Jeremy Saulnier was a breakout genre sensation with his taut revenge thriller “Blue Ruin,” but “GreenRoom” solidified his aesthetic with a punks-versus-skinheads survival story that dovetailed from taut survival drama to war movie.
With “Hold the Dark,” he continues that fascinating hodgepodge approach, transforming the eerie backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness into an expansive playground for various genre tropes.By merging a riveting outdoor survival yarn worthy of Jack London with bloody shootouts and supernatural thrills, Saulnier solidifies an aesthetic steeped in the delicate art of merging many kinds of movies into a formidable whole.
It’s not always satisfying — this time, the approach yields a confusing and sometimes convoluted narrative — but Saulnier and screenwriter Macon Blair maintain their gripping atmosphere with a rapid-fire pace, and the relentless experience adheres to its own homegrown beats.The movie begins with a haunting scenario that would sound absurd if Saulnier didn’t
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