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=Darkest Night (2012 Film)=

Darkest Night is a 2012 independent film in the horror genre, directed by Filipino Noel Tan and written and produced by American Russ Williams. It stars DJ Perry, Anne Gauthier, Issa Litton and Nic Campos. Its story is set in the Philippine mountains of Luzon. A large family gathers for a happy reunion and marriage announcement on Christmas Day at an isolated mansion, only to encounter a series of bizarre, demonic and tragic events.

The film started shooting on May 2, 2011 and had its U.S. premiere at the Filipino Arts and Cinema (FACINE) International Film Festival (see "External Links" below) in San Francisco on October 20, 2012. Darkest Night received a limited U.S. theatrical release on July 1, 2013 and full video release on July 16. Largely good reviews greeted the film from critics, its festival audience and general audiences alike.

Plot
The story in Darkest Night unfolds as a found-footage "documentary" by a Filipino television journalist, Danny Valencia (Jonas Gruet). In what are purportedly his words, Danny writes that he created the film from videotape found at the site of a 2003 unsolved crime in a remote mountain area near Sagada. This place holds the ruins of a destroyed mansion once owned by the Espino family. During the film's opening, Danny confirms the discovery on site by interviewing the workman who found the videotape, Andy Cuevas (Shierdan Pamintuan). Animated workmen find something else and interrupt Danny, and the first scene ends. Then a brief dramatization scene reveals the aftermath of a fire 15 years ago, which kills the parents of three sisters, young Susan (Alexandra Marie Tan), Michelle (Issa Litton) and the youngest, Chelsea Reyes (Giann Paulo Martizano). The tragedy leaves the youngsters orphans dependent their eldest sister, Michelle.

On December 25, 2010, Michelle Espino and her husband, David (Allan Dale Alojipan), host their upscale family's Christmas Day reunion at their mansion in Sagada. Susan (Anne Gauthier) and American Ken Tyler (DJ Perry) are engaged after dating for months in Manila. They travel to the Espinos' home with Chelsea (Jill Palencia), who lives with Susan. When they arrive, David greets them with his young children, Jason and Annie (Clark Gamul and Czarina Llane Kwong). Also present are the parents of David, the eldest sibling, who are Alan (Raymond Osmeña) and Reina (Zeny Sevilla). Carol Santos (Elle Velasco), David's younger sister is there with her husband, Garry (James Lomahan), and their teenage son, Ricky (Kevin Vitug). Also at the reunion are Jeffrey (Justin Hoong-Fai Chan), another Espino brother, with his two young teenage autistic sons, little Michael (Chris Joshua Tan) and Justin (Christian Tan), who do not talk. The youngest Espino sibling, Steven (Nic Campos) with his pregnant wife, Agira (Marife Necesito), an Indian, also greet the new arrivals. Susan announces the engagement and introduces Ken. The autistic Justin, a video camera savant, takes over videotaping from then on.

Susan and Michelle have a not-so-pleasant reunion of their own. Susan realizes her sister is angry over the lack of communication from her for most of the year, during her romance with Ken. Agira pulls Susan aside and says Michelle has been “bitchy” since she converted to a mysterious new religion. However, Christmas dinner is soon ready, and everyone sits around the table to enjoy the meal.

Earthquake and Darkness
Directly after dinner, a mild earthquake jolts everyone, and the power goes out, plunging all into darkness. Gathering in the living room, the family discusses their plight and later discovers that none of their cars will start. All batteries and electricity are apparently useless except for Justin's video camera. A dense fog surrounds the mansion and the entire area. David goes out, walking to a neighbor's house to seek information. Shortly afterward, Ricky mysteriously disappears, so Garry and Alan leave to get help. Then the family discovers bizarre, ritualistic displays near the house. In addition, the television switches on by itself, without power, showing a strange pagan ritual congregation with singing. Everyone becomes more worried. Family members try to guard each other, and the men watch outside.

Then family members and Ken discover Michael dead in a shallow grave near the house. An angry Jeffrey quarrels with the others, grabs a gun and rushes into the fog to find the murderer. Meanwhile, Agira and Chelsea sit in an upstairs bedroom, unaware of the commotion outside. Hearing a noise, they see Michael disappear into a closet. Chelsea takes the two Espino children into it to get Michael, and they all vanish. However, Agira sees Michael in a store room, dressed in a white robe. She goes to him, but he disappears into her belly, and immediately she is in labor. Agira gives birth to a monstrous fetus that kills her. Later on, Reina collapses, and Susan rushes into a closet to get a blanket. While searching, she finds an old book bearing the French title “The Way of Baphomet" and the motto "Ensemble Toujours" (Together Always). She returns with the blanket and tries to comfort the sick Reina, who then sees a fleeting vision of Michael and soon dies.

Susan, Ken and Michelle discover Chelsea and Carol in bed, both fused together physically. Carol is already dead, and Chelsea dies in Susan's arms. Beside herself with grief, Susan passes out. Later she awakens in the living room in Ken's arms, with Michelle nearby. Ken tells Susan she's been asleep for several hours. He realizes the time is 9 am, and it is still dark outside. Soon, they discover Ricky with his arms and legs amputated. After he dies, Susan sees the French words "Ensemble Toujours" written on the wall above them. Michelle rushes downstairs to the living room with Ken and Susan chasing after her. With Steven, they find a prowler behind the house. Michelle shoots him, only to find David's grotesquely deformed body. Ken leads Susan and Justin away, and Michelle takes the rifle, killing herself.

The Way of Baphomet
Susan meets Ken and Steven in the kitchen, showing them "The Way of Baphomet" book that she found earlier. She demands an explanation from Steven, who tells them Michelle was into black magic, and the old book was her "Bible." She had told Steven she discovered this pagan religion and magic book in the house's foundation, on which an old temple had been built. Michelle spirtually channeled the temple's cult leaders, Corrinne and André Devereaux, who told her to learn magic spells from the book. Many years ago, this cult from France worshiped the demon god Baphomet and practiced black magic here. They all mysteriously disappeared on Christmas Day 1914. At first Steven had scoffed at Michelle's story, but with a dramatic magic demonstration, Michelle convinced him her powers were real.

Steven confesses he and Michelle also had an affair. She later told him she had found an easy way to ascend into “heaven” together along with her family and was able to do this magically. Michelle “marked” all of them by mixing a magic snake potion with the Christmas dinner, beginning the "Rites of Ascension" for all present. However, the bizarre events of the night were the actual "Rites," including human sacrifice, transmutation of flesh and torture. When Michelle realized she had been deceived she killed herself in despair. Solemnly, Susan reads that in the last of these rites, a bride and groom must wed before the cult members. Afterward the bride shall castrate her groom.

Another disturbance occurs, and a mutated Jeffrey appears on the table as a snake-looking monster twisted into a circle like an ouroboros. Ken grabs a machete, hacking it to death. After they all recover and dispose of the remains, Susan reads from the book, telling all they are doomed to enter the dark “heaven" of the Devereauxs. They can only avoid this fate by having a séance with one of the night's dead "sacrifices." They decide to summon Michael.

Spirit Possession and Final Farewells
Susan leads the séance, calling on Michael, and they all recite a request for release from the spell. Instead, Susan leaps to her feet possessed by the spirit of Michelle and then threatens Steven. Soon Michael appears in the robe again and goes to Steven, who kneels and accepts his embrace. Both disappear. An upset Ken and Susan search for him, but he is gone like the others. Realizing they have all “ascended,” Susan turns to Ken saying, “We're next.”

Ken and Susan sit in the living room, and Ken cries to Susan that he wants to stay and protect her, but he can't bear the thought of being without her. She comforts him, and the two decide to make love. Susan escorts Justin out of the room. However, the boy returns to film the couple on the sofa. Ken yells unexpectedly, and Susan rushes out. Later Susan returns to find Ken dead on the sofa. She places her engagement ring on his finger with a ring she gave him and kisses him. Then he vanishes like the others. Afterward she sits on the sofa and beckons Justin to her. Susan realizes the camera has power because the Devereauxs want a record of these events, to use to convert others later on.

The television flickers on again. They see the pagan cult robed in white, gathering outdoors around the altar. Before all Ken and Michelle wed and then make love. André and Corrine Devereaux (Stefano Rota and Trixie Dauz) oversee the gathering. Michelle proceeds to castrate Ken who screams loudly and dies. She lets his blood fill a chalice, and everyone present drinks from it.

Susan is still in the living room, watching the television, and realizes this scene is what was really happening in the spirit world while she and Ken were making love. Michael appears and beckons Susan to embrace. She stands and goes to him, leaving Justin. The set shows a picture of the entire family, robed and near the altar, without Susan and Justin. The scene changes, and now Susan and Justin stand with the rest of the family.

In the final scene the journalist, Danny, is still among the ruins with the work crew. Everyone gathers by a box they had found and slowly lifts out an old book. Its title reads in French “The Way of Baphomet." On top of the book are the two rings together, Susan's and Ken's.

Cast
DJ Perry is an American actor. Justin Hoong-Fai Chan is Chinese Malaysian. All the other actors are Filipino.
 * DJ Perry as Ken Tyler
 * Anne Gauthier as Susan Reyes
 * Issa Litton as Michelle Espino
 * Nic Campos as Steven Espino
 * Jill Palencia as Chelsea Reyes
 * Justin Hoong-Fai Chan as Jeffrey Espino
 * Zeny Sevilla as Reina Espino
 * Kevin Vitug as Ricky Santos
 * Elle Velasco as Carol Santos
 * Marife Necesito as Agira Espino
 * Jonas Gruet as Danny Valencia
 * Allan Dale Alojipan as David Espino
 * Raymond Osmeña as Alan Espino
 * James Lomahan as Garry Santos
 * Czarina Llane Kwong as Annie Espino


 * Clark Gamul as Jason Espino
 * Shierdan Pamintuan as Andy Cuevas
 * Alexandra Marie Tan as Young Susan
 * Crisanto Garrido as the Paramedic
 * Christian Tan as Justin Espino
 * Chris Joshua Tan as Michael Espino
 * Giann Paula Martizano as Young Chelsea
 * Stefano Rota as Andre Devereaux
 * Trixie Dauz as Corrine Devereaux

Background and Development
The screenwriter and producer of Darkest Night, Russ Williams (originally from Tennessee) had lived in Los Angeles, California, for more than 20 years before moving to Southeast Asia in 2010. His first film, set and shot in the United States in 2002, was titled The Last Year. Williams wrote and also produced this film (his co-producer title was uncredited, according to him). A long-time fan of horror films, Williams wanted his next production to be in that genre. Also a lover of Asian horror, he came up with the idea of combining traditional American horror film tropes and concepts with the classic Asian ghost story as represented in Japanese horror movies like Ring (Ringu 1998), Pulse(Kairo 2001) and The Grudge (Ju-on 2002).

Based on Malaysian 'Urban Legend'
After moving to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in May 2010, Williams sought to produce a film there based on an older horror screenplay he had previously written, titled Out of Time. This script was about an isolated family that fell prey to black magic induced by a family member. After coming across a Malaysian urban legend type ghost story, he decided to combine the subject matter of the script with this story. The legend concerns a Chinese family that mysteriously disappeared in the Malaysian Cameron Highlands on February 1, 2003, during the night of a Chinese New Year celebration.

Williams investigated this story and interviewed, either by himself or through assistants, more persons in Malaysia to gather as much information as he could about this seemingly government-suppressed ghost story. As Williams learned more about this legend, he discovered many similarities between the plot of Out of Time and the reported stories of the "disappeared" family. In personal interviews, Williams does not assert that Darkest Night is based on a true story. However, he has said he believes the Malaysian story is a valid account. Also he makes no claims about the authenticity of local tales of ghosts that supposedly inhabit the actual ruins and locale where the Malaysian family disappeared. When asked, Williams refuses to give the name of the family in this urban legend, citing privacy concerns for family members still living in parts of the country.

As a part of his interests in the occult and Gothic, Williams had long been studying the Medieval-originated Baphomet and related occult mythologies. He did extensive research into the various historic Baphomet and similar cults to provide additional background for the story of Darkest Night. The religious, magical and ritualistic elements of the plot were taken from various beliefs of these cults, especially the Celtic and Druid elements, as well as the occult-influenced black magic writings of Aleister Crowley. According to Williams, historical Baphomet-related ideas and images are a vital part of the film's story and visuals.

Move to Philippines
The film-making climate of Malaysia proved unsuitable to filming there because of arbitrary government film censorship, so Williams decided to film Darkest Night on locations in the Philippines. This action, of course, required some location-related rewriting of the script. The Chinese characters in the story became Filipino, and the Chinese New Year became Christmas. The characters and general family dynamic in the story remained the same, and the author only made changes necessary to accommodate a different culture, race and nationality. As a result, the final version of the Darkest Night screenplay came about.

Production, Premieres and Release
Darkest Night is the first film from Gothic Pictures International (credited in the film as Gothic Productions International, its previous name; see "External Links" below), an independent film company now based in Los Angeles. Originally founded in Southeast Asia on November 2010, the company says officially that its purpose is bringing film-makers together from across the globe to create quality Gothic, horror and similar "dark" films. A small group of American and Filipino film-makers met in Manila during late 2010 for the purpose of founding this company and producing Darkest Night. Russ Williams and Noel Tan, the film's director who is a native of the Philippines, were the co-founders of the company and went on to supervise the making of the film. Darkest Night was produced in cooperation with the Michigan company, Collective Development, Inc. (see "External Links" below).

Production and Reported Apparitions
Tan and Williams worked together closely on this production from January to May 2011. Pre-production began in January, and they were able to put together a cast and crew to shoot the film by late April 2011. Shooting for the film began on May 2 and lasted 10 days, mostly in and around a rural mansion in Floridablanca, Pampanga in Luzon, where the entire production group lived together during that time.

There were many reports of supernatural events happening in the house during the shooting of Darkest Night, including local stories that the house was actually haunted. For example, while working on the film the film's star, DJ Perry, showed others deep scratches on his back, saying they were from an unseen entity. These scratches were documented by photographs purported to be real. Other cast and crew members claimed that they saw ghostly presences while the house was darkened and quiet during the ten-day film shoot.

Post-Production
Post-production for Darkest Night lasted about one year, from June 2011 to June 2012 and took place in Manila. Work on this phase of production was delayed and severely hampered by strange events during this entire time. For example, all of the film's later dialog dubbing (ADR recordings) mysteriously disappeared at one point and were never found. Also, much of the visual effects (VFX) footage and original sound effects recording, as well as footage of several chroma-screen shoots, all simply vanished. These types of disappearances plagued the film's post-production almost continually.

Currently, only the rough cut sequence choices from the Darkest Night original takes plus a few brief visual effects sequences and outtakes remain accounted for. All other additional footage from the film, audio and video, is lost. No one has been able to account for these strange losses associated with the film.

The final budget for Darkest Night was reportedly estimated at $125,000 USD. At this time, there are no figures for the film's gross receipts.

Film Premieres
On November 16, 2011, there was a private premiere of Darkest Night in Manila for cast and crew plus their friends and relatives. Again mysterious losses plagued the film, and the director was forced to show an inferior rough cut of the film because no finished video could be found. The release dates for the film were seriously delayed while another post-production phase during 2012 was required before the producers had a fully finished version of the film.

Finally, Darkest Night had its U.S. premiere at the FACINE International Film Festival in San Francisco on October 20, 2012. Interestingly, the festival's director, Dr. Mauro Tumbocon, reported that the original DVD for the film, which he had first received, would not work. Instead he had to preview the film for the festival from an "emergency copy" at the very last minute, before the film could be "officially" scheduled.

Initial Release
At the FACINE Film Festival, Williams announced that Maxim Media International (Scottsboro, Arizona; see "External Links" below) would release Darkest Night in the United States during mid 2013. This company specializes in releasing quality horror films. Later on, a definite North American release schedule was confirmed for July of that year. The film did achieve North American theatrical and video release during that time.

Response
The response at the 2012 FACINE Film Festival was extremely positive with critical praise from Dr. Tumbocon, who said Darkest Night is "an awesome experience." Additionally, other festival attendees praised Darkest Night as "extremely entertaining" and "a hell of a good film." Asian critics were generally favorable; for example, Jason Wong said that Darkest Night is "an excellent, provocative 'found video' horror film." Wong also brought up that he was glad this story was getting notice in the United States because he believed that the Malaysian government had been "officially" suppressing it. Another member of the Asian audience said the film is "extremely scary and disturbing." American film critic, Mark Bullock, of the online magazine Hacked in the Head, stated, "I really enjoyed ... Darkest Night. It had plenty of genuinely creepy moments to keep you interested and a thoroughly interesting plot which keeps you guessing." There was only one really negative review published, from the American critic, Martin Leggett, at "Best-Horror-Movies.com," who did not like the film's handling of its found-footage aspects. He said, "I believe reference is made to the fact that Justin doesn’t talk much and they weren’t kidding! Justin witnesses people vanishing before his eyes, he quietly watches characters get killed and there’s never a peep out of him to any other character he sees. Is Justin possessed?" However, Andrea Kendall, of Portland, Oregon, said, "I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I especially appreciated the acting, use of music and that a lot of the elements where [sic.] off screen and thus left to the imagination." Darkest Night has received on overall mixed critical reception from the Internet Movie Database. It currently holds a 5.7 rating (57%), including reviews by users and professional critics. Rotten Tomatoes has not yet rated the film.