Film Review – Hold the Dark

With his last efforts, “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” director Jeremy Saulnier has managed to become one of the more compelling helmers working today. He’s interested in violence, the ugly, gruesome kind so many movies avoid depicting, and he’s committed to character, always pushing for deeper psychological inspections with his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Macon Blair. He’s made masterful, low-budget pictures, and now he’s moving into more permissive areas of production, with his latest, “Hold the Dark,” a more epic undertaking that submits a manhunt scenario, but show more interest in primal behaviors and dark awakenings. Previous creative successes highlighted Saulnier’s skill with monetary and dramatic boundaries. “Hold the Dark” doesn’t offer the same discipline, and the farther it reaches into the unknown, the less essential the film becomes.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com