By George & Josh Bate
There’s that moment in every great exorcism/possession movie where the danger becomes palpable and an expert is brought in. Whether it be Max von Sydow’s Father Merrin in The Exorcist (1973), Elise Rainier in the Insidious franchise or Tangina Barrons in Poltergeist, authorities in the supernatural step in at the perfect time to help an individual or family in desperate need of salvation. This formula has been rinsed and repeated numerous times over the decades to the point where the trope nears over-saturation. But writer/director Dave Boyle and producers Kento Kaku and Kosuke Tsutsumi breathe new life into the established structure of exorcism/possession movies with an inventive and unnerving horror movie that reinvents itself over the course of its runtime.
Making its world premiere at SXSW 2026, Never After Dark stars Shōgun breakout Moeka Hoshi as Airi, a medium who travels throughout Japan to guide spirits to their final resting place. Her latest job takes her and her partner, the spirit of her sister Miku (Kurumi Inagaki), to an isolated country house occupied by a woman (Tae Kimura) disturbed by the presence of a frightening figure in her home. What begins as a typical job for Airi slowly turns into something far more dangerous as she investigates the house’s past and learns that the living, rather than the supernatural, may be her greatest threat.
For much of its first half, Never After Dark has all the trappings of a routine, yet expertly crafted exorcism horror movie. The film takes place almost exclusively at a single location, a former hotel converted into a sprawling private residence in the Japanese countryside. Much like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, the location is a character unto itself, with atmospheric halls and rooms serving as the backing for a dark, rich history for our protagonist to unravel. Boyle creates a decidedly atmospheric film with this setting as his backdrop and unsettles the viewer even in the absence of overt scares.
The haunting, contained feel of Never After Dark becomes all the more atmospheric as a result of the fictional lore surrounding the supernatural in the film. Moeka Hoshi’s lead character Ari does not adhere to the tropes of a Western-style psychic, nor is she aligned with a Japanese onmyoji. Rather, her rituals and the grammar surrounding the supernatural are entirely created for the purpose of the film. Boyle makes impressive use of practical lighting to convey what it looks and feels like when Ari “crosses the veil” in the spirit world, which she enters by using a spinning mirror device also achieved through practical effects.
All of this imbues Boyle’s film with a sense of disconcertment. Even when Airi is not exploring the otherworldly, teal-hued equivalent of the home, there’s a creeping sense that our protagonist is woefully underestimating the threat before her. Like some of the best horror movies, Never After Dark creeps under your skin in the absence of anything abundantly scary, of which there is plenty.
The spirit that Airi has been hired to exorcise is shrouded in darkness and shadows, but not overly so as to conceal the horror of his appearance. The practical effects and sound design to bring the spirit to life are exquisite, grisly, and subtle, resulting in a villainous presence that disturbs regardless of whether he is on-screen and increasingly terrifies as the layers of his backstory are revealed. Veteran Japanese character actor Mutsuo Yoshioka stands out among the cast in delivering one of the more versatile and disquieting horror movie performances in recent years.
Collectively, Boyle’s assured filmmaking and the impressive usage of practical effects make the first half of Never After Dark an exceptionally well made supernatural horror film that fails to chart novel territory for the genre. That all changes, however, as the film slowly reinvents itself with a number of clever twists and turns in its second half. What begins as a solid exorcism flick evolves into a film far more intriguing and novel, transcending the supernatural subgenre into another, unexpected subgenre of horror. Intelligently, Boyle exercises restraint with this pivot in genre, for the most part, in preventing his film from becoming too mind-bending or complicated. Viewers with a disdain for small-scale, slow-burn horror films may find their patience tested in the first half, but those willing to wait and soak in the palpable atmosphere and intrigue will be handsomely rewarded as Boyle slowly transforms Never After Dark into an entirely different film, employing the same flavor of mid-film reinventions that Zach Cregger’s movies have featured.
VERDICT: 8/10
Never After Dark finds writer/director Dave Boyle deliver an exquisitely crafted and atmospheric, yet largely routine supernatural horror movie that slowly evolves into something far more intriguing and novel. Unfolding with deliberate pacing and featuring impressive usage of practical lighting effects, Boyle’s movie has all the trappings of a quintessential exorcism movie, from the expert spiritualist to the creepy home and more. But it’s in its second that Never After Dark transcends the tired and oversaturated supernatural subgenre of horror by reinventing itself and unexpectedly embracing another subgenre of horror. The clever twists and turns that unfold intrigue and surprise in equal measure and, for the most part, don’t render the film too mind-bending or confusing. By the end, viewers’ patience with a more small-scale, slow-burn horror movie will be immensely rewarded as Never After Dark solidifies itself as one of the more original, genre-blending horror films in recent years.