YMMV / Coming Home in the Dark

• Draco in Leather Pants: Mandrake is absolutely despicable, but Dan Gillies's attractive looks are obvious even with Mandrake's rugged appearance, and his charisma makes him the most magnetic character even while he's killing.
• He Really Can Act: Having mostly been known stateside for his role in The Vampire Diaries, a lot of critics singled out Daniel Gillies for his layered and memorable performance as Mandrake.
• Jerkass Woobie: Hard to believe that child murderers like Mandrake and Tubs could achieve woobie status, but it's clear that they never had a chance to thrive anywhere, and the abusive boarding school traumatized them so badly that they (and countless other graduates) are haunted and still can't function properly decades later. Mandrake tearing up during the story of the disciplined boy is the first time he shows genuine emotion and it's clear he's still deeply affected by the trauma, whether it happened to him personally or not.
• Paranoia Fuel: The thought of encountering a violent robber while hiking with your family? Unnerving. That robber remembering you from a traumatic incident in their past decades ago and taking violent revenge that includes killing your entire family? Nightmare Fuel. Alan's rather blasé about his role at the school, and it's never clear if he really did as little as he claimed, which would mean Mandrake was looking for anyone to punish.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: A common criticism of the film is that there's basically nobody to root for, especially once the most sympathetic and innocent characters die early. Once The Reveal shows that Alan is (at the very least) complicit in institutional abuse, and doesn't even feel any guilt or remorse over it (even going so far as to saying that the boys deserved it), it can be hard to actually want him to outlive his captors.

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