Two estranged brothers find themselves stalked by an terrifying unknown presence while on a weekend hunting trip in remote British Columbia.

Growing up, Clint (Dan Payne) and his younger brother Adam (Robin Dunne) never got along. The more bookish Adam chose to stay indoors while Clint took after their rugged, deer hunting father. This lead to more fights than it did quality time and, as a result, the two grew apart. Clint stayed behind in their hometown growing up to become a logger in a remote town in British Columbia, while Adam move out as soon as he could afford to.

Years later a mysterious force draws Adam back to his hometown to reconnect with his estranged brother and to come to a certain peace with the recurring nightmares he is having. Upon his arrival, Clint welcomes him with open arms and arranges a rugged, camping and deer hunting trip as a way to bond. Adam arrives, sees old friends, and pretty much rolls his eyes at the quaint berg he hailed from. Clint bristles at his brother’s pretension and the requisite snide comments ensue. This is the weakest section of the film by far, but more on that in a bit.

After more than enough set up, the boys finally head out in hopes of finding their brotherhood during a man vs. nature camping excursion. They had no idea how much they would be fighting, and not with each other. At first Adam’s nightmare premonitions recall his boyhood. soon enough they become far more sinister. Clint on the other hand is ready to hunt and teach his brother the proper way to track a deer. Rifles are drawn and, while hunting their first prey, the two seem to have spotted a creature that might have been a deer, or perhaps something far more horrific.

In a surprise turn for the better, act two of this movie kicks in and is actually a lot of fun. The clunky expository relationships and flashbacks have been dispensed with and we now have a watchable survival tale of two very different brothers against a very vicious common enemy. As indicated by the poster, this creature skulks around the forest, antlers atop his skull, resembling the fauna of the woods in silhouette. We catch glimpses out of focus of the humanoid albino creature but are teased with it’s details. We don’t know what this thing is, but all that we know is, it’s not happy that two bickering man children are in its territory and it plans to do something about it. This gives is suspense in the second half of the film is not just watchable but entertaining with some particularly fun moments of nail-biting suspense.

Regrettably, the screenplay by Carey Dickson wants to play with a little more than a simple survival tale. I’m not talking adding a layer of meaning through the strained relationship between the two brothers, but layering more elements on than necessary to make audiences question what they are seeing and what the score actually is. If you flip flop enough, things eventually lose their weight and effect. Even the stinger of the climate is a head-scratcher. This really could have been something amazing. 

It’s not all bad though, far from it. Philip Lanyon‘s lovely composition of shots recalls a Roger Deakins eye, finding geometry in simplicity. The Canadian country side is the perfect place for a survivalist horror film to be shot and Lanyon works some lovely magic.  To discuss anything further would be to rob you of any remaining interest the film has, and there is a fair amount. This is not a bad film, but there are certain missteps and choices that just don’t quite gel and come off as genuine.

So, not a bad film, not a great one either. It is watchable, never boring, but leaves you just a little unsatisfied. Devil in the Dark is available on VOD nationwide in the U.S. from Momentum Pictures on Tuesday, March 7th.