No stranger to creating tension-filled worlds, Bryan Bertino uses the loneliness of loss to fashion a tale that does not pull its punches when it comes to the horror some places hold. To be with their dying father, Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family’s remote farm. Resentment and unease simmer beneath the surface as the siblings settle down to wait for the inevitable, but a warning from their mother goes unheeded and soon the terrible secrets of the house reveal themselves. Sorrow gives way to dread as nightmarish apparitions begin to suggest that the worst is yet to come. Volatile and utterly terrifying, THE DARK AND THE WICKED presents a different view of grief; an all-encompassing, violent force that destroys anything that gets in its way. – Evrim Ersoy