Darien Willardson – Through the Shattered Lens

In 2013’s Storm Rider, Dani Fielding (Danielle Churchan) is a rich, spoiled teenager who loves to compete in horse shows with her horse, Admiral. However, when Dani’s father (C. Thomas Howell), is arrested and charged with financial fraud, Dani’s life changes forever. The government seizes Admiral and sells him to Dani’s rival. When Dani’s younger half-brother, Jordan (Jacob Buster), is sent off to live with his gold digging mother, Dani is sent to live with her uncle, Sam (Kevin Sorbo).

Sam is a taciturn veterinarian who lives on a ranch in …. well, I assume it’s Montana. Don’t most of these movies take place in Montana? Wherever the film was shot, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Sam’s not really comfortable with people in general and he has no idea how to deal with teenage girl, especially one who doesn’t eat meat. As for Dani, she’s initially miserable because she’s been separated from her former life and her former horse.

Fortunately, Sam owns a lot of animals. Dani notices an orphaned mule named Stormy and she takes it upon herself to train him. Taking care of Stormy helps Dani let go of her bitterness. Soon, she’s watching the blossoming romance between Sam and Jody Peterson (Kristy Swanson) and she’s got a romance of her own going with Kevin Winslow (Darien Willardson). Kevin’s father owns a horse that Dani starts to train in the hopes that she can enter a regional horse show with her.

However, when Sam, Jordan, and Kevin’s father get stranded in the mountains, it’s Stormy who helps Dani find them. When night falls and they find themselves surrounded by wolves, will they even make it back to civilization?

It would be a really depressing movie if they didn’t! Fortunately, Storm Rider is not a movie that was made to spread depression. Instead, it’s a rather heart-warming tale about a young woman who conquers her anger and discovers that a mule can be just as strong and brave as the biggest horse. This is very much a film that was designed to make viewers smile and feel good about life and, for the most part, it succeeds. Of course, I still cried constantly while watching the film because I kept thinking about my mom and my dad and how much I miss both of them. This film definitely made me emotional. Often, the best thing that a film can do is to make you cry. Sometimes, I think people forget just how important it is to cry when you’re feeling sad.

As I think I’ve said in the past, I’ve always has a weakness for films about angry or rebellious girls who find peace and grace through taking care of an animal. Whether it’s a cat or a dog or a horse or anything else, there’s something undeniably wonderful about winning the trust of another creature. “You can’t be a jerk and love animals,” someone once said and I imagine that’s true. This film, well-acted and featuring beautiful mountain scenery, made me smile even when I was crying,

Have you ever noticed how movies about teenagers always treat the rules of the “Never Have I Ever” game like they’re some sort of legally binding contract?

Seriously, I’ve seen this happen in so many movies. Someone has a deep, dark secret that they don’t want to reveal. They know that if they reveal the secret, a lot of bad stuff will happen as a result. Feelings will be hurt. Friendships will be crushed. Lives will be lost.

But then the minute somebody says, “Never have I ever fucked my best friend’s boyfriend,” they always drink up. Half the time, they’re the only person to take a drink. And, during all of the drama that unfolds, it never occurs to anyone to say, “Why didn’t you just not take the drink!? It’s just a game, after all!”

Something like this happens in the 2016 film, Nocturne. Nocturne takes place at perhaps the saddest high school graduation party of all time. All of the cool kids have gone to another party, which means that only seven people show up at this party. From that humble beginning, things quickly go downhill as the graduates hang out in the hot tub, play the Never Have I Ever game, and listen to Gabe (Jake Stormeon) ramble about religion and philosophy and stuff. Gabe also demonstrates some card tricks so yeah …. that’s definitely the way to end your high school career.

Anyway, bad parties always seem to lead to people trying to contact the dead and that’s what happens here. Gabe sets up a makeshift séance and the graduates ask the dead a lot of questions that they probably shouldn’t have asked. (Seriously, I’ve been to a few bad parties in my lifetime and you an always tell that the party is officially dead once people actually try to talk to the …. well, dead.)

Needless to say, this leads to someone getting possessed and just about everyone else dying. The other party was probably a lot more fun.

So, on the plus side, Nocturne is fairly well-acted and some of the death scenes were clever. The film’s chronology is a bit jumbled, which is one of those storytelling tricks that can be really annoying but which is justified here by the fact that demon exists beyond our conventional understanding of time and space.

On the negative side, a cat dies about halfway through the film and, as I discussed years ago in my review of Drag Me To Hell, it’s hard for me to endorse any film in which a cat is killed. I mean, honestly, I would think most supernatural beings would appreciate the fact that a cat can sleep through just about anything. Whereas a dog would be barking and throwing a fit over all the murders being committed, a cat would probably just relax in a corner and play with a toy mouse or something. In this film, there was really no reason to kill the cat and it felt a bit gratuitous. It was hard not to tell that the only reason the cat was put in the film was so it could be killed. My point is, if you want to me to like your movie, don’t kill the cat.

Anyway, Nocturne is a rather uneven film. If you can see past the dead cat, you might find this one interesting. It has its creepy moments, even if it’s hard not to feel that the overall movie doesn’t really work.