Church of Darkness (2022)

Church of Darkness (2022). 1h 26m

“A foster teen (Wesley Restrepo) travels to a small town in central Florida to live with his new foster dad, the Sheriff of the town (Mike Roy). As he starts a relationship with the girl at the local record/book store (Madison Grace), he investigates a secretive lodge that meets at a defunct church building.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Church of Darknessu0026quot; (2022) is a micro-budget Indie that has the same plot set-up as u0026quot;Twilightu0026quot; (2008), but exchanges the vampirism u0026amp; lycanthropy for a hellish cult akin to u0026quot;The Devilu0026#39;s Rainu0026quot; (1975) and u0026quot;Bay Covenu0026quot; (1987). The first 15 minutes are quite impressive for a no-budget flick, but then glaring flaws start to surface, such as puzzling storytelling, wooden acting and the campiness of the lodge rituals.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt needed a rewrite to flush out the potential and work out the kinks, but that costs money.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNevertheless, thereu0026#39;s enough to appreciate if you donu0026#39;t mind spare change Indies. For instance, the colors are nice u0026amp; vibrant, harkening back to Hammer Films. Other pluses are the likable protagonists, the noble theme, an entertaining sense of humor, the maverick approach and a good heavy rock/metal soundtrack, highlighted by u0026quot;The Badge is a Threatu0026quot; by Sixty Foot Giant during the end credits.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in the area of Melbourne/Palm City/Malabar u0026amp; Merritt Island, Florida, which are just south of Cape Canaveral.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGRADE: C- 4.5/10.”