Scream Factory delves DEEP IN THE DARKNESS for their latest Chiller Network pick-up.

Desiring a change from the bustle of New York, Dr. Michael Cayle (Sean Patrick Thomas, THE BURROWERS) buys a country practice and moves his wife Christine (Kristen Bush, LIBERAL ARTS) and daughter Jessica (Athena Grant) to Ashborough, New Hampshire. The seemingly idyllic town has some idiosyncrasies like no cable, an 8 P.M. curfew, the influence on all town affairs of the mysterious midwife Lady Zellis (Blanche Baker, RAW DEAL), and the legend of rabid wild men deep in the woods known as "the isolates." His neighbor Phil (Dean Stockwell, WILD AT HEART) – whose wife (Marty Gargle) has been seriously mauled by rabid dogs – informs him that the locals make animal sacrifices at a ritual altar to keep the isolates at bay, and that Michael is expected to do so as well. When Michael fails to observe the town traditions, he is shunned by his patients with the exception of town seductress Lauren (Cara Loften) – who is really begging for his protection – and Phil's nephew Tyler (Anthony Del Negro, DARK HAUL) who warns him not to trust anyone, including his wife who seems to have adapted quickly to the town's traditions (including seeing midwife Zellis when she discovers that she is pregnant). When Lauren does turn up horribly mutilated, Michael starts to suspect that the town really does live in fear of (or is in unholy league with) something in the woods.

Scream Factory's Chiller pick-ups are more often miss than hit, and DEEP IN THE DARKNESS starts out well enough with the black male half of an interracial couple quickly alienated from a new town's all-white, non-ethnic population (including his own wife) for apparent reasons other than race. There's a Lovecraftian vibe – particularly with the presence of THE DUNWICH HORROR's Stockwell – with elements of "The Lurking Fear" but the monsters fail to scare and the meandering story does not effectively communicate the intimidation of the Stepford-esque community or the danger faced by its members if they dare to talk despite a number of victims. Lady Zellis is severely underemphasized throughout the first act and does not make much of an impression in the remainder. While the twist is unexpected, it does make everything that came before it seem ridiculously contrived. Perhaps the source novel – and its follow-up "Return to Darkness" – by Michael Laimo (whose DEAD SOULS was also a Chiller adaptation released by Scream Factory) lost something in translation.