Coming Home in the Dark

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2:10

Coming Home in the Dark

2021

1h 30m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

63 Reviews

45%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

A family's idyllic outing at an isolated coastline descends into terror when high school teacher Alan 'Hoaggie' Hoaganraad, his wife Jill, and stepsons Maika and Jordon unexpectedly come across a pair of murderous drifters -- the enigmatic psychopath Mandrake and his hulking man-child accomplice Tubs -- who thrust them into a nightmare road trip. At first, the family's terror seems to be born of a random encounter with two sociopaths, but as the night drags on, Hoaggie and Jill realize that this nightmare was set in motion 20 years earlier.

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Critics Consensus

Smart, well-acted, and above all scary, Coming Home in the Dark finds first-time director James Ashcroft making his mark with a white-knuckle ride for horror fans.

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Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

10/15/2021

3.5/5

It's Gillies' performance that raises Coming Home in the Dark from fascinating to utterly chilling, complimenting Matt Henley's cold, angular cinematography and John Gibson's score.

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Matt Zoller Seitz

RogerEbert.com

10/01/2021

2.5/4

The filmmaking and acting talent on display is undeniable.

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Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

09/30/2021

Ashcroft and his cast - and especially Gillies as the menacing and charismatic Mandrake - excel at drawing out the moment-to-moment tension of a crime in progress.

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Paul Lê

Tales from the Paulside

07/23/2023

3/5

Coming Home in the Dark never lets up until the very end. The suffering is extensive, and the sorrow is ceaseless. There is only so much people can take before they have to look away out of fear for their own wellbeing.

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Mitchell Beaupre

Awards Radar

09/22/2022

2.5/4

With his debut, Ashcroft shows a knack for bringing visceral thrills to a genre audience craving some gnarly fun in the middle of the night.

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Kristy Strouse

Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying

04/20/2022

In the end, Coming Home in the Dark provides enough intellectual stimuli with adequate gritty tension to chew on, even if it isnt entirely persuasive in its intent.

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Craig W.

@CJWolfe27 Sep 8

Watchable thriller, could have been better but still good nonetheless

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Hiran G

@RT85059363 Jul 28

it's a thriller. not sure why it's got horror tag. it does a pretty good job of it till the end. but it fails to provide details that could have made the visiuals superior.

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Dustin S

@SaddamMustaine Jun 27

This is not a horror movie, it’s a thriller, and it’s pretty damn good.

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Diet Dr. Paul .

@RT85301401 05/31/2025

A combination of Eden Lake and The Landmine goes click… this is a genre bender than will carve itself into your bones and linger long after the credits roll. Smart, Twisted and incredibly unsettling, this isn’t a movie for the weak stomached, be warned!

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Andrew B

@RT63391839 03/30/2025

I'm writing this review to offset the one star ratings. But, my primary reason is to mention how much I hate the people giving this movie a low score. The display of stupidity with some of these audience reviews makes me want to hunt down the people who wrote them and do really awful things.

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Craig B

@Boundsy 03/28/2025

Coming Home In The Dark is actually a pretty decent thriller. Nothing extravagant here, just a standard, well-paced and well-acted movie. As long as you can ignore the villains in this movie are just flippantly causing death and destruction and leaving their fingerprints everywhere, you should find this film quite engrossing.

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James Ashcroft

Director

Daniel Gillies

Mandrake

Matthias Luafutu

Tubs

Miriama McDowell

Jill

Erik Thomson

Hoaggie

Frankie Paratene

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Coming Home in the Dark: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A family's idyllic outing at an isolated coastline descends into terror when high school teacher Alan 'Hoaggie' Hoaganraad, his wife Jill, and stepsons Maika and Jordon unexpectedly come across a pair of murderous drifters -- the enigmatic psychopath Mandrake and his hulking man-child accomplice Tubs -- who thrust them into a nightmare road trip. At first, the family's terror seems to be born of a random encounter with two sociopaths, but as the night drags on, Hoaggie and Jill realize that this nightmare was set in motion 20 years earlier.

Director: James Ashcroft
Producer: Desray Armstrong, Mike Minogue, Catherine Fitzgerald
Screenwriter: James Ashcroft, Eli Kent, Eli Kent, James Ashcroft
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Production Co: Light in the Dark Productions
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Australian English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 1, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2021
Runtime: 1h 30m