Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Alone in the Dark was a highly original and very underrated 80's slasher film, it also happens to have a great cast of actors in it. How they got Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Plesance all in this film was just amazing and elevates this b-movie horror flick to a higher standard, watching these guys acting crazy was great and alot of fun. Therapist Dwight Schultz has just arrived at an experimental mental institution which is run by Dr. Leo Bain (Pleasance) who points out that the people here aren't patients just 'voyagers!.

Potter has been hired as a replacement for the previous doctor who the `voyagers' believe Potter has murdered but has actually moved to another job. It is their continuing delusion which finally manifests itself in a wish for revenge that makes them escape the institution during a power cut and hunt down Potter and terrorize his family. One of the things that makes Alone in the Dark so special is that the majority of the characters are well rounded and believable. From Donald Pleasance who parodies his Dr. Loomis character from Halloween, as a well meaning but decidedly off the wall psychiatrist who freely gives out matches to pyromaniacs and whose treatment methods range from telling the `voyagers' that he can mold or infiltrate their dreams.

Donald Pleasence was really over the top which is hilarious, then there's the other psycho inmates like Martin Landau who was outstanding as a maniacally cackling ex-minister Byron Sutcliffe who use to burn churches with people still in them and Jack Palance as Frank Hawkes an ex-prisoner of war along with two others including a creepy child molester and a huge guy who doesn't speak and wears different masks including a hockey mask ;-). The film was great and had a ton of black humor in it with some nice jump-out-of-your-seat moments. Like I said the characters were nicely developed and memorable unlike other slasher flicks which had your typical dumb teenagers in them. There is also a great scene where a babysister who looked like a typical bimbo (not bad looking though ;-)) who just after having sex with her boyfriend almost gets stabbed by a knife underneath the bed, this scene had a lot of suspense and tension cause you didn't know what was gonna happen next and I'm not going to ruin it but you'll have to watch what happens.

Alone in the Dark was a highly amusing and great early 80's slasher flick with a great cast and also has a neat surprise ending and a cool scene where a killer is wearing a hockey mask (this was done before Friday The 13th part 3). The director Jack Sholder was also responsible for Nightmare on Elm Street part 2 so he knows his way around a good slasher flick, this somewhat forgotten slasher flick was fantastic despite having some dumb moments especially with the trapped and terrorized family it was still great fun, I highly recommend this to horror fans and two thumbs up!.

Wow, I was stoked to see this movie after seeing it on list after list of top horror movies. However, I really only got to see about half because the first CD and then the subsequent replacement CD sent both had major flaws and wouldn't allow me to see the movie without pixelated images the entire time. However, from what I did see, this was a great movie with an interesting twist - -note: pay attention to the nosebleed! If you can find the movie elsewhere or from another production company, do so.