“Night Watch”
Movie #14 of the 2019 31-days of horror challenge.
Follow this link for more information.
Centuries ago, there was a great battle between supernatural beings of Light and Dark, The Others. As thier forces were evenly matched, a truce was made, and the Night Watch and the Day Watch were formed. Anton is a member of the Night Watch, the Light, who, in his duty fighting the forces of the Dark, ends up confronting his own past mistakes.
The first of the Russian dark horror-fantasy movies from director, Timur Bekmambetov, based on Sergei Lukyanenko’s book series introduces the audience to The Others. Supernatural beings of either the dark or the light, fighting for control of the human world. There are shapeshifters, witches, vampires, alternate dimensions through which The Others can walk, people fighting thier own broken hearts, and so much more.
This is a dark, dingy, gritty, gorgeous, and wonderfully well-developed, and beautifully filmed world. Although the movie doesn’t follow the source material exactly (we all know that is how things go) the story is still a fairly solid tale of the war between good and evil, and that sometimes the those lines blur.
The cast is fantastic. Konstantin Khabenskiy’s performance as Anton was very affecting. And did I mention the cinematography? Gorgeous. The effects were creative and hold up well 15 years later.