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4
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by John
Gargo |
As
part of an initiation into a high school clique called The Sisters,
a young girl must spend the night alone in a mausoleum where
the not-quite deceased body of Russian psychic Karl Rhamarevich
has just been interred...
One
Dark Night was released
theatrically in 1983 but was actually filmed two years earlier,
at a time when the slasher craze had reached a fever pitch and
studios were scrambling to duplicate the box-office success
of films like Friday
the 13th. Director Tom McLoughlin's film is about
as far removed from that sub-genre as you can possibly get,
opting instead for more atmospheric chills.
The movie begins promisingly
enough... Police arrive at the apartment of Rhamarevich (AKA
"Ramar") to discover not only the body of the psychic,
but the lifeless remains of six young women as well. To add
an extra element of weirdness to the proceedings, assorted kitchen
utensils are mysteriously embedded into the walls and lightning
shoots out of the dead psychic's hand. Apparently, this doesn't
bother the police enough to perform an autopsy and before you
know it, the body of Ramar is being entombed in a mausoleum.
Attending the funeral is Ramar's distraught daughter, Olivia
(Melissa Newman), who regrets never having known her father.
In a brief pre-credit sequence, she is seen suffering from nightmares,
and during the funeral, she has more disturbing visions that
serve as a grim foreshadowing of events to come. Her behavior
seems to cause her husband Allan (Batman's
Adam West, in an all-too-brief role) much aggravation, and he
can't seem to comprehend why his wife is getting so upset over
a relative she barely knew.
Next the action shifts
to a nearby high school. Julie (a young Meg Tilly) desperately
wants to join the ranks of three girls who wear matching jackets
and call themselves The Sisters. (Obviously, these girls have
watched Grease one too many times.)
The Sisters decide that in order to pass a final act of initiation,
Julie must spend the night in a mausoleum, which as luck would
have it happens to be the one where Raymar's body has just been
interred. All of this is simply an elaborate set-up to frighten
Julie, seemingly because she is currently dating the ex-boyfriend
of Carol (Robin Evans), the vindictive leader of the group.
Meanwhile, Olivia
and Allan are visited by Samuel Dockstader (Donald Hotton),
an old associate of her father, who finally lets Olivia know
the horrible truth — the reason her father never visited her
was because he was a "psychic vampire," a person that drained
the energy from hitchhikers, which he then used to perform telepathic
feats. Allan is naturally dismissive, but the story seems to
confirm what was already implied in Olivia's nightmares. She
secretly accepts tapes from Dockstader that will give her further
information on her father.
There's a bit more
to the story than that, but therein lies the problem... For
a low budget shocker, One Dark Night
is a bit too heavy on character development, particularly when
it all simply culminates in screaming teenagers running around
in a mausoleum. As such, the film takes too long establishing
the set-up and it's not until the final 20 minutes that Raymar
finally breaks out of his tomb. The characterization and acting
is of your typical clichéd '80s teen horror variety, which some
viewers may be able to appreciate on a purely comic level (and
a lot of it is pretty ridiculous... One of the characters walks
around for the entire movie with a toothbrush in her mouth,
and when exactly was the last time you heard someone being called
a "nerdle brain?"), but this still doesn't justify why so much
time is spent on it.
That being said, the
film also boasts a rather fun premise and some impressive cinematography.
The film's psychic vampire explanation is kind of silly, and
yet somehow oddly effective. The mausoleum is a great location
for the climactic events, and the filmmakers are able to make
good use of it. These days, nobody will be fooled by the floating
corpses, which are obviously props being pulled on dollies,
or the cheesy tesla coil lighting effects from Raymar's eyes.
Rather than being a distraction, however, they somehow add to
the film's bizarre charm. While One Dark
Night is hardly a frightening movie these days (in fact,
those who are revisiting it for nostalgia's sake will probably
get the most out of it), the film does offer some points of
interest for fans of low budget '80s horror. It's just a shame
that it takes so long to get going.
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Shriek
Show has decided to release One Dark Night
as a double-disc special edition, and while this may be a dream
come true for fans of the film, it's kind of a mixed affair overall.
The first disc features the film's theatrical cut. The 1:85:1
anamorphic widescreen transfer is serviceable; some print damage
is noticeable, especially during the darker night scenes, but
it's nothing too distracting. The audio track is fine and I did
not detect any noticeable problems. Director Tom McLoughlin and
co-writer Michael Hawes offer an informative audio commentary
and they never run out of things to say. Both men seem to be having
a great time discussing the film's merits and flaws (i.e., the
pacing). They also talk about their influences in making the project,
citing Hammer films and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Rounding
out the first disc are trailers for four Shriek Show titles. So
far so good...
The
main extra on the second disc is the alternate director's cut,
entitled A Night in the Crypt. Presented
in fullframe 1:33:1, this version appears to be various scenes
cobbled together from a work print and edited onto a videocassette,
which makes for rather rough viewing. The soundtrack has been
altered in some scenes and is nonexistent in others, and some
of the special effects have yet to be added. The image is soft
and blurry, but that's to be expected. Truth be told, the changes
from the theatrical cut are not really that significant aside
from a rather grim alternate ending — they would have done much
better to simply compile these changes into a 'deleted scenes'
segment. Due to the poor video and audio quality, I can't see
many people revisiting this version that often. The other major
extra on the second disc is the R.I.P. featurette, which
is unfortunately kind of a throwaway. Almost 40 minutes of someone
standing off-camera filming the action from a camcorder, with
the finished product superimposed on the screen for comparative
purposes. There's also some audition footage and we get to see
the filmmakers trying to get a few of the special effects to work,
but once again there really isn't anything substantial here to
merit repeated viewings. Like on the first disc, there are four
different trailers for SS releases; clicking on the Fangoria International
logo accesses previews for more titles as well. Overall, though,
the second disc is a bit of a letdown. Oh yes, also included in
the set is a limited edition 35mm film strip featuring a random
image from the film, for those of you out there who care for such
things. 3/07/06 |
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