History Film / HoldTheDark

* TheRez: The film mostly takes place in the fictional town of Keelut, Alaska, where the population is mostly poor Native Americans. There's obviously a lot of bitterness toward the government, as Cheeon accuses the local police of keeping his people down.

* KnifeNut: Vernon's first scenes feature him stabbing a soldier with his combat knife. He uses another combat knife when he's back home.

''Hold the Dark'' is a 2018 thriller film directed by Creator/JeremySaulnier, written by his frequent collaborator Macon Blair (''Film/IDontFeelAtHomeInThisWorldAnymore'') and based on the book of the same name by William Giraldi.

In rural Alaska, Medora Slone (Riley Keough) writes a letter to the retired naturalist and novelist Russell Core (Creator/JeffreyWright) to come hunt down the wolf that carried away her young son so that she can have something to show her husband Vernon (Creator/AlexanderSkarsgard) when he returns from war. Russell answers her call, but quickly discovers that something much darker is going on.

* SavageWolves: Medora says that wolves carried off her son. Russell watches wolves eat their own young. An old native woman talks about winter attacks from wolves being common when growing up. [[spoiler:Medora killed her own son, and she and Vernon wear wolf masks when doing dark and strange things]]. However, no wolves are actually seen to attack any humans throughout the film, even when they have opportunity, and Russell sympathizes with them. Ultimately wolves are just a symbol for the darkness in the human soul]].

In rural Alaska, Medora Slone writes a letter to the retired naturalist and novelist Russell Core to come hunt down the wolf that carried away her young son so that she can have something to show her husband Vernon when he returns from war. Russell answers her call, but quickly discovers that something much darker is going on.

Taking place in rural Alaska, Medora Slone writes a letter to the retired naturalist and novelist Russell Core to come hunt down the wolf that carried away her young son so that she can have something to show her husband Vernon when he returns from war. Russell answers her call, but quickly discovers that something much darker is going on.

* SwiperNoSwiping: When Cheeon is gunning down all the cops in his sight, Russell runs out and starts dragging a wounded cop away, right in front of Cheeon. When Cheeon turns his gun on them, Russell shouts, "Just stop it!" Cheeon returns to firing on the other cops and allows Russell to continue dragging the wounded cop away.

* SavageWolves: Medora says that wolves carried off her son. Russell watches wolves eat their own young. [[spoiler:Medora killed her own son, and she and Vernon wear wolf masks when doing dark and strange things. However, no wolves actually attack any humans throughout the film, and Russell sympathizes with them. Ultimately wolves are just a symbol for the darkness in the human soul]].
** However, in the case of the two other missing children who disappeared prior to Bailey (the Slone child), it's implied that wolves did indeed take them. The old Inuit "shaman" woman also tells Vernon in a conversation about the circumstances she and the other native residents grew up in, with long dark winters and wolf attacks being common during those. As for Russell, he actually survives an encounter with a wolf pack (which seems to be the same pack) twice - at both times, they do not attack him. This may serve as a counter to the claims of Slone and the old woman about the wolves (by implicitly showing their [[RealityIsUnrealistic real-life cautious nature, since wolves tend to avoid humans]]) and hint at more dark secrets...or it may be symbolic for Russell's empathy with them, or even imply that [[MagicRealism it goes both ways]], seeing as he is called "Wolfman" by Vernon. Like many things in the movie, it's hard to place.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Vernon is introduced mercilessly gunning down a jeep full of insurgents, then casually setting his cigarette down to stab a fellow soldier who is raping a local Iraqi woman, then handing her the knife to finish the job while he fetches his cigarette. This is a dangerous man who is not without his own sense of morality.

* EvilMask: Both of the Slones wear wolf masks when doing dark and strange things.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:None of our heroes make any impact on the story except get more people killed. Medora has already killed her son, while Vernon kills his way to her and they both disappear with their dead son's coffin into the wilderness]].

''Hold the Dark'' is a 2018 thriller film directed by Creator/JeremySaulnier, written by his frequent collaborator Macon Blair (Film/IDontFeelAtHomeInThisWorldAnymore) and based on the book of the same name by William Giraldi.

* MeaningfulName: The film takes place in and around the town of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelut]] Keelut, which is an evil spirit in local Native American folklore that resembles a hairless dog.

* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:Vernon and Medora are both murderous seem to be locked in a shared psychosis.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:None of our heroes make any impact on the story except get more people killed. Medora has already killed her son, while Vernon kills his way to her and they both disappear with their dead son's coffin into the wilderness]].

* ImperialMarksmanshipAcademy: The police have a remarkably difficult time hitting Cheeon, even though he's a stationary target without much cover. Shots behind his back show dozens of bullet holes covering the walls and ceiling all around him.

* SavageWolves: Medora says that wolves carried off her son. Russell watches wolves eat their own young. [[spoiler:Medora killed her own son, and she and Vernon wear wolf masks when doing dark and strange things. However, no wolves actually attack any humans throughout the film, and Russell sympathizes with them. Ultimately wolves are just a symbol for the darkness in the human soul]].