Brave the Dark review (2025)

Brave the Dark is a slow burn, very deliberately paced film.

It also avoids being overly emotionally manipulative as two characters and predictable. Based on a true story, Brave the Dark is built around a barely remembered memory. There’s a lot riding on the film, especially with its near two hour run time. To the filmmakers’ credit, the payoff does justify the delayed reveal and makes the buildup worth the investment.

Nathan (Nicholas Hamilton, Gen V) is a fairly aimless high school senior. He’s a falling through the cracks students who doesn’t raise enough trouble to get the attention of school administration and doesn’t standout academically to warrant guidance about his future. Nathan is pretty good at track capturing medals with little problem even if his future seems constantly out of reach. 

That’s largely because Nathan is homeless. He lives out of his car and parks in isolated fields to avoid being detected. To get money for food and clothes, he burglarizes businesses with his two pals. They weren’t careful enough this last time and Nathan gets arrested thanks to an eyewitness spotting him at the scene of the crime. Nathan getting paraded out of the school in handcuffs certainly will make for good “scared straight” fodder for the rest of his classmates. 

It’s equally disheartening for his teacher, Mr. Stan Deen (Jared Harris, Morbius). Stan had no idea Nathan was in such a bad state and immediately sets out to start helping him. Stan initially tries Nathan’s grandparents, but they seem disinterested in Nathan’s education. Stan convinces Nathan and his grandparents that it would look better for his pending court date if the judge learned he was trying to graduate and was not going to be a repeat offender.

With his grandparents living too far for a commute to be viable, Stan offers up his home. Brave the Dark is set in 1986, when a teacher housing a student doesn’t seem quite nearly as inappropriate.

Director/co-screenwriter Damian Harris, Jared’s brother, doles out valuable information slowly. At times, the pacing feels a little frustrating, but as Damian Harris starts peeling back more layers of the characters’ backstories it all comes together.

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Stan cared for his elderly mother before her death months ago. The grieving process has been tough for Stan, who nonetheless remains a positive light in his community. Stan can’t go very long without someone speaking to him whether if they’re a former student, a parent of a student or just someone who Stan helped out in the past.

Nathan isn’t sure what to make of Stan as a roommate as well as his teacher. Screenwriters Dale G. Bradley, Lynn Robertson Hay and Damian Harris avoid turning Brave the Dark into some silly Odd Couple-style comedy. Stan is also the theater director at the school so he can be forgiven for the occasional dramatic flourishes. While Nathan keeps probing to try and figure out Stan’s angle, his teacher eventually gets it into his head that he really is just genuinely invested in his wellbeing.

Some of that wellbeing revolves around Nathan’s nagging memory flashes of the tragic accident that led to his mother’s death. Damian Harris avoids making these sequences play out for a jump scare, while suggesting Nathan has blanked out some very key details.

In the meantime, Nathan is struggling to control his emotions as his now ex-girlfriend Tina (Sasha Bhasin, XO, Kitty) is starting to see other people. This overly possessive nature is cause for concern and Stan has to help Nathan before he goes too far down a path of no return. Hamilton gives a solid performance of a young man seeing that he’s spiraling but isn’t sure if he’s worth saving. Harris gives a different performance than his norm showing a jovial, good-natured side he doesn’t always get to showcase.

Kimberly S. Fairbanks, who plays one of Stan’s fellow teachers, and Jamie Harris — Damian and Jared’s brother — who plays Nathan’s parole officer, provide solid supporting performances.

Brave the Dark has been in a state of hiatus after its Cannes premiere in 2023. but Angel Studios picked up the distribution rights to rescue it from limbo. That’s a worthwhile endeavor as this film has enough heart and uplifting message to make Brave the Dark worth bringing out into the light for all to see.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Angel Studios

Check out Jared Harris, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on Blu-Ray on Amazon.

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