'Alone in the Dark' is an almost all but forgotten slasher from the heights of that era. It looks and feels almost identical to a Freddy or Jason flick(it should as Jack Shoulder is in the director's chair). It is a movie that evokes all the Pavlovian responses of blood and spooky stuff. It's a level above though and I think has a lot of cult campy fun awaiting viewers who seek it out. The script is way too much in it's silliness and contrived story lines but 'Alone in the Dark' is absolutely blessed with a stellar cast. The likes of Jack Palance and Martin Landau fall into the roles of our killers. They make the film as does the familiar face of horror legend Donald Pleasance.
Jack Palance and Martin Landau as our crazed psychos,I feel as I have to reiterate that. It sounds odd but it is absolute brilliant casting. Heck Palance's presence practically could be a walking horror film in his mad intensity. Landau is having a blast too. He knows what this is and so he spends his time with his mad eyes glaring at the camera. I think had it been lesser character actors this thing would have not been able to find that right mix between too much and just enough silliness.
Landau and Palance are brilliant but the main attraction of an already stacked cast is Donald Pleasance. Pleasance is very consciously parodying his Halloween role. There are moments of nonchalant deadpan macabre humor from Pleasance that are hilarious. There's a moment where Pleasance gives the mad pyromaniac Landau a match that is just so beautifully understated in this mad world.
The central premise though is kind of hard to get by in that it is so silly, (a mental institution harboring psychos is powered by electricity, a storm causes a black out and they just walk out the door). If the film had gone for a more comedic edge it may have worked but it just seems like too much of a glaring 'Really?!' even for this kind of movie.
Jack Palance and Martin Landau as our crazed psychos,I feel as I have to reiterate that. It sounds odd but it is absolute brilliant casting. Heck Palance's presence practically could be a walking horror film in his mad intensity. Landau is having a blast too. He knows what this is and so he spends his time with his mad eyes glaring at the camera. I think had it been lesser character actors this thing would have not been able to find that right mix between too much and just enough silliness.
Landau and Palance are brilliant but the main attraction of an already stacked cast is Donald Pleasance. Pleasance is very consciously parodying his Halloween role. There are moments of nonchalant deadpan macabre humor from Pleasance that are hilarious. There's a moment where Pleasance gives the mad pyromaniac Landau a match that is just so beautifully understated in this mad world.
The central premise though is kind of hard to get by in that it is so silly, (a mental institution harboring psychos is powered by electricity, a storm causes a black out and they just walk out the door). If the film had gone for a more comedic edge it may have worked but it just seems like too much of a glaring 'Really?!' even for this kind of movie.