Hoaggie and Jill, with Jill’s two teens from a previous marriage, are out in remote New Zealand having a picnic when they are accosted by two apparent drifters. Mandrake is armed with a rifle and Tubs is a brooding almost supernatural presence throughout the family’s ordeal. We quickly learn this isn’t a chance encounter with Hoaggie’s past being the reason for what devolves into a nightmare journey for the family. Mandrake means business as Hoaggie and Jill find out, and nothing or no one is going to deter him from his preordained course. Survival and staying somewhat near the edges of sanity becomes the goal, as things worsen and the body count mounts. What do Mandrake and Tubs really want and what is their ultimate end game, do they even know?

Every now and again the Kiwis decide to go full throttle on an adult horror and deliver tension that you can cut with a knife, themes galore, and unexpected brutality. Coming Home in the Dark fits the bill in a decidedly brutal fashion as sins of the past are explored, and the old hoary adage of “if you look into the Abyss long enough” come full throttle at the viewer. This isn’t the movie for the horror tourist, this is a horror flick going for the throat, and which is totally unapologetic in grinding down the audience. Don’t expect to walk out of a screening of this movie without being hit right between the eyes.

Director James Ashcroft takes time out to introduce his victims for the evening, as all good horror movies should do, hey that all important viewer sympathy should be front and centre. Typical Kiwi couple with their sons at the stage of becoming overly boisterous. We seem to be on a normal family outing, a long journey into the Kiwi hinterland with maybe the ultimate destination being where ever they end up. When our family make the location for their picnic of doom, one of the boys notices some dude in the distance who waves in a friendly enough fashion. Ashcroft ensures the viewer is aware of how isolated things have become, this is a long way from the hustle and bustle of the city, and of course the norms that might prevail in that environment. There is a particularly disturbing note to Kiwi movies that journey into the unexplored regions outside the suburban, it’s a palpable feeling that we really shouldn’t be there; Pakehas should definitely stay in the urban sprawl and even the native Maori might not be truly welcome in the wind swept empty places.

Just when the viewer might be wondering if we are in for some sort of Harold Pinter discussion of what might lie between the bread slices of the sandwiches, Ashcroft thrusts Mandrake and Tubs at us. Things quickly descend into chaos as the family are ordered about, and for sure we are aware that things could get a lot worse quickly as we learn Mandrake has this unhinged way of talking. He sort of throws educated English style language at the viewer with a hint of malevolence. This is quickly underlined with the first acts of violence in the movie, which come fast and completely unexpected. We are no longer in the realms of sanity and the situation is one wrong move from a complete bloodbath. To be honest Coming Home in the Dark might lose some viewers even at this early stage, the first couple of deaths come from left field and are totally unexpected.

We then get into what could be described as the car ride from hell, as Mandrake drives at high speed through the backwoods of New Zealand. During the early part of the ride we discover the meeting with Mandrake and Tubs wasn’t as random as first thought. Jill and the audience are forced to re-evaluate their takes on the situation as a secret from Hoaggie’s past is revealed, and it’s not going to be easy for anyone to forgive, let alone the psychotic Mandrake and the ever brooding Tubs.

Which brings in a major theme of the movie; is it acceptable to stand by and allow bad things to happen, are you equally at fault by doing nothing? Jill is at least forced to re-evaluate her opinion of the situation and voice what the audience are thinking; kudos to Miriama McDowell for nailing this requirement. While the revelation certainly doesn’t justify Mandrake’s murderous rampage, it does explain where the reasoning for it might have originated from. And before anyone glibly asserts Hoaggie’s secret is just a plot mechanism, New Zealand isn’t exactly lily white when it comes to how kids in institutional care were treated. I personally gave James Ashcroft a standing ovation for highlighting a very dark, and often overlooked, chapter in New Zealand’s history.

This I guess should make us wonder if the character of Mandrake isn’t completely mishandled by Ashcroft. With the revelation about Hoaggie’s past some degree of sympathy should be awarded to Mandrake, we’re talking a revenge mission here, which can be justified if the characters are manoeuvred correctly. However Mandrake is taking toll of the local population, including kids, so any thoughts of sympathy are not going to be raised toward him. With Mandrake we have that most unique of Kiwi villains, someone so evil that there is no justification for their actions. The past cannot be used to paper over the actions being committed in the present, which actually might be another theme, let’s give Ashcroft the benefit of the doubt here. By the by, Daniel Gillies delivers a stunning performance in the role of Mandrake, menacing, totally psychotic, and an ever present danger. We simply don’t know what Mandrake is capable of doing as Gillies gives what should be an award winning performance.

Before closing I wanted to also mention Erik Thomson (Hoaggie) and Matthias Luafutu (Tubs) deliver solid performances that help catapult Coming Home in the Dark to being one of the best ever movies made in New Zealand. It has certainly jumped into my top five Kiwi horror movies, and is rising rapidly in my top horror movies of all time.

James Ashcroft delivers a tension filled movie that doesn’t give the audience a single moment of respite as the viewer comes back home in the dark to where the origins of the conflict started. Really trying hard to avoid spoilers here, as I have been all review. Ashcroft’s movie matches the brooding nature of his New Zealand locations and explores themes that don’t reflect well on his characters. Full recommendation of this excellent movie to anyone who can sit through intense cinema experiences, rather than light weight teen orientated horror fluff. This movie really brought me home to the dark heart of horror, I’m really sweating on seeing what James Ashcroft can do with his next movie.