I didn’t know anything about The Long Night before I saw the trailer for it during the intermission of The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs the Friday before it was released on Shudder. I was immediately intrigued by what I saw in the trailer even though it took me a bit to finally get to see it. I really wanted to like The Long Night but there were just some parts of the movie that really drug the movie down to me.
It was written by Rich Ragsdale and written by Robert Sheppe and Mark Young. I had never seen anything that any of the three had made before, so I don’t know how this movie fits in with their other work. Most of my issues with The Long Night have to do with pacing of the story. It being broken up into chapters tends to drain any tension that had been built up, which is not what you want in a horror movie. Some of the pacing problems could also be on the director but I can’t know for sure.
Both Scout Taylor-Compton and Nolan Gerard Funk put in impressive performances. I started the movie being annoyed at Funk’s character but slowly warmed to him over the course of the plot. Scout Taylor-Compton puts in a performance that makes you feel for her character, even when she makes terrible decisions. The other actors that you actually get to see the face of are Jeff Fahey and Deborah Kara Unger. They don’t get to do all that much on screen but they do make the most of their time.
The costume department knocked it out of the park in The Long Night. While the regular costumes are good the marriage between the costume and the practical effects for the cultists. I’m guessing the cultist’s headgear is practical effects rather than actual animal bone just because I feel like it would be easier that way. The digital effects in the movie are pretty good, especially when I noticed them. There could have been more than what I noticed which is why I made that distinction. The music by Sherri Chung is good. The score adds an otherworldly effect to the movie in certain scenes.
The Long Night is a flawed movie that struggles with pacing but has some outstanding performances. This might be my least favorite Shudder original that I’ve watched in a while. I can see more people liking it than what I did. I give The Long Night 6.5 chalices of blood out of 10.