Review: A muddled ‘I Will Follow You Into the Dark’

Inspired by the Death Cab for Cutie song of the same name, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” in fact hews pretty closely to not only the lyrics’ incredibly romantic sentiment but its views on the afterlife. Unfortunately, those ideas get muddled by a setup with a religious bent that’s never fully explored and an instance of euthanasia that’s only tenuously related to the central plot.

For Mark Edwin Robinson’s movie is ultimately a horror flick: Reeling from the recent deaths of her parents, Sophia (Mischa Barton) isn’t looking for love when she runs into Adam (Ryan Eggold) — or, rather, he literally runs into her — but soon she’s falling for him despite herself and sleeping over at the haunted apartment building he calls home. One night she wakes up to find him missing from bed and his sheets stained with blood. She decides it will take a leap of faith into the unknown to bring him back.

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The question why, though, persists. Why is she the target of the paranormal activity (for the weirdness starts back at her place)? Why exactly does she have to take such drastic measures to find her lover? And why does his high-rise not have any stairs?

The script attempts to explain some of this with a semi-helpful yet momentum-killing expository monologue by a friendly dead guy, but with Sophia and Adam’s courtship limited to golden-hued flashback montages, the biggest question — has their romance even earned such a grand gesture — remains unanswered.

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‘I Will Follow You Into the Dark’

MPAA rating: None

Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes.

Playing: At TCL Chinese 6, Hollywood. Also on VOD.