I remember reading wonderful review of "Dark August" written by Stephen Thrower in "Nightmare USA" and I wanted to see the film so badly.It finally happened.A young girl is accidentally killed by a car driven by a careless city artist.The girl's grandfather curses the young man.His life is turned into nightmare as he sees a mysterious figure in black."Dark August" is well-made and captivating black magic terror tale set in a small American town.It has its share of gruesome surprises and is surprisingly well-acted.The climax is memorable and horrifying.It's a crying shame that "Dark August" is so criminally obscure.But I live and breathe such obscure horror.8 out of 10.

Obscure horror flick about a Mikhail Saakashvili lookalike stalked by the grandfather of girl whom he accidentally killed. There's certainly nothing significant about "Dark August", unless we interpret it as a '70s time capsule.* What I mean by a similarity to Robert Altman's movies is that one scene has two groups of people simultaneously carrying on conversations. Of course, I might be the only person who interpreted that. Otherwise, I would never think to equate this movie with Altman's films.Anyway, this flick is just a way to pass time. Starring J.J. Barry, Carole Shelyne and Kim Hunter.*In the past month, four 1970s icons have left this life: David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Sal DeVito (J. J. Barry), finished with New York City's problems, and separated from his spouse, has moved to Stowe, Vermont where he maintains his occupation as illustrator, encouraged by a new romantic involvement with local painter and gallery owner Jackie (Carole Shelyne). Unfortunately, soon after his arrival in the Vermont town, Sal kills a young girl who runs in the path of his auto, arousing the animus of her grandfather with whom she lived, who then places a curse upon Sal, as seen when action opens, the camera focused upon the old man's mouth as he utters a lengthy malediction. After Sal and those close to him begin to suffer from a series of mysterious misfortunes, a friend of Jackie's suggests employing a local sorceress, Adrianna (Kim Hunter), to raise the spell, and a confrontation inevitably ensues between the Forces of Good and of Evil. This is the basis for a plot developed skillfully by director Martin Goldman who, alongside the two principal players, is responsible for a script that is cobbled as the film is being shot, resulting in a naturalistic feeling with no lapse of interest to a viewer. A high level of intensity characterizes the acting by the entire cast, with the laurels not unexpectedly going to the accomplished Hunter, who cunningly creates her role as a latter-day shamaness within a mundane setting. Cinematographer Richard E. Brooks offers a wide gamut of techniques, including frequent use of a hand held camera and effective slow tracking, while his creative use of angles and lighting produces a quality akin to cinema verité. Solely filmed on location and with little available funding, a good deal is achieved in an aesthetic sense, although shallow production values are evident in a work wherein the teeming avenues of tourist choked Stowe provide an ironic and surreal background for matters of witchcraft.

Dark Spoilers!!!In my search for that overlooked gem of a movie that no one knows about, I came across this movie which I had never heard of or seen in my entire moviegoing existence. DARK AUGUST is so obscure that it's not listed in Leonard Maltin's video guide or in either of Michael Weldon's two Psychotronic books. Seeing that few people have seen it and the film was made in the "anything goes" mid-70s, I had hopes that DARK AUGUST would be a good contender for my quest for that unique unknown horror flick. Well, DARK AUGUST is obscure for good reasons, because it's not very satisfying. There's no point in trashing DARK AUGUST because its heart IS in the right place and the whole production is well made. But the biggest problem with the movie is the ending. There's NO ending. It just ends abruptly after the cursed man shoots his dog, who was possessed by the evil demon. Huh?!?! I think that's what happened anyway. The whole script is very murky and it's not helped with a lot of kooky improbabilities, like the old man walking in the house where the seance is taking place and he shoots the medium. Don't houses in Vermont have locks on their doors? Or you'd think the group would protect themselves a bit better after the cursed man's girlfriend stole that thing from the old man's house and the old man would be obviously angry. Details like this hamper DARK AUGUST and in the end, nothing works at any level.The locations are beautiful and the music is good and moody. Some of the actors are okay but the script or lack of storytelling abilities from the writer and the director obscure all intentions of the production to the point that the end result seems pretty much pointless. It's a curio though and I recommend it only to those who like watching very obscure films.