Dark Was the Night - One of the most grounded horror films I've ever seen

We've all seen horror films where we end up shouting at the screen when the characters (and soon to be victims!) do daft films which end up in them getting sliced and diced horribly.  Then we've also seen the more modern (if 'Scream' from back in 1997 can be considered 'modern' any more) horror films which do their best to be more 'meta' and point out the flaws and cliches in the genre, then do their best to subvert them.

However, 'Dark Was the Night' will never be mentioned in either type of those films.  It's a horror film - and not a high budget one.  It's about two police officers in small town America who wake up one morning to find mysterious animal (?) tracks which stretch all the way through the town.  Naturally, the population are worried as this is like no animal they've ever encountered before.  And, while the police try to pass it off as 'pranks' in the hope they're actually right, local animals are the first to fall victim to whatever is on the prowl.

The plot certainly isn't original.  And nor is the setting.  All the way through I kept likening it to an early episode of 'The X-Files.' And, as I've already said, it hasn't got much of a budget.  You don't really see much of the creature and there isn't as much gore as you may think.  Yet don't think that just because you don't see everything that goes on doesn't mean that this isn't a pretty creepy little number.  The film-makers do the best with what they have and crank up the tension right the way until the final act where they confront what has been hunting the town all this time.

The best thing I found was that the characters actually do logical things and don't just run off screaming in all directions at the first sign of danger.  It's nice to see those on screen actually make logical decisions which make sense, considering the very out of the ordinary situation they found themselves in.

It's a slow burn and with little action, well-known actions, gore or effects to speak of, I'm guessing many may find this dull.  I actually really enjoyed it and it held my attention right to the end.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that