This summer, Mad Max: Fury Road co-stars Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult transition from the bright badlands of the post-apocalypse to some Dark Places. In the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s second novel (Gone Girl was her third), Theron plays Libby Day, a woman with a traumatic childhood that has consumed her adult life. When her finances run low, she turns to Lyle Wirth (Hoult) and his group of true-crime fanatics who coax her into a deep investigation of her past. Dark Places opens in Chicago on August 7, but The A.V. Club and A24 have an opportunity for you to see it for free on August 4. For your chance to win a pair of passes to the advance screening, simply follow the link here and enter your information. As always, seats will be first come, first served, so be sure to arrive early. An official plot synopsis and trailer for the film can be found below.
“Libby Day (Charlize Theron) was only 7 years old when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. In court, the traumatized child pointed the finger at her brother, Ben (Tye Sheridan), and her testimony put the troubled 16-year-old in prison for life. Twenty-five years later, a broke and desperate Libby has run through donations from a sympathetic public and royalties from her sensational autobiography, without ever moving past the events of that night. When Libby accepts a fee to appear at a gathering of true-crime aficionados led by Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult), she is shocked to learn most of them believe Ben is innocent and the real killer is still at large. In need of money, she reluctantly agrees to help them reexamine the crime by revisiting the worst moments of her life. But as Libby and Lyle dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the murders, her recollections start to unravel and she is forced to question exactly what she saw—or didn’t see. As long-buried memories resurface, Libby begins to confront the wrenching truths that led up to that horrific night.”