The Dark

1979 "An alien mutilator stalks and kills human prey during the night."
4.2| 1h32m| R| en| More Info
Released: 27 April 1979 Released
Producted By: Film Ventures International
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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At night the Mangler stalks the streets of Los Angeles, killing and mutilating random victims. On the trail are a TV reporter, the father of one of the victims, and a police detective, but despite their efforts only the mysterious psychic DeRenzy knows what the killer is and how to stop it.

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Director

John "Bud" Cardos

Production Companies

Film Ventures International

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The Dark Audience Reviews

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
BA_Harrison An alien lands in Los Angeles and proceeds to decapitate humans using its laser-beam eyes.A change of director mid-production (Tobe 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' Hooper replaced by John 'Bud' Cardos) and a last-minute alteration to the plot (the original script's zombie replaced by a nasty extraterrestrial) undoubtedly contributed to The Dark's failure as an effective horror movie. But the worst thing about the film is the fact that it more than lives up to its title by being extremely dark, making it a real strain on the eyes throughout.It's a shame, because there's a fun film in there trying to get out: Cardos isn't a 'great' director, but he's more than capable of delivering an entertaining B-movie as evidenced by his Kingdom of the Spiders and Mutant. The cast is also pretty good for this kind of fare, with William Devane and Cathy Lee Crosby making affable leads, and Richard Jaeckel suitably stoic as the beleaguered cop on the case Det. Dave Mooney. Also surprisingly good is Roger Kellaway's soundtrack, with dischordant music and eerie whispering voices providing plenty of atmosphere.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the pew pew alien eyeball police massacre at the end.
thelastblogontheleft OH MAN, this movie was something. I'll preface this by saying that Nate actually chose this one. Considering how many horror movies I make him watch in the month of October (okay, who am I kidding, it never really ends), it seems only fair to let him choose which one we watch once in a while. If you pair a ridiculous and loosely sci-fi plot with the cinematic style of the 70s, Nate is going to be on board, so we dove right into The Dark, and… it was an adventure.Apparently Tobe Hooper was originally hired to direct this — he's actually listed as an uncredited director on IMDb — and it pains me to think of how much cooler it could have possibly been. When he signed on, the storyline was quite a bit different… but then he fell behind schedule and the producers fired him and brought on John "Bud" Cardos, who had previously done quite a bit of acting and working as a stuntman in addition to directing a few other feature films. The plot was changed pretty significantly towards the end of the shoot — in an effort to cash in on the recent success of Alien — and I think the entire film suffered as a result.There really isn't much more to the plot than there's a mysterious killer prowling the streets of Los Angeles and everyone is trying to either avoid getting killed or catch the killer or both.** SPOILERS! **So I actually loved the opening scene of this film. The initial crawl, actually, was awesome, too… but I wasn't prepared for how little any of that would really come into play (aside from the fact that they just wanted to cover their asses so they could show a vaguely otherwordly creature instead of just a dude killing people). The music was all whispers and chaotic piano punctuated with the clicking of heels on pavement… the lighting was so dark and contrasted that you could only see the occasional glimpse of blonde hair in a beam of light or shoes whisking along the ground… it was great.The creature itself — I'm not even sure what to refer to him as, or even that it IS for sure a "him", though they referred to it as The Mangler in the movie — is not much more than a less hairy werewolf in jeans. But wait, it can shoot lasers out of its eyes! Lasers that often don't seem like they're even coming from its eyes OR hitting its targets, but dammit, they are somehow still super effective! It growls and snarls a lot and it has superhuman strength (but don't they all?) but it limps along clumsily when it chases people. Ah, logic.The cops, Detective Mooney (Richard Jaeckel) and his donut-eating companion, Detective Jack Bresler (Biff Elliot), are awful. Like they literally do nothing but scowl and pick fights with random people until the end, when Mooney is ONLY in the right place at the right time because he's obsessed with Roy Warner (William Devane), a man he had once helped get put into prison.But it had some highlights, too. I loved the entire scene with "Sherm" (Keenan Wynn) and Zoe (Cathy Lee Crosby) in the parking garage, from him hilariously scaring her (twice) to his fevered sprinting from what he imagines may be the killer. At one point, Zoe asks him "you aren't afraid of the dark, are you?" and he responds with, "No, I'm afraid of what's in it". Awesome. I also loved seeing Casey Kasem as the police pathologist (I only wish he had played a more central role).It has all of the usual oversights of a crappy sci-fi B-movie. The effects are pretty terrible. The creature — The Mangler, the alien, the werewolf, whatever it is — has absolutely no backstory, explanation, or motive. Two characters watch The Mangler break through a wall of concrete blocks WITH ITS BARE HANDS and then not a minute later think they can hold it back with a locked wooden door. There are all kinds of mentions of The Mangler beheading and eviscerating its victims… but any time we see someone get killed, his laser eyes seem to just explode them. WHICH IS IT, WRITERS? Also, the thing is seemingly unaffected by countless bullets being fired at it, but ends up literally just going POOF! and exploding when touched by fire. Okay?Also, the very last scene shows a blind man — one who had been shown repeatedly throughout the film but never referenced directly — as a voice-over tells us that "only those who walk forever in darkness will have nothing to fear in the dark" and like DAMN that would be kind of a cool line if the movie itself wasn't such a disjointed mess. Come on, Tobe, come back around and do this thing for real.But despite all of that — every single bit — I STILL ENJOYED THIS MOVIE. This is the formula that can never be pinned down, friends. A movie can have everything it possibly should to be a quality movie and can be hated… and a movie can be a hot mess of bad effects and stale acting and a plot that is barely hanging together by some weak threads and it can be super fun. This firmly falls into the latter category. So, ya know, go give it a watch.
TOMASBBloodhound The Dark is truly one of the worst films I've ever seen. Certainly the worst I've reviewed since Jaws of Satan last winter. One must wonder how much of this film Tobe Hooper directed, or if he could have made it watchable had he stayed on for the whole job. Apparently it was originally supposed to be just another rampaging zombie file. But by the time it was finished, we had a villain wandering the streets of L.A. shooting people with lasers from his eyes. Yikes! The primary star is William Devane, an always watchable actor. He plays a successful author once convicted of manslaughter. Why did they need these two angles for his character? The answer... they didn't. Anyway, Devane's daughter is the first victim of the "Mangler" and he sets out to pressure the hapless police force to solve the crime. But each night, there is another victim and nobody has any plausible explanation. Kathy Lee Crosby plays a news anchor looking to soak up the ratings for this story for herself. There are other useless characters such as a psychic who can predict future victims. There is a struggling young actor with a drinking problem. There is a mind-boggling appearance by Casey Kasem as a forensic pathologist. He actually gives one of the better performances. How many Scooby Snacks did they have to give him to take the role? The Dark is one of the most boring films I've ever seen. That is its main problem. So little action its incredible. Considering how much is said about the "horrific" nature of the murders, we see little if any gore. The final five minutes where the killer is zapping an army of cops with his laser eyes is hilariously cheap, but at least there is finally some action in the film. A complete waste of your time. Do not handle heavy machinery until you have had at least 8 hours of sleep after watching this crud. 1 of 10 stars.The Hound.
Ralphus2 With B-grade 70s/80s horror, like "The Dark", you never expect a cinematic masterpiece. You don't expect brilliant dialogue and pacing and Oscar-worthy acting. And it's just as well, because "The Dark" lives up to all lack of expectations.The dialogue is so pathetically cheesy. Lots of glib, snappy, clichéd lines; lines delivered for their 'that's what a hard-nosed cop says' value rather than their relevance to the context in which they occur. Notably the lines delivered by a hilariously cornball Richard Jaeckel as Mooney--especially when engaging with his constantly eating sidekick (another cops cliché).It's clear that this film was re-edited to make it something other than it was originally intended to be. The sequence of events, the way characters become involved suddenly, the appearance of certain characters in scenes where they don't really belong--at least not until later; it's all so amateurishly jumbled. And all is accompanied by a ridiculous "soundtrack" featuring some garbled Spanish-sounding words and a tacky, ominous "The Dark...nessss". Ridiculous! Cathy Lee Crosby brings all her plasticky bodaciousness to her role and William Devane (pre-jowls--although you can see the creases at the corners of his mouth that were soon to evolve into his most notable feature; surely those jowls are worthy of their own IMDb listing!) gives the best performance I've ever seen of an aging divorced hippie ex-convict-cum-crime novelist whose daughter has been beheaded by a mutant alien zombie mangler.Great B-grade fare! No. No, it isn't. It's awful!