This one's good to watch on a dark afternoon, with the phone turned off and no place to go for hours. In the same way you'd mentally prepare to see a matinée double-feature of THE DEER HUNTER with APOCALYPSE NOW, prepare to be disturbed at what you may see and feel. Bizarre mostly applies here, with Fear and Loathing. If you don't know, bi-zarre adj. Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd. Frank Langella and Robert Culp (like you've NEVER seen him, but suspected all along that he had it in him) share screen time with Jean-Hughes Anglade, Keith David, Anne Archer, Mia Kirshner, and Connie Nielsen on a dark summer day fraught with bizarro turns and nauseating undercurrents (out of 10, it gets an 11). Watch this film with a strong stomach. (Interested in plot summary? Please read the other reviews.)

I just returned from a trip with my wife to Paris. Our friends there were raving about a movie called "Dark Summer". So much so that my wife insisted (She's a huge Connie Nielsen fan). I have to be honest my wife and I don't usually agree on our tastes in movies but the second this film started I was on the edge of my seat. The main star (Jean Hughes Anglade) was a French superstar from what i was told, but his portrayal of the cellist Huxley was sublime. The film opens up with him being interrogated by a detective portrayed by Keith David. (From Platoon, and Something About Mary, the guy is always great) After getting in a car accident he meets Connie Nielsen's character, a nurse named Megan who nurses him back to health. In appreciation, and of course a mutual attraction, he takes her up on dinner and to meet the family. Mia Kirschner played her crazy sister with frightening aplomb. At first the meal and their good times seems a given until he meets the father. (Played by the always- amazing Frank Langella!!) The father is sick and dyeing yet the power he still commanded over his daughters and the shocked Huxley was unmistakable. The father dies and in an incredibly erotic interlude, Huxley makes love to Megan the whole while the sister watches!!! I don't want to give away anymore but the cameos keep poring on and the twists and turns never stop. There are serial killers, country music and beautiful landscapes. The main reason I am writing this review was that after I saw this film I couldn't stop thinking about it. The whole time i was on the plane i kept talking about it and my wife told me about this website and I had to tell the world. I don't know where it is playing or if you can rent it but see this movie!!!

Have not had an experience like this since Silence of the Lambs. Then like now you were so completley enthralled with this picture the thought of missing one secound for any reason was un thinkable. Connie Nielson was a steller performance. I have to think that this picture was what led her to getting the roll in Gladdiator. Mia Kirshener was a thriller, could not wait to see what she would do next. Anne archer as always amazing. Wish Keith David had more screen time. Greg Marquette is a wonderfull visual and creative director. I hope we get to see more of his creative inovative material very soon.

It is so rare to find a film that makes you really think. Where dialogue and subtext combine to bring as much dynamic as physical action.After watching Gregory Marquette's "Dark Summer" I found myself brooding about what I had just scene and catching my breath at the same time. For a first time director I was really impressed by his command of the material he himself had written.Don't get me wrong the film had some problems but they were easily overlooked by the sensational cameos. Frank Langella gives a disturbing and memorable portrayal of the two heroine's dying father. I just wish there were more of him in the movie. The same follows with Keith David who I've been a huge fan of since "Platoon". Keith always delivers the goods and he bookends the film nicely as the cynical detective but again I wish there were more of him. Robert Culp gets the meatiest role as the Judge, I don't want to give anything away but get the kids out of the room when his scenes are up!!!!The three Main characters are hypnotizing. I looked up this Jean Hugh Anglade and this actor has an amazing bio in foreign films. I would expect to have seen more of him but I felt his acting was right on the money. Connie Nielsen from "Gladiator" is deliciously dangerous as well as her deranged sister played by Mia Kirschner.The whole cast was incredibly strong, the photography was stunning and the pace is breathless. Maybe a little too much so and the film could have been more balanced. One thing for sure it is a real stunner because you are never sure where it's going until the end.