Writer/director Teresa Sutherland delivers a moody, atmospheric hallucination that follows Park Ranger Lennon (Georgina Campbell) as she takes on her new backcountry assignment, and attempts to reconcile an event that has haunted her since childhood.

Positing that there are too many missing people in national parks, Sutherland’s story wonders if there is perhaps something more going on there, and while she doesn’t provide any answers beyond hallucinogenic suggestion, it is the basis for a scary concept. It makes nature, once again, a frightening place to be.

Shot on location in Portugal, standing in for the States, there are some beautiful drone shots that convey the immenseness and sheer size of these parks. Combined with solid camera shots, which lends the entire film an ominous feel, Lovely, Dark and Deep, which owes its title to Robert Frost, is an unnerving little character piece that works if you pay attention to it.

It’s all mood.

Sure there are some disturbing moments, which I’m not going to give away, but Sutherland makes great use of her frame and image.

Lennon’s assignment finds her out in the backcountry with no modern amenities, and soon after her arrival strange things begin to happen, strange voices on her walkie-talkie, a missing person, a strange deer, all of them blend with the loss of her sister when they were children.

Will Lennon find the answers she’s looking for? Is it possible that the rangers are aware of what is taking place in their park? What is going on? Who are they and where do they come from?

Sutherland balances her location with Campbell’s performance, the park and Lennon are equal characters in this narrative, and as the story progresses the viewer is left to wonder what we really know about the remote places in our world. What if there is something, someone, out there…

I quite enjoyed this one. It’s not an all-out fright or gore fest, it’s a spooky little character piece that if you let it, will really get under your skin. I was never a big fan of camping in the wilderness in the first place, and films like this just remind me that I still don’t want to be out there.

Lovely, Dark and Deep is preceded by the intriguing and ghostly re-telling of a familiar urban legend, Bye-Bye.

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