Parents' Guide to Coming Home in the Dark

This incredible horror-thriller from New Zealand has unrelenting suspense and a provocative message. Coming Home in the Dark dispenses with the slow build of other horror-thrillers, and once the first shocking moment of violence happens, the gruesome action takes increasingly darker turns and doesn't let up until the credits. All the while, the movie never loses sight of its reflections on the idea expressed in the quote attributed to Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." This message comes through, brutally, time and time again, even as it exists in the gray areas of justice being meted out by a pair of psychotic drifters.

While the story is incredible on its own, the acting is what makes this a truly unforgettable movie. Mandrake, the savagely eloquent bad guy drifter played by Daniel Gillies, comes across as a less cartoonish chip off the old psychotic cellblock populated by the murderous gang members of the first two Mad Max movies. And with its recurring shots of the white lines of desolate highways scrolling through the course of a traumatic night, it's hard not to be reminded of the second half of Mad Max, as Max drives all night in the "Last of the V8 Interceptors" in search of vigilante justice. But the comparisons stop there, as Coming Home in the Dark isn't so much about justice or the lack thereof from a society that is falling apart, but rather from injustice as a result of individual cowardice, indifference, or apathy. This is a message that should linger long after viewing.