Dark Places

Adapted from a novel by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, writer-director Gilles Paquet-Brenner's fitfully compelling murder-mystery Dark Places stars Charlize Theron as Libby Day, the lone survivor of a family massacre. Only a child when the murders occurred, Libby's testimony was instrumental in convicting her devil-worshipping older brother, and she's been able to coast off the resulting notoriety for most of her adult life. When the sympathy money finally starts to run dry, though, she accepts an offer from a group of true-crime fanatics who want to exonerate her brother, forcing Libby to reexamine the events of that night for the first time in decades. Dark Places certainly has the feel of a page-turner, so densely packed with red herrings and coincidences that it's absurd (this story probably would have worked better as a True Detective-style short-form series), but the white-hot Theron grounds her withdrawn character in something recognizable and relatable. D.B.