Super Dark Times is a 2017 American independent psychological thriller drama film directed by Kevin Phillips and starring Owen Campbell and Charlie Tahan. It is Phillips' directorial debut. After a traumatic accident, an inseparable pair of teenage boys and best friends lose their innocence from jealousy, violence and paranoia.
Plot
In 1996, in upstate New York, two teenage best friends, Zach and Josh, rate the girls in a yearbook. They find a common interest in Allison. After school, the duo crosses the path of the universally-disliked Daryl and his eighth-grade friend Charlie. Later that week, the four boys meet up at Josh's house where they look through the possessions of Josh's brother, who is in the marines. They find a bag of marijuana, a pair of nunchaku, and a katana. Afterwards the boys slash milk cartons with the katana in a nearby forest. The boys notice that Daryl is smoking a joint and has stolen the marijuana. After a tense argument, Daryl hits Josh. The two fight, resulting in Daryl being accidentally stabbed in the throat with the katana. The boys panic and decide to hide both Daryl's body and the katana. During the next two days of school, rumors circulate about Daryl's disappearance. Zach has nightmares and Josh doesn’t attend classes. Zach wants to return to Daryl's burial site and attend Allison's upcoming party with Josh. Josh refuses to do either. Zach goes to Allison's party where he is surprised to see Josh sharing his brother's weed with everyone. Zach, disturbed, leaves. Allison pursues him and they almost kiss, but Zach says he is unable to and leaves. Another student, John Whitcomb, is found dead. Rumors speculate that he fell off a bridge. Zach suspects that John's death was not accidental. He returns to Daryl's burial site and finds the katana missing and Darryl’s corpse unearthed and mutilated. He calls Charlie and tells him that he suspects Josh killed John, but Charlie dismisses it. Zach goes to Josh's house and barges into Josh's room, looking for the katana or evidence of the deaths. Zach sees Allison's phone number on Josh's caller ID and Zach frantically runs look for her. Meanwhile, Josh, Allison and Meghan smoke weed at Meghan’s house. Josh unwraps the katana from under a towel to show it to them. Zach arrives at Meghan's house and quietly makes his way up the stairs. He hears muffled screams coming from Meghan's bedroom and opens the door to find Josh has murdered Meghan. Allison is tied and gagged in the corner, wounded but still alive. Josh locks Zach out of the room, but Zach climbs up on the roof and breaks the window to get back inside. Zach is attacked by Josh and attempts to escape, but Josh slashes his shoulder and stabs him in the leg. Zach attempts to fight him off, but Josh begins to strangle him. A neighbor intervenes, separates them, and holds Josh down. Police and paramedics arrive at the scene. While the paramedics attend to Zach's wounds, he glances at Josh sitting in the back of a police car. Months later, Allison has recovered and returns to school. A camera shot from the back of the classroom reveals the scars she received from the katana: three parallel lines on the back of her neck.
