Dark Places:Rating: shaky I got mixed feelings about this movie, though it is very intense. I liked the whole idea of the killer club (a group of people interested in crimes doing their own investigation), but felt as though they should've been involved more in the film.A major problem which absolutely didn't stick well with me in this film is when Lyle (member of killer club) who really isn't involved in the film, contacted Libby about information, it came out of nowhere. When, where and how, there is nothing to show the viewers how he got it.

Lets make clear that I am not aware of the book that this film was based on, so I am not gonna review the movie all about the book. I am not even sure if it is important if the movie was based on the book exactly the same in every detail. From my point of view, this movie has no flaw. Everything was sticking together very good. The plot was terrific, always on edge, characters and story very well put together, and if I could characterize this film with one word, this would be SUSPENSE. I stopped the movie some times to calm down, I was blown away from the rising tension and in the climax scenes always on the edge of my seat. This film blends together so many elements about the history of this era in Kansas city and in America in general, when development of satanic rituals among teenagers had shocked the news and society. Also, when criminal rates are high enough to let their footprint and create a bloodstained and "dark place" in the citizen's hearts. The unsolved mystery murders of this movie is a riddle that unfolds throughout the whole movie, with exquisite use of flashbacks, sound effects and irresolute but determining character development. For me this movie is undoubtedly 10/10. It is powerful, enigmatic and stunning in a way that will make you think of it some time. After all, this movie is important for one main reason. Its twist will never let you guess what happens, only when you finish the movie, you can finally find redemption through Libby's eyes when she visits for a last time her family home and gets free forever. This is a happy end, without fake drama. It is life itself and even if it had spoken lies in the end rises the truth.

From 2015, "Dark Places" stars Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, and Corey Stoll in an adaptation of a novel by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).Theron is Libby Day, one of two living survivors of the mass murder of her family in 1985 in Kansas. Where else - it's where the murders in In Cold Blood took place. The other survivor is her brother Ben (Stoll), a teen at the time, who has been in prison for the last 25 years for the murders, due to what she told the police.Libby is a cold, closed-off human being, understandably, given what she went through as a child; she cashed in on the murders and never worked. As a child people sent her money, and she also wrote a book -- well, her name was on it and she was paid, but she states that she never even read it. Now that she's an adult, she has $412 left and has never had a job. So when she's approached by a crime club called the Kill Club, which discusses and works on famous murder cases, she takes their money to make an appearance.Though she insists her brother is guilty, Libby takes more money to actually investigate for the club's president (Hoult). It has to be done right away because storage problems in the state building mean that cases more than ten years old will be destroyed in a few weeks.Flashbacks recreate the circumstances surrounding the murders, showing her mother (Hendricks) trying to hold onto their farm despite poverty, her alcoholic husband who shows up for money, Ben being accused of child molestation and of practicing Satanism, and Ben's relationship with Diondra (Chloe Grace Moretz), who seems to be the town bad girl.Slowly Libby is able to put the pieces together and learns the stunning truth.I don't understand the vilification of this movie - what has it ever done to anyone? A 26% fresh on rottentomatoes.com. Was it Hate Charlize Day or what? This is a terrific, suspenseful film that will keep you guessing right to the end.Theron gives a frosty performance, right on for this isolated, unfriendly woman who has cut herself off from the world and people. She wears a baseball cap throughout most of the film; we don't really get to see her true beauty unless it's off. There is a book called "Flesh and Fantasy" which has a chapter on How to Win an Oscar. One way is for a beautiful movie star to make herself look bad, as Theron did in Monster. She prefers to make films that are not about her gorgeous looks, and this was one.Christina Hendricks does a great job as Libby's downtrodden mother - she looks and acts defeated - a far cry from being one of the glamorous stars of "Mad Men."For fans of this genre, and I gather for people who haven't read the book, I think this is a very well done film that deserves to be seen as a rental or on Amazon streaming.

I had just finished reading the book and found that the movie was on Stan. I know it is hard to fit a lot of a book into the movie, but they could at least have got some of the basic facts right. The very beginning the amount she has left in the bank is wrong, the number of years since the trial is wrong and even the name of the debt collector is wrong.She says her aunt is dead but in the book she is still alive. There is not enough of the back story of Ben, Diondra and Trey to explain what happened. So many inconsistencies it ruined the movie for me. Maybe with a better cast they could have sold the story better.