How ‘Never After Dark’ Dodges Horror Clichés: Shoot Well-Lit Scenes, Challenge Conventional Storytelling and ‘Pull the Rug Out From Under People’
As the title implies, “Never After Dark” is a horror film that isn’t stuck in the shadows.
“There’s something very tactile and direct, and a lot of it takes place during the day or at least fairly bright interiors,” writer and director Dave Boyle says. “We talked a lot about evoking darkness instead of just living in the darkness. Sometimes modern movies can be so extremely dark that there’s something that feels less satisfying about that. I’m not as interested in realistic-looking light as I am in light that’s evocative and dramatic.”
The film, which opens in theaters on Friday via Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing, is about a medium named Airi (Moeka Hoshi) who is tasked with exorcising a house with more darkness than she’s ever experienced. Any more details ruin surprises, which are integral for Boyle’s engagement in the project.
“The genesis came from my love of ghost stories and haunted house tales, but a nagging feeling that they often end the same way, or one of three or four ways,” he says. “I wanted to come up with something that felt like a comforting retreat of the genre at first, but could end in a different way than they usually do. I was also interested, in a visual, nonexpository way, in coming up with a new belief system that they could show on screen, the tools and processes and beliefs that underpin it, all being something that was new and things that you wouldn’t necessarily explain out loud.”
Ultimately, Boyle wanted the answers he delivered to hit hard.
“When do you pull the rug out from under people? We’ve all seen a medium arriving at a house that’s haunted and getting the walk-through and sitting down to work,” he says. “But I felt the specifics of the character and her process were going to be interesting enough to carry you through the more familiar parts of the story, until the turn comes at a point where you’ve been lowered into the warm bath for long enough that a splash of cold water in the face is going to hit all the harder. It’s like feeling your way through it. I like the feeling of being a little lost. It was fun to calibrate that every step of the way.”
One element that also gives the film a unique energy is the American-born Boyle filming it in Japan with local talent speaking Japanese. Boyle’s reverence for the culture came when, on a Mormon mission at 19, he moved to Sydney, Australia and was assigned to learn the language.
“I met a lot of Japanese actors and artists who I wanted to continue to foster a collaboration with,” he says. “My first project actually made in Japan was the [2024] Netflix show ‘House of Ninjas.’ And that took me there for a very, very long time.”
While working on the series, Boyle met Kento Kaku, who became a producer on “Dark” as well as one of the actors.
“Even though I speak Japanese and I’ve worked with Japanese producers, actors, etc., for a long, long time, ‘House of Ninjas’ was the first time that the writer’s room was all in Japanese,” Boyle says. “I was the only English speaker involved in any capacity. So I tried to have a certain amount of humility about things and proactively ask for everybody’s opinion and make sure that what I was doing felt natural and right. This project was a continuation of that. Kento Kaku is my primary creative partner on both the Netflix show and this. We get in the script together and talk through every line and make sure that what I’m trying to say is getting through and feels authentic in every respect. So there are a lot of long sessions of Kento and me going through it together with a red pen and making sure it felt right.”
Ultimately, Boyle believes his work in “Dark” comes from a lineage of filmmakers not working in their native tongue.
“How many of the great auteurs of Hollywood were working in their second language? There’s so many examples — people do it every day,” he says. “I don’t necessarily feel that what I’m doing is all that unusual. The experience, though, has definitely given me a greater appreciation for people who made the great American classics and were doing it in their second language.”
Watch the trailer for “Never After Dark” below.
“There’s something very tactile and direct, and a lot of it takes place during the day or at least fairly bright interiors,” writer and director Dave Boyle says. “We talked a lot about evoking darkness instead of just living in the darkness. Sometimes modern movies can be so extremely dark that there’s something that feels less satisfying about that. I’m not as interested in realistic-looking light as I am in light that’s evocative and dramatic.”
The film, which opens in theaters on Friday via Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing, is about a medium named Airi (Moeka Hoshi) who is tasked with exorcising a house with more darkness than she’s ever experienced. Any more details ruin surprises, which are integral for Boyle’s engagement in the project.
“The genesis came from my love of ghost stories and haunted house tales, but a nagging feeling that they often end the same way, or one of three or four ways,” he says. “I wanted to come up with something that felt like a comforting retreat of the genre at first, but could end in a different way than they usually do. I was also interested, in a visual, nonexpository way, in coming up with a new belief system that they could show on screen, the tools and processes and beliefs that underpin it, all being something that was new and things that you wouldn’t necessarily explain out loud.”
Ultimately, Boyle wanted the answers he delivered to hit hard.
“When do you pull the rug out from under people? We’ve all seen a medium arriving at a house that’s haunted and getting the walk-through and sitting down to work,” he says. “But I felt the specifics of the character and her process were going to be interesting enough to carry you through the more familiar parts of the story, until the turn comes at a point where you’ve been lowered into the warm bath for long enough that a splash of cold water in the face is going to hit all the harder. It’s like feeling your way through it. I like the feeling of being a little lost. It was fun to calibrate that every step of the way.”
One element that also gives the film a unique energy is the American-born Boyle filming it in Japan with local talent speaking Japanese. Boyle’s reverence for the culture came when, on a Mormon mission at 19, he moved to Sydney, Australia and was assigned to learn the language.
“I met a lot of Japanese actors and artists who I wanted to continue to foster a collaboration with,” he says. “My first project actually made in Japan was the [2024] Netflix show ‘House of Ninjas.’ And that took me there for a very, very long time.”
While working on the series, Boyle met Kento Kaku, who became a producer on “Dark” as well as one of the actors.
“Even though I speak Japanese and I’ve worked with Japanese producers, actors, etc., for a long, long time, ‘House of Ninjas’ was the first time that the writer’s room was all in Japanese,” Boyle says. “I was the only English speaker involved in any capacity. So I tried to have a certain amount of humility about things and proactively ask for everybody’s opinion and make sure that what I was doing felt natural and right. This project was a continuation of that. Kento Kaku is my primary creative partner on both the Netflix show and this. We get in the script together and talk through every line and make sure that what I’m trying to say is getting through and feels authentic in every respect. So there are a lot of long sessions of Kento and me going through it together with a red pen and making sure it felt right.”
Ultimately, Boyle believes his work in “Dark” comes from a lineage of filmmakers not working in their native tongue.
“How many of the great auteurs of Hollywood were working in their second language? There’s so many examples — people do it every day,” he says. “I don’t necessarily feel that what I’m doing is all that unusual. The experience, though, has definitely given me a greater appreciation for people who made the great American classics and were doing it in their second language.”
Watch the trailer for “Never After Dark” below.