the strange events are revealed.   But this show is easily one of the strangest I have ever seen and is clearly not for everyone’s tastes.  By way of warning you to avoid spending time here, do NOT expect a happy ending.

If, however, you are determined to watch a well-done “ghost” story, then hopefully you will enjoy it.

2018, Acceptable for teenagers, Action sequences, Alcoholism, Binge worthy, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Dark, DO NOT MISS, Ethical struggles, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Greed, Grim, High school students, MHz Choice, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Norwegian, Norwegian Crime Story, Norwegian Detective, Police Culture, Police Investigation, Police Politics, Possibly upsetting ending, Psychopath, School Teacher, Small Town, Sociopath, Suicide, Suspense, Troubled Personality, Violent

Kieler Street (2018)

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From MHz Choice:

Kieler Street is a fresh and uniquely characterful drama-thriller that deconstructs what it really means to be a “normal” person. Criminal or not, most of us are capable of doing extreme things in our pursuit of a peaceful existence – but just how far are we willing to go? In this acclaimed Norwegian drama, former criminal Jonas has started a new life in Slusvik, Scandinavia’s most peaceful little town. He has it all: a happy family, a great job and the quiet life he always wanted. But when Geir, Jonas’ AA sponsor, cracks his cover, the facade starts falling apart and Jonas realizes he’s not the only one in Slusvik with a secret. And they’re all prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the illusion they have created…

From MHz Choice you can stream the 10 episodes of this Norwegian crime drama. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Be prepared for a very disquieting story.  Should we root for Jonas who, although he supposedly is repentant and wants to reform and have a peaceful life,  is essentially a violent personality?  In addition he is easily led toward his worst impulses by a spectacularly evil psychopath William, who is also leading a second life in Slusvik. It seems that a mysterious company can be paid to give its criminal clients a second life in Slusvik. So you never know which inhabitants of the town are “second lifers.”

Driving the story towards its surprising climax is the question “Will any of these villains get caught?”  Moreover, “Will the wily and smart outside detective Marius learn the truth despite the jealous competition of the amateur and naive  local police officers?”

Would you send me your reaction to the final conclusion?

Enjoy the suspense. DO NOT MISS!

2015, Abduction, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, Cancer theme, Cannibalism, Cooking and food, Could Be Hard To Watch, Creepy, Dark, Detective, Eccentric cast of characters, FBI, Fist Fight, Forensic pathologist, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Gory, Grim, Grisly, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Panic Attacks, Psychiatrists, Psychological Thriller, Psychopath, Serial Killer, Suspense, Troubled Personality, Unusual, Violent, Wrongful Arrest

Hannibal (2015)

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From IMDB:

Explores the early relationship between renowned psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter, and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers.

From Netflix you can stream 3 seasons of this creepy TV series. Each season contains 13 episodes. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

If you are searching for an example of GRIM entertainment, if that is what you can call entertainment, then you have found the very definition of GRIM. We all know  Hannibal Lector as the infamous serial killer who eats the more interesting parts of his victims. What is eerie to watch is seeing Hannibal portrayed as a smooth, calm, stylish psychiatrist who is a fastidious gourmet cook taking great pains to prepare exquisite “organic” (get it? heh, heh) meals for his unsuspecting guests, including the very detectives searching for the serial killer.

Add to the mix  poor hapless Will Graham who regularly, after seeing the current butchered victim ( le corps du jour) ,  goes into a trance and visualizes some part of the murderous attack.  Will has been driven into a damaged mental state by the ambitious chief detective Jack Crawford. As a result Will spends the major part of Season 2 as a prisoner-patient at a Baltimore asylum for the criminally insane. Dr. Lector, a former sugeon, has his own psychiatrist Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier. Did you get that? Dr. DuMaurier treats Dr. Lector who treats Will Graham. Talk about convoluted!

There is an awful lot of psycho-babble that seems to occupy more than its fair share of the script. However, the sinister plot, including Lector’s clever methods for diverting suspicion from himself, is clever and suspenseful enough to warrant watching.

Some of the actors are well-known:

  • Hannibal Lector is played by Mads Mikkelsen who is now one of Denmark’s biggest movie actors.
  • Jack Crawford is played by Laurence Fishburne.
  • Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier is played by Gillian Anderson of The X Files fame. When she played in “The X Files” she was only 30 years old. In “Hannibal” she is a stunningly beautiful woman of 47 years.

Just one example of the many gory murders might convince you to avoid watching: Hannibal freezes a woman’s body and then uses a band saw to slice the body in 5 vertical cross sections, each section being then laminated in a plastic coating.

If by now you have not been dissuaded, then go ahead and watch the gore festival.

 

2018, Abduction, Action sequences, Bloody scenes, Boating, Complicated, Corruption, Dark, Finnish, Finnish Detectives, Grim, Kidnapping, Murder, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Police Corruption, Psychopath, Sea Rescue, Suspense, Violent

Deadwind (2018)

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From IMDB:

When Sofia Karppi, a detective in her 30’s who is trying to get over her husband’s death, discovers the body of a young woman on a construction site, she triggers a chain of events that threatens to destroy her life again. Deadwind is a highly thrilling series from Finland mixing crime investigation and personal drama.

From Netflix you can stream two seasons of this Finnish police detective story. Season one has 12 episodes. Season two has 8 episodes. Each episode lasts about 50 minutes. English subtitles.

Karppi is the woman detective and her sidekick is the male detective Nurmi.  Both are somewhat emotionally wounded. Of course, you wonder throughout the series if they will develop some emotional attachment.

Season one involves murders associated with a real estate investor and entrepreneur and his possible suspicious business dealings.

Season two involves murders this time associated with a large construction site and a somewhat suspect mayor.  Add to that mix a serial killer.

Somewhat mediocre and drags on a bit. But watchable.