| Review | Alone in the Dark (1982) | Director | Jack Sholder |
|---|---|
| Writers | Jack Sholder, Robert Shaye and Michael Harrpster |
| Cast | Dwight Shultz, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Erland van Lidth, Deborah Hedwall, Lee Taylor-Allan, Phillip Clark, Elizabeth Ward, Brent Jennings and Jack Palance |
“All right, they’re crazy! Isn’t everybody?” – Dr. Leo Bain
Dr. Leo Bain (Pleasence) runs a mental institute called The Haven. He believes in unorthodox treatments and refers to his patients as voyagers and maintains that they be treated as human beings. Most of the patients are considered relatively harmless apart from four individuals who are incarcerated on the third floor of the establishment and it’s the only floor with maximum security. They are; Ex-military Frank Hawkes (Palance), pyromaniac Byron “Preacher” Sutcliff (Landau), child molester Ronald “Fatty” Elster (van Lidht) and one that’s simply referred to as “The Bleeder” who’s apparently prone to nose bleeds when he kills his victims.
When the psychiatrist handling the fearsome quadruple, Dr. Harry Merton, leaves for another job, Dr. Potter (Shultz) comes in as his replacement. While Dr. Potter settles into his new job, his family is busy moving into a new home in town. Frank comes to believe that Dr. Potter has murdered Dr. Merton and wants to avenge his death. The opportunity arises when a major blackout occurs and the four inmates escape. They set their sights on Dr. Potter who, along with his family and others, must fend off an attack draped in darkness.
“Alone in the Dark” certainly comes from a vintage year in the slasher film canon but it’s anything but typical. It does have crazy inmates causing mayhem but the whole set-up is markedly different and the victims are adults forced to defend themselves from a home invasion and resort to violence in the process. For inspiration one is more likely to link this film to the likes of “Straw Dogs” (1971) and “The Last House on the Left” (1972). But the requisite teen kills were expected at this time and sure enough a teenage couple is dispatched of in the midst of horny on-goings in the middle of the film. But it’s a fairly good set-piece and adequately placed in the story so there’s no complaints there.
And the film is quite topical, as well. Coming at a time when the US government was slashing all funding for mental treatments and, more or less, exiling patients from hospitals and putting them back on the street; “Alone in the Dark” gets another side of a “What if” conundrum concerning a lack of commitment to a minority group being neglected. But the script for the film doesn’t aim high in critical social commentary and displays that well in the character of Dr. Bain who’s mostly played for eccentricity and some fairly dark laughs.
I do like the set-up and the overall flow of the film. Once the blackout occurs the electricity goes out and that’s effectively what separates the dangerous crazies from the rest as the alarm system solely relies on it. The resulting siege commenced by Frank and his friends is entirely based on illusions and if that’s not a fairly dark and humorous aspect as a plot device I don’t know what is. There’s some solid suspenseful set-pieces once Potter and his family are attacked and the script even throws in a nifty surprise concerning one additional character that finds himself couped up with the family during this ordeal. Also a bit earlier there’s a fair amount of uncomfortable suspense generated when “Fatty” has entered the house and finds himself alone with Dr. Potter’s young daughter. Also the ending, I might add, gets another bonus point from being really humorous without detracting anything from the tension already created. There’s a lot to like in “Alone in the Dark”.
The interesting casting here is another huge plus. Slumming former A-lister Palance is really excellent in his relatively few scenes as Frank and the actor gives his all and plays a nut very convincingly. It’s not a coincidence that Palance had a late career resurgence and an Oscar win 10 years away as he’s a really good performer. Same can be said for Landau. Although never a big star, the always reliable actor gave his all no matter the material. He’s really good as “Preacher” and his outbursts never reach campy heights. He also had a late career resurgence and deservedly won an Oscar for his turn in “Ed Wood” (1994) portraying horror icon Bela Lugosi. Pleasence, a highly respected actor known for prominent roles particularly in the 60’s, had already been consigned to supporting roles in low-budget horror films for a number of years by the time “Alone in the Dark” came about, and his performance here is on par with most of his output in that time. If anything he’s a bit too campy here but he’s always a welcome presence in slasher films. Erland van Litdh is certainly a forceful presence here and the hulking actor is alarmingly convincing as “Fatty”. The rest here are more than capable although Schultz is more or less completely devoid of any kind of leading man charisma.
I heartily recommend the film for seasoned horror buffs who are more likely to appreciate the different things on display in what was essentially promoted as yet another slasher film in a market overcrowded with those types of flicks.
A fun side note concerning a certain appearance of a hockey mask on a maniac; apparently Jason Voorhees beat The Bleeder by some two months (“Friday the 13th; Part III” premiering on August 13th while “Alone in the Dark” came out in November) but there’s a good chance many people first saw the goalie mask first here as a symbol of terror.
Physical Copy
My copy of “Alone in the Dark” is the region A Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory issued in 2021. It’s A/V presentation is top notch and the disc is positively stacked with extra features; two sets of commentaries, four interview featurettes (among them director Jack Sholder), trailers and a still gallery. A great package.
Why physical copy?
I always encourage the acquisition of physical copies as I dread the day when films will only exist as files on computers and through streaming services. The companies that put the effort into making the discs, create new artwork or reproduce the originals, issue booklets and much more deserve all the financial support they can. Therefore I will always mention the Blu-rays or DVD’s (and yes; also if I review something streamed through Netflix or the like) even though I gain nothing from it personally.
