By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I’ve been a Charlize Theron fan for years. She doesn’t go for easy and really delves into the characters she portrays. I had never heard of Dark Places nor had I read the novel. I was actually surprised that it went straight-to-streaming. Not only was Theron involved but the book was written by Gillian Flynn who also wrote Gone Girl.
The film was definitely worthy of a theatrical release. The story was interesting and actually quite a bit smarter than Gone Girl. The movie begins with Libby (Charlize Theron) who is approached by Lyle (Nicholas Hoult), a member of an investigative club. They research murders when there is a lack of evidence or where someone who was found guilty is believed to be innocent.
Libby’s older brother Ben (Corey Stoll) was arrested as a teenager (Tye Sheridan) and put away greatly due to Libby’s testimony. Her mother and sisters were murdered. The police in their infinite wisdom believed it to be the rituals of devil worshipers because Ben was into heavy metal.
Prior to the murders, Ben was also accused of molesting three younger girls which he denied. His pregnant girlfriend Diondra (Chloe Grace Moretz) believes him and stands by him though her mental instability is questionable.
Now, the flashbacks occur in the 80s and sadly Satanic Panic was a real thing. Most people know about the West Memphis Three and what those men had to endure in the early 90s because of this idiocy. Not to mention, the real murderer of the young boys in Memphis has never been brought to justice.
The 80s were a crazy and mostly fun time. Headbangers Ball was wild, horror films reigned as king and gorgeous men wore make-up and had sexy teased hair. I fucking love men in make-up! My mother should have known something was different about me when I had a 6 and had a crush on Cesar Romero as the Joker in old episodes of Batman. Green hair, face-paint and a purple suit? That’s my kind of guy!
Well, not everyone was as receptive to the pentagrams, black leather, and upside crosses as I was. Again, maybe my mother should have known something was off with me when the church was worried because Cain was my favorite character in the Bible. I’d make excuses for him constantly. I hated Abel. I thought Abel was a kiss-ass. Cain had character. He worked his ass off and if God wanted something for free, he should be happy with what Cain gave him and not so damn pompous. Good for Cain for sticking it to the man! In my mom’s defense. She did know something was wrong with me. She just didn’t know how to fix it and I wasn’t much help because I never wanted to be fixed. My poor older sister got me a children’s bible and she would try to get me to pick out any story other than Cain and Abel and I would have none of it. She would tell me how bad of a guy Cain was because he kills his brother. I would just hear none of it.
So my mom and my sister were on the opposite side of the spectrum. They were conservative although even at four, I could get my mom to go a little wild by bringing up the 60s and The Beatles. The glimmer would be there though she’d hate to admit it and I that’s why I latched on to that period too. Personally, underneath everything I think my mom is more like me than she is my sister but just too afraid to show it.
Well, sadly there are people even more conservative than my sis. In the 80s and 90s these people went completely off the rocker. My favorite memory is a Christian television special that talked about how all metal was th work of the devil. The best part was at the very end the host says, “Faith No More, Band of the Year: May God have Mercy on Us All.” He was so over-the-top with it. It’s sort of like the way Kirk Cameron is on Planned Parenthood right now. Not even he can believe what he’s saying but if he plays a few videos and can convert a few souls, he’s happy with himself.
Well, poor Ben is dragged into this nightmare and kudos to the movie for showing clips of Anton Szandor LaVey. I wish I had pictures of the first time my mom saw me with the Satanic Bible and the Satanic Rituals. She threw them away so many times and I had to rebuy them. Poor mom, she was just ensuring Mr. LaVey got richer. Say what you will about LaVey. Some call him a poor man’s Friedrich Nietzsche, but who cares? Even if the philosophy he shared was not his own, if he helped people think critically, good for him. I’d say as a young adult, he definitely helped me view Satan and Satanism in an entire different way than what I was hearing from the religious right who expected me to believe that the devil took hold of electric guitars to send messages through me.
Now, people can believe whatever they want. When I’m in an airplane, I become a praying atheist, but me trying to cut a deal with an invisible man in the sky is harmless whereas blaming teenagers who have long hair for crimes they didn’t commit has a very large impact.
There are cool twists and turns. It’s certainly a movie one should pay attention to while watching or it’s easy to get lost. There’s a lot of characters that seem to have little to do with the plot but are instrumental in the end.
The film was a clever one and it did a great job recreating the hysteria of the time. I may be 36 years old (damn that sucks) but I still have a teenage rebel girl in me. In fact, she just saw AC/DC this past Saturday and they were unbelievable! I had my devil horns blinking with the rest of the fans. Good music never dies.
On a side note, I was thrilled that Ben had a poster of Mercyful Fate up. King Diamond is a great singer and Mercyful Fate is a phenomenal band who really were held back from the mainstream despite their legion of fans because of how in-your-face they were. It may be three decades later, but I’m happy to see they at least made an appearance on the wall.
It’s definitely worth the $7.00 to rent it. It was cool watching it with my older brother because he too was a rebel child and as children we actually became friends greatly due to Heavy Metal. So, if you are a person of my generation, sit back with some pals who still appreciate the darkness of the 80s and remember how fucking crazy the religious right was about this stuff!
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
