Coming Home in the Dark
A family trip through the New Zealand wilderness turns into a nightmare when they're suddenly confronted by a pair of drifters in this Sundance thriller starring Daniel Gillies (The Originals) and Miriama McDowell (Waru).
Winding down a desolate road through an endless valley, Alan and Jill stop their car to take their teenage boys on a hike through the New Zealand wilderness. As they rest for a picnic at a clearing overlooking the water, two ominous-looking drifters appear out of nowhere, silently surrounding the peaceful clan and radiating a threat of imminent danger. With a swift act of violence, these men take the family by force, a seemingly random decision that sets them all on a maddening collision course with the ghosts of their pasts—from which there is no escape.
Less2021Rating: R16, Violence, cruelty, offensive language & content that may disturb93 minsNew Zealand
Thriller
- Director:
- James Ashcroft (feature debut)
- Writer:
- James AshcroftEli Kent
- Cast:
- Daniel GilliesErik ThomsonMiriama McDowellMatthias LuafutuBilly ParateneFrankie Paratene
Coming Home in the Dark | Reviews
Great performances and a tight grasp of tone make for a white-knuckle thriller about a family in peril, one in which the back roads of remote Aotearoa have never been as terrifying onscreen.
92%64 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
RogerEbert.com
A genre exercise with some impressive bursts of filmmaking and performance that bode well for whatever Ashcroft does next.
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Bloody Disgusting
At a certain point, the built-up momentum declines at a steady rate, never entirely living up to that exhilarating, brutal first act.
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Film Threat
The movie doesn’t break any new ground - and doesn’t really try to - but will grab hold of you in moments that range from tense and thrilling to downright shocking.
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Paste
(Coming Home in the Dark) can’t help but sputter in the third act, the engine blown from the unsurpassable terror it invokes early on.
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Film School Rejects
A tensely thrilling ride pairing cruel behaviors with an inviting landscape... not for the faint of heart.
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Variety
Its torture-porn trappings give way to a moral weight as unanticipated by the characters as it is by the audience.
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Hollywood Reporter
A rivetingly nasty ride and an assured debut from a promising new director.
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Coming Home in the Dark | Trailers
Coming Home in the Dark | Release Details
Coming Home in the Dark is available to stream in New Zealand now on Netflix and Google Play and Apple TV and NZ Film On Demand and Academy On Demand.