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Teenagers Zach and Josh have been best friends their whole lives, but when a gruesome accident leads to a cover-up, the secret drives a wedge between them and propels them down a rabbit hole of escalating paranoia and violence.
Super Dark Times is an unsettling, technically accomplished entry into the recent boom of genre pictures examining losses of innocence through their own unique lenses.
Phillips has crafted one helluva directorial debut with Super Dark Times, an experience laced with palpable tension akin to a boiling kettle that's ready to blow at any given moment, and I highly recommend that genre fans seek this one out.
Though the final sequence of events is oddly paced and difficult to follow, [Kevin] Phillips succeeds by using the language and logic of teenagers to tell this story.
Unfortunately the story is such an indie-cinema chestnut that its familiarity tends to overshadow Phillips's careful cultural notation, and the movie drifts further into mystery convention as it goes along.
What makes "Super Dark Times" one of the most exciting American filmmaking debuts in recent years is how well Phillips and company grasp both the intensity and ephemerality of adolescence.
Super Dark Times perfectly nails the minute details of adolescence-a minefield of confusion about right and wrong that leads to all kinds of impulsive bad decisions.
There are shades of not only Stephen King in Super Dark Times, but also Spielberg, River's Edge and Donnie Darko. Phillips filters his material through a disarming aesthetic.
[Kevin] Phillips kind of stumbles when he tries for a pat wrap-up of a still-horrific problem. But when he digs into the muck of the rot at the heart of it, he comes up with some unforgettable moments.