One Dark Night

One Dark Night

Plot:

The famed yet reclusive psychic “Raymar” has been laid to rest in a stately community crypt. The circumstances of his death were quite curious; it seems his corpse was found alongside those of six missing women. Meanwhile, a high school girl is desperate to join an uppity clique. So desperate in fact she has agreed to spend the night in same said mausoleum as part of her initiation hazing. Oh, and about those girls? Seems that Raymar was a psychic vampire who literally sucked the life out of them, and he has no intention on stopping his work just because of a little thing like dying…

Comments:

If it’s not too self-indulgent (and tough titties if it is) I would like to tell a brief tale concerning my history with this film. The first time I saw ‘One Dark Night’ I was about 14 years old. We had just returned from a two and a half year sojourn in Florida’s bleak hellscape to the even bleaker yet somewhat more temperate hellscape of New Bedford. In the Sunshine state, I had grown to love such fare as TV18’s ‘Friday Night with the Gravemaster’, and TNT’s ‘100% Weird’. (Ah for the days when UHF was unconglomerated and cable actually had some character.) I was in a mellow mood, and looking forward to a nice quiet evening at home with some embarrassingly cheesy horror flick.

Isn’t it funny how art sideswipes you sometimes?

This film scared the crap out of me. I’m not talking about jump out and startle you “booga-booga” scare, or even spook you when you’re all alone in a creaky house scare. This movie disturbed me on some profoundly deep level that left me sick to my stomach. As much as I love, and always have loved horror films, I couldn’t watch another one for months. The years wore on and I forgot the film’s title, and any real particulars about the plot. However, certain bits and pieces stayed with me, haunting me, floating up out of my subconscious on black nights when I couldn’t sleep.

During an unrelated conversation with a friend, I finally learned the film’s title, and recently added the dvd to my collection. However, my heart sank upon obtaining this long sought-after treasure. While I remembered ‘One Dark Night’ as being both grueling and gory, the film in its unedited format is rated PG.

PG?

Attempting to relive the past is folly. While I tried to approach this film without preconceived notions, I couldn’t help but notice how little it resembled the film I remembered. In reality, the movie is much better than I ever could have dreamt.

My statement may be surprising to you. Reviews of this film are sparse, but opinions are uniformly dour among those who have had the undeserved opportunity to see and review ‘Night’. The most common complaints run along the lines of “this is just another cheap 80’s horror movie- poorly written and unimaginative”. This is unmitigated bullcrap; the type of shallow, unreflective viewpoint of a no-brow who believes that the best way to become recognized is to ape the dismissive brain-fart review style of mainstream journalists. (God forbid one try to think a few levels above Leonard Maltin.) Ok, maybe I’m being a wee bit harsh on my colleagues. This film has its share of flaws, and a body certainly has the right to point them out. Lack of imagination however, is certainly not one of them.

I’ll be the first to admit that the dialog is a little spotty in places. (Though much of it, I take, was meant to be tongue in cheek.) Characterization is pretty weak as well. For example, I don’t really get why Meg Tilly’s character is so set on being part of a group whose members actively detest her. While she mentions something about needing to belong, she doesn’t seem to display the type of low self-esteem that would make this particular club so all-fired attractive. Then again, I’ve never been a high school girl. (No, that was just a rumor!) However, those familiar with 80’s teenage horror know that a little cheesy goodness just makes a film all the more savory. There’s enough fromage present to add flavor without weighting the film down to the level of kitsch. (I couldn’t help but giggle during the “young couple doing romantic crap at a carnival” montage.) The film also features a performance by Adam West, who like William Shatner, is just as fun to watch when he’s trying to be taken seriously.

This is one of those movies that possesses such a unique energy, I find myself enjoying it all the more because of its flaws. The washed-out color of a film shot decades ago helps to build surreal ambience. (Though I base my remarks upon Shriek Show’s recent release, a print of such stellar quality it was later chopped up to provide free extras with the dvd.) In fact, as with the ‘Evil Dead’ (or to a lesser extent ‘Don’t Look in the Basement’) this is a production substantially aided by a lack of polish.

This is not to say that the film relies primarily on schlock value in order to entertain.

While production funds may have been sparse, what was available was well employed. The film is full of nice little touches; take for example the opening credits, set to a backdrop of gravestones and thunder. Cliché? Perhaps, but also mood setting and very cute. Tom McLoughlin’s direction rises above mere mediocrity to provide us with some genuine chills. With its muted color scheme, slow mounting pace, and eerie setting, atmosphere is definitely a highpoint. McLoughlin’s work shows shades of influence from such directors as Raimi and Coscarelli. However, rather than simply cribbing the camerawork of others, McLoughlin uses such shots sparingly, adding a little spice to what remains solely his own work. His clever touch works quite well in building that sweet uneasy feeling in the viewer. (A small note; In addition to co-writing this screenplay, McLoughlin also co-authored the magnificently scary ‘Amazing Stories’ segment ‘Go to the Head of the Class’. Unfortunately, his later career never quite lived up to the promise displayed by these earlier works. He’s currently directing Lifetime original movies, including the recently released goth-persecution saga ‘Not Like Everyone Else’.)

Though whippersnappers who cut their teeth on ‘Scream’ may find the film slow moving, there is no real padding. While the characters themselves may be slightly shallow, the interplay between them is interesting enough. Between said character conflict, the moody cinematography, and a general aura of intensity, I in no way found this film to be slow-goings. (And believe me, I have a very low tolerance for pointless narrative foot-dragging. Hell, just read one of my Val Lewton reviews.) Though the film may take its sweet time building up to the grand finale, that finale is grand indeed.

I am tempted to issue a spoiler warning concerning the climax, but I really don’t feel I need to. Due to a bit of foreshadowing early on in the film, we get a good inkling of what is gong to occur. (Besides, once you know what happens, not only will it ruin nothing, it will make you want to see the film more.)

We learn that in order to increase the life-energy of his victims, Raymar would frighten them by manipulating inanimate objects. During experiments involving lab animals, this included the carcasses of other critters.

Oh, that’s right.

The undead psychic incorporates the corpses rotting all around him as fetid marionettes. These remains are not zombies per se, more like grizzly decaying mannequins that drift silently through the dark mausoleum corridors.

(And yes, this bit is just as creepy as I’m making it sound.)

One only needs to witness the terror of a teenager about to suffocate beneath a pile of putrescent bodies in order to realize why this movie stayed with me all those years.

Some have remarked that this is the goriest PG rated movie ever made, and I’d have to agree. Brains are melted, faces mutilated, and maggot-ridden guts punctured. I can only theorize that this film managed to get branded as family-friendly due to a MPAA loophole; the dismembered corpses are inanimate objects, therefore I suppose the violence done to them wasn’t counted. (Despite the pissy ramblings of your Michael Medved types, this is just another illustration of how poplar culture has become more sanitized in later years.)

The climax of ‘Night’ is splendiferously ooky, and I don’t give a good damn who says different. In fact, despite rock bottom production values and some silly writing, the entire production is crafted with care. While it may have some kinship of self-parody with the schlocky gold of the 1980’s, this movie is imaginative, innovative, and damn well disturbing enough to stand on its own merits.

‘One Dark Night’ has been neglected, forgotten, and abused for long enough. I’m tired of it. It is an honor to recommend this film, and a pity that no one else has.

8.0