This Sci-Fi Thriller Brought Psychological — and Apocalyptic — War to a Classroom

The popularity of Squid Game has cemented the death game subgenre as one of the most popular storytelling paths. The trope can be traced back to the seminal 2000 movie, Battle Royale, whose impact can be seen on Hollywood blockbusters like The Hunger Games. In horror, the huge success of James Wan and Leigh Whannell's Saw franchise made audiences fascinated with the different ways people can torture themselves and painfully end their lives. However, the style isn’t always graphic and expansive; some movies opt for a more insular setting where the focus is on the morality of the characters. After the Dark takes this approach and strips the death game subgenre to its foundations, focusing more on the ethical dialogue of life and death decisions. The result is one of the most fascinating character studies and internally challenging pieces of cinema. Although the movie itself is not a visual spectacle, the simplicity of its concept and the way it commits to its format makes it an undiscovered treasure for fans of the subgenre.