The Harsh Light of Day brings us a tale of revenge as our main character Daniel Shergold (Dan Richardson) looks to strike out at those who murdered his wife and left him a cripple. He reluctantly enlists the help of a mysterious man named Infurnari (Giles Alderson) who starts Daniel on a supernatural course of change that will enable him to reap his vengeance. Sadly, there’s a price to be paid for everything and Dan will soon find that out the hard way.
Confucius says “before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”. Wise words and it would seem that the main character here never studied any philosophy. Driven purely by hatred of the 3 man gang who broke into his home, killed his wife and left him in a wheelchair, our man Dan will stop at nothing to get his revenge. Who can blame him?
The Harsh Light of Day is an emotionally powerful movie, i couldn’t help but a feel strong degree of empathy towards the main character and his situation. A lot of the emotionalism is built up through strong acting, clever scripting and rock solid direction.
The cast of British actors are simply superb, i never noticed one single bad performance from any of the actors. Worthy of particular mention is the main actor Dan Richardson along with Giles Alderson who puts in a menacing yet enigmatic performance as the mysterious Infurnari. I also thought Paul Jaques twisted performance as Tom one of the 3 killers was superb. Great stuff all round!
I wouldn’t say The Harsh Light of Day is a massively gory flick, though it does have it’s moments, Daniel’s transformation being one of them.
The movies’s production standard is squarely in b-movie territory, there’s very little in terms of CGI (and thankfully so). It’s also worth mentioning that this is a British movie through and through and it’s always great to see us Brit’s churning out some quality horror!
On a slightly negative note however, the movie’s ending reminded me a little too much of another A-list horror flick of recent years, i’m not gonna tell you which one, though if you’ve seen it you’ll know instantly what i’m talking about. It’s not a bad ending by any means, just not as original as i would’ve liked.
The Harsh Light of Day is a deeply chilling masterpiece of horror cinema, it shows that great horror is still possible even if you don’t have a colossal budget or Hollywood backing. Awesome stuff that’s thoroughly recommended – without reserve!
Movie Details
Director: Oliver S. Milburn
Writer: Oliver S. Milburn
Actors: Sophie Linfield, Niki Felstead, Wesley McCarthy, Lockhart Ogilvie
Release Year: 2012