Dark Placesis a 2015 American mystery film written and directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, based on Gillian Flynn’s 2009 novel of the same name and stars Charlize Theron, Christina Hendricks, Nicholas Hoult, and Chloë Grace Moretz.

• Libby Day was only eight years old when her family was brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. Almost thirty years later, she reluctantly agrees to revisit the crime and uncovers the wrenching truths that led up to that tragic night.
• Libby Day survived the massacre of her family in their farmhouse in the Kansas countryside when she was eight, and has been existing on donations and lectures ever since. 30 years ago, the police believed that a satanic cult was responsible for the murder of her mother and two sisters, and her brother Ben was convicted with her testimony in court. However, when acquaintance Lyle Wirth invites Libby to visit “The Kill Club”, where amateurs investigate famous crimes, she finds that they believe Ben is innocent. Libby needs money, so she accepts to revisit the slaughter of her family, and she faces up to the painful revelations and the ultimate truth.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• As the sole survivor of the Kinnakee massacre back in 1985 which cost her entire family, Libby Day convinced that her brother Ben dabbles with the occult, names him as the deranged killer, sending him, consequently, in prison. Eventually, almost thirty years after the ghastly incident, Libby embittered and nearly broke, she will inevitably accept the offer of Lyle Wirth, a “True Crime Club” member, to share her side of the story at their annual meeting. However, Libby by digging deep into her traumatic past, she will begin to doubt her brother’s guilt, furthermore, not only will she realise that the real murderer may still be on the loose but also that even though there can be more than one sides to a story, the truth has only one.—Nick Riganas
• Libby Day (Theron) was only eight years old when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. In court, she pointed the finger at her brother Ben (Sheridan), and her testimony put the troubled 16-year-old in prison for life. Twenty-five years later, Libby appears at a gathering of true-crime aficionados, led by Lyle Wirth (Hoult), and is shocked to learn most of them believe Ben is innocent and the real killer is still at large.
• In 1985 in Kinnakee, Kansas, Libby Day is the sole survivor of the massacre of her mother and two sisters. Responding to the police’s leading questions, she tells them that her brother Ben (Sheridan) committed the crime. In the present day, Libby (Theron) has made a living from donations sent by strangers to the little girl they saw on the news. With donations drying up, she is hard up for cash when she is approached by Lyle Wirth (Hoult) to make a personal appearance at his “True Crime” club. She agrees to go and answer questions about her past for $700.Back in 1985, Ben comes to the breakfast table with his hair dyed black. He has a tense relationship with his mother Patty (Hendricks) and his eldest sister Michelle, who taunts Ben about being a loner and rumors about him at school. Ben hangs out with a Satanist bookie named Trey Teepano. Meanwhile, their mother Patty is told that her farm is being foreclosed on, despite her best efforts to stay afloat.At Wirth’s club, Libby learns that most of the members believe her brother Ben is innocent. His conviction was based on Libby’s testimony. Still believing that Ben is guilty, Libby nevertheless agrees to work with the club in return for much needed money. Urged by Wirth to visit Ben in prison, Libby’s curiosity about what motivated him to kill their family prods her to keep researching the case.Prior to the murders, Ben was planning to run away with his pregnant girlfriend Diondra (Moretz). Meanwhile, several young girls have accused Ben of molesting them. When Patty is informed of the charges, she visits the home of the chief accuser Krissi Cates, whose father is irate and looking to harm Ben. Patty is distraught by the accusations and feels that she has failed her kids. Back home, their father Runner (Bridgers) is waiting for Patty. He needs money to skip town because he owes Trey more than he can repay. He is violent and abusive towards Patty. He attempts to rip her heirloom ruby necklace off her neck but, unable to do so, he abuses her and steals money from her wallet.In the present, Libby tracks down Runner to an abandoned factory where he lives with other homeless addicts. He tells her about Diondra’s pregnancy. Libby also locates Krissi Cates (Matteo), who eventually confesses that she made up the molestation accusations against Ben.Meanwhile in 1985, Patty is informed by a friend with the Farmers Home Administration that he might have a solution to her problems. She meets with a stranger in the middle of the night who says that he can help her. It later turns out that he is Calvin Diehl, a serial killer known as the Angel of Debt, who murders people so that they can collect on their life insurance policies. Patty goes home and hides some money for Diehl.At the same time, Diondra finds out about the accusations against Ben and convinces him to flee with her immediately. They go to Ben’s house to steal some money. Michelle overhears them talking and threatens to tell on them. Diondra viciously attacks Michelle and starts to choke her. Diehl has also entered the house. In the hallway, he stabs Patty. When her middle daughter rushes out of the bedroom to get help for Michelle, Diehl grabs the family shotgun and kills the young girl. The shot distracts Ben from his effort to protect Michelle. While he goes to see what has happened, Diondra kills Michelle.In the present, Libby finds Diondra and the daughter she had with Ben. She finds her mother’s ruby necklace in Diondra’s bathroom and realizes she is in danger. Diondra’s daughter attacks her, but she manages to escape the house. She finds out about Diehl’s involvement from Wirth, whose club has been working on the Angel of Debt case. Libby visits Ben again in prison, and they apologize to each other. She realizes he was trying to protect his unborn daughter by taking the rap for the murder of his mother and his sisters. A news report confirms that Diondra has been arrested. Libby returns to look at the family farm where she grew up. Ben is exonerated and released from prison while Libby states that she doesn’t intend to press charges against Diondra’s daughter who has yet to be found as she understands her actions.

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Gillian Flynn’s script for David Fincher’s incredible adaptation of “Gone Girl” was a master class in genre, taking an admittedly ridiculous, twisting and turning narrative and making its plot holes forgivable through sheer force of entertainment value. It makes sense that another of Flynn’s novels, the sinister “Dark Places,” would get the cinematic treatment as well, although this failed exercise could be used comparatively with “Gone Girl” as a What Not to Do cinematic lesson. Whereas Fincher and Flynn brought style and flair to the saga of Amazing Amy, writer/director Gilles Paquet-Brenner presents a drab, dull, uninspired affair, enlivened only slightly by the talented cast assembled. Failing to find a visual language for the piece that reaches beyond a Lifetime TV Movie and adapting the material in such a way that makes her protagonist largely inactive in her own story, Paquet-Brenner only makes the already-underrated “Gone Girl” look even more accomplished.

Dark Placeshas a strong cast and bestselling source material, but none of it adds up to more than a mediocre thriller that gets tripped up on its own twists.

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Gilles Paquet-BrennerDirectorCharlize TheronLibby DayNicholas HoultLyleChloë Grace MoretzDiondraTye SheridanYoung Ben DaySterling JerinsYoung Libby

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