While searching for the parents she’s never known, New York transplant Grace (Scout Taylor-Compton) returns to her childhood southern stomping grounds with her boyfriend (Nolan Gerard Funk) to investigate a promising lead on her family’s whereabouts. Upon arrival, the couple’s weekend takes a bizarre, terrifying turn as a nightmarish cult and their maniacal leader terrorize the pair en route to fulfilling a twisted ancient apocalyptic prophecy.
For in-depth thoughts on The Long Night, please see my colleague Andre Couture’s review from its original theatrical release here.
Video Quality
The Long Night comes to Blu-Ray with a strong AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is not a film that is bursting with colors, but everything appears very natural from the greens of the foliage to the pops of color in the production design. The color palette mostly remains natural, but some scenes favor a blue push that serves the film well. Where the transfer really shines is the impressive level of detail in even the subtlest aspects. Everything from the smallest facial details to the texture of dried blood is precisely detailed here. The picture is mostly clear with only brief instances of murkiness during a few darker scenes. The film does deliver some softer shots for creative reasons on occasion, but nothing too distracting. Black levels could stand to be a bit deeper, but at least skin tones are natural throughout. The film sports some luscious cinematography, and that is showcased pretty well here. Overall, this is a fine looking transfer.
Audio Quality
The film comes to Blu-Ray with a commendable DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. The movie provides a pretty intense workout with environmental sounds that yield a very immersive atmosphere for the story. The low end of the track is especially active during moments of violence with a bit of wall shaking happening. The dialogue and sound effects are appropriately balanced with the score where nothing gets lost in the track. Surround channels get some nice activity during the nature scenes and during hallucinations and any lead up to a terrifying reveal. This track is quite powerful, and will be appreciated by horror fans who pick up this disc.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Director Rich Ragsdale, co-writer Rob Sheppe and editor Jay Gartland provide an illuminating commentary track in which they discuss the perils of coming to the project very late in the game, the “rescue mission” to salvage the script, the attempts to soften the character of Jack, shooting in a fixed location, the production design of the house, the special effects and more. It is refreshing to hear something so candid from creatives.
- The Loop: An eight-minute short film from Ragsdale which features a young boy getting a little too involved in a horror film. This is quite fun and worth checking out.
- Behind The Scenes
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- The Birthing: A six-minute featurette which shows the cast and crew filming the memorable birth scene including applying makeup, putting the baby in the fake belly and more.
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- The Look: A six-minute featurette in which cinematographer Pierluigi Malavasi and director Rich Ragsdale discuss the “textured” and “moody” look of the film, the shooting locations and more.
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- The Score: A seven-minute featurette in which composer Sherri Chung discusses her work with Ragsdale, the weirdness of writing music for another musician, the influences she brought to the project, how she achieved certain sounds and more.
- Trailer: The two-minute trailer establishes the unique atmosphere of the film without giving away too much of the plot.
Final Thoughts
The Long Night has a very good command of atmosphere, but the story elements do not always add up to something unique. The practical effects and costume designs really send a shiver up your spine, yet you find yourself wanting a bit more from the narrative. The performances are inconsistent but serviceable with the great Jeff Fahey blowing in like a whirlwind of energy to grab your attention all the time he is on screen. Well Go USA Entertainment has delivered a typically solid A/V presentation and a decent assortment of special features for those who do decide to check out the film. If you have an interest in sinister cults, this should prove to be at least an enjoyable watch.
The Long Night will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5, 2022.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Well Go USA Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
