After Dark review

By Simon Thompson

Director Iain Forbes and writer Andreas Lubker’s After Dark is a hauntingly gripping short film which keeps you on the edge of your seat during the entirety of its spartan ten minute length. After Dark provides a masterclass in navigating the tricky balance between playing with audience expectations and avoiding the Rian Johnson pitfalls of narrative inconsistency. 

Taking place across a single night, After Dark follows Kristian (Simen Bostad) who, after a brief conversation with a friend, is walking back to his house. Along the way he is stopped by Mia (Billie Barker) who is in serious distress and wants Kristian to accompany her to the train station. Kristian at first agrees, but as the two begin to talk more and more he starts to seriously doubt Mia’s story. 

Shot entirely at night, After Dark is a moodily atmospheric short which creates a sense of urban loneliness and distrust, largely thanks to Øyvind Svanes Lunde’s noirish cinematography which contrasts the dark and snow of the movie’s Norwegian setting with the lights of various surrounding lampposts and shop windows. Tonally, After Dark is the answer to what would happen if Stieg Larrson rewrote Scorsese’s After Hours, with Lubker’s script having a similar but far less comedic structure. 

Simen Bostad and Billie Barker create a strong screen dynamic, and play off one another nicely. As Bostad’s character starts to become more and more suspicious it builds to an excellent and realistic public argument scene that doesn’t feel contrived at all. 

It’s a credit to Lubker’s script that he doesn’t go for an obvious set piece at the end of the short, instead deciding to go for an ambiguous ending which is still disturbing because it leaves you wanting to know what will happen next and you have a gut feeling that it won’t be pleasant at all. 

Overall, After Dark is an expertly written, directed, and acted short film which is absolutely worth watching. If you are into Scandinavian crime or horror movies in any way, shape, or form then After Dark is a fantastic distillation of the best qualities of movies and TV shows such as Let The Right One In or The Killing and worthy of the multiple awards it has won across various festivals.