The farmer\u2019s family, which includes a shotgun-wielding widow (Crystal Yu), a tormented teenage son (William Gao), and a little daughter (Riley Chung) with aspirations of being a doctor, hold their ground when they\u2019re harassed by Reynolds\u2019s goons. The fam gets some surprise protection in the form of Fallon, a sick stranger played by Magic Mike<\/em> stud Alex Pettyfer. This mysterious man also craves \u201cfresh blood,\u201d which the son gets from chickens around their farm. Is this guy a vampire, the Prince of Darkness, or a pretty-ass white boy who’s been written in to save this minority family? Most likely, it\u2019s all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This supernatural thriller from director Andrew Baird (who directed Pearce in the futuristic 2021 detective story Zone 414<\/em>) and screenwriter Ronan Blaney, both Irishmen, attempts to be all dark and moody. Since it\u2019s set in the Pacific Northwest (but it\u2019s actually northern Ireland!), Baird and cinematographer Ivan Abel make the town look like it\u2019s always on the verge of raining. But it\u2019s mostly a tiresome, ridiculous slog. It\u2019s like these guys saw a Vice<\/em> report on racism in the Pacific Northwest and decided to make an urban legend horror story about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The antagonists are definitely some dumb-ass, pale-skinned sociopaths. Leading the charge is Pearce\u2019s main heavy, whose loathsome acts include giving his dying, equally-sociopathic mom (Olwen Fouere) a cringe-worthy kiss on the lips. We also have a deputy (Kurt Yaeger) who\u2019s both corrupt and inept, and a high-school bully (Forrest Bothwell) who terrorizes the farmer\u2019s son because they both have eyes on the boss\u2019s daughter (Sophie Boldt). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Fallon has unfinished business with most of these yokels. Years ago, they killed his woman (of color) and left him tied to a tree so he could be a sacrifice for \u201cThe Red Coat,\u201d a forest demon who went from feasting on animals to people. In his quest for vengeance, Fallon puts on a trenchcoat and shuffles around this thing like both the punisher and<\/em> the punished. For a guy who sucks down chicken blood for most of this thing, Pettyfer gives a bloodless turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SInce Pearce is basically playing a piece of shit, he goes balls-out, spewing racist rhetoric and deranged tidbits about himself like a man who\u2019s really looking forward to voting for Trump in November. And this is all before Fallon takes a bite out of him, and he becomes even more batshit-crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You almost wish Sunrise<\/em> was just as cuckoo as Pearce\u2019s performance, but this backwoods thriller wants to scare you in a solemn, straight-faced manner, which really doesn\u2019t work since this story is so dumb. Baird and Blaney want to hit us with an occult-tinged parable on how real-life evil will always be more damaging and destructive than mythical evil. But even when it predictably descends into homicidal chaos in the third act, Sunrise <\/em>comes out looking like a banal, buffoonish mess that has its own head up where the sun don\u2019t shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Sunrise” is in theaters Friday. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sunrise2-1024x512.jpg\")
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