Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- bleak
- harrowing
- paranoid
- serious film night
- arthouse crime marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a powerful, formally inventive, and harrowing crime drama anchored by its atmosphere and performances.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Lieutenant Mróz investigates the earlier multiple murder through Środoń's reconstruction of events.
The autumn night in 1978 is intercut with the winter investigation during martial law four years later.
The remote Bieszczady farmhouse becomes an enclosed arena of suspicion, lust, alcohol, and escalating violence.
The Milicja Obywatelska investigation unfolds during martial law, framing the murder case within communist Poland's repressive institutions.
Films like The Dark House, and why
The Wailing
shared bleak crime investigation, nonlinear reconstruction, and corrosive social atmosphere
Memories of Murder
shared morally compromised investigators, institutional violence, and oppressive rural dread
The Vanishing
shared grim historical crime, fractured chronology, and bleak examination of violence
Movie Details
- Director
- Wojtek Smarzowski
- Release Date
- 2009-11-27
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (113)
Cast
- Arkadiusz Jakubik
- Marian Dziędziel
- Bartłomiej Topa
- Katarzyna Cynke
- Robert Wabich
- Robert Więckiewicz
- Krzysztof Czeczot
- Eryk Lubos
- Lech Dyblik
- Marcin Juchniewicz
Common questions
- What is The Dark House about?
- A grim Polish crime nightmare where a farmhouse gathering and a martial-law investigation expose violence, corruption, and unreliable truth.
- What is The Dark House like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Dark House as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Dark House violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Dark House as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Dark House?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a powerful, formally inventive, and harrowing crime drama anchored by its atmosphere and performances.
- Which films are like The Dark House?
- Films with a similar feel include The Wailing, Memories of Murder, and The Vanishing.
- How long is The Dark House?
- The Dark House runs 105 minutes.
