Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark (1982) ** (out of 4) Four mental patients (two played by Martin Landau and Jack Palance) escape from the asylum planning to kill their new doctor during a citywide blackout. Since the DVD announcement it seems everyone was calling this a great, if somewhat forgotten slasher but I was somewhat disappointed. The first hour is pretty slow with not too much action but the final half hour really picks up the pace and has some mild suspense. Palance, Landau and co-star Donald Pleasence all chew up their scenes like they're going out of style, which is pretty fun since two would go onto win Oscars. I caught up on the twist ending early on but the "final" ending is a real hoot.

Alone in the Dark (1982) is an underrated horror classic. Where else can you find the great character actors Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau and Jack Palance in one movie? All three in their hammy glory chewing scenery and over acting to the Nth degree. The tale as about a new psych doctor (Animal from the A-Team) who must deal with his new "clients". Ever since their favorite doc disappeared, the natives have become restless. But during a freak weather storm, the three goons decide to leave the hospital and seek out the good doctor and his family. What happens next? Oh, that would be telling. The three inmates (Landau, Palance and the bald dude from Stir Crazy) are great. It's a toss up between Martin and Jack on who get's the award for most over the top performance in this one. Jack is very restrained and eerily creepy whilst Martin is just plain bonkers, we're talking full tilt boogie madness. A couple of effective kills and a wonderful performance by the cast make this one a winner. Hard to find. I wish they put this classic out on D.V.D. The original video cover and theatrical poster is a one of a kind gem. Recommended for horror fans.

What do you get when you add the following: wide scale blackout, 4 escaped lunatics, a family consisting of a stupid psychiatrist, a brat girl, a punk-rocker sister, and a few other idiots, widespread riots, and a lieutenant that wants to do something but is killed before he can? If I had spent half of the movie caring I would be able to tell you, but I am sorry, I was busy crying over the wasted $1.50. There is supposedly suspense in this, but how can there be suspense when you don't give a rats crap about anyone in the film? Most horror movies at least have a few really good looking teenagers who you care about because they look good and you don't want them to get killed, but the only good looking girl in this gets cut out pretty quickly! After that we have nothing to offer. Even the good acting of Donald Pleasance and Jack Palance are hopeless in saving this movie.

"Alone in the Dark" is one of those movies that always shows up on the "best movies you've never heard of" lists. By those who have heard of it, it is thoroughly overrated. You might ask how a movie with Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasence could go wrong, and well you might. But here we are. I think the problem was something at the screenplay or direction level. The movie just doesn't come together properly. It feels loose and disjointed, which is anathema to a thriller. Pleasence and Landau do what they can in their roles but they are at sea in a baggy and pointless film.

Undoubtedly any horror fan will agree that "Alone in the Dark" is worth seeing if only just for the names in the cast and the type of characters they depict. The almighty Jack Palance and Martin Landau as dangerous & bloodthirsty mental patients on the loose? Yes please, because they're both usually cast as sophisticated villains or malicious scientists, politicians, etc… Donald Pleasance as an eccentric psychiatrist whose ideals & principals are completely opposite to those of his legendary Loomis character in the "Halloween" films? In Carpenter's classic he insists to lock up Michael Myers and throw away the key whereas, here, he's a fanatic supporter of bringing convicted murderers and child molesters back into society! And then, finally, Dwight Schultz, the goofy one from "The A-Team", as the only more or less sane character in the entire story! The concept may be derivative and the screenplay is perhaps a little too implausible at times, but kudos already to writer/director Jack Shoulder for gathering this terrific cast and moreover for convincing them to play such adversed roles. Even aside from all the aforementioned benefits, I personally think "Alone in the Dark" ranks amongst the most superior slasher efforts of the early 80's. There are hardly any dull moments in the script and several of the stalk 'n slash sequences are literally oozing with suspense and gripping atmosphere. The ambitious shrink Dr. Potter arrives for his first working day at the infamous Dr. Bain's "Haven"; a mental institution with a more than positive attitude! The psychopaths are referred to as "voyagers" and even the most dangerous patients of the third floor (including a child molester, a deranged war veteran and a serial killer who spontaneously starts to bleed from his nose when excited) are approached with a cheerful open-door mentality. There are no locks on the cell doors, so when the entire city suffers from a major electricity blackout, the loonies escape and promptly head for Dr. Potter's personal address. In their frenzied minds, Dr. Potter killed his predecessor and now they'll have their vengeance by going after his entire family. The pre-credits sequence is sublime, albeit a bit irrelevant to the main theme of the film, as it shows how the patients really feel about Dr. Bain despite his fake-friendly charisma. The first half of the film is rather tame, but compelling notwithstanding, and once Dr. Potter and his family are trapped inside the house and besieged by the mad raving (and seemingly invisible) assaulters, there's non-stop suspense and excitement. The murders are inventive and eerie, there are some nicely grotesque twists and the climax is suitably intense. The promising director Jack Sholder went on to direct inferior sequels in popular franchises (like "Nightmare on Elm Street 2" and "Wishmaster 2") but he'll definitely always be remembered for this entertaining horror gem as well as for the severely underrated Sci-Fi effort "The Hidden". Recommended

Mediocre slasher film finds escaped mental patients terrorizing their doctor and his family. Strong echoes of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13" in the last half of the film. Some similarites can be spotted in the setup, as well. To bad the writers couldn't borrow some suspense. "Alone in the Dark" does provide a few good scares. For example, the knife through the bed scene; as well as the daughter's first encounter with one of the psychopaths. Until then, however, it's very boring. Overall, a very predictable and forgettable film. If you're a big slasher fan, or if you like Donald Pleasance, then you might enjoy this. Everyone else is advised to stay clear.

One of the worst horror/horror-comedies I've ever seen. So bad it's bad. Marin Landau laughing and walking slowly isn't scary. Neither is Jack.....*long pause*..........Palance. Also not scary whatsoever is the fat guy from The Running Man. You know the opera guy. This movie can't decide if it wants to be a full out horror movie or a horror/comedy. It's really, really, really bad. I think a 3/10 score is being kind. It's not scary at all but also not funny at all. It's cool to see Murdock from the A-Team in the movie. I'm amazed they were able to convince Donald Pleasance to be in it. And how did they get Martin Landau? His performance in this movie is one of cinema's all time worst, it's laughable (not in a good way though). Martin Landau: "Hahahahaha! *smile*." How hard can that be? Not very creative. Avoid, there's no reason to see this turkey (I saw it to see Jack Palance).

Four dangerous psychopaths (two played by Jack Palance and Martin Landau) easily escape from an asylum run by a VERY liberal doctor (Donald Pleasance) during a blackout. They proceed to terrorize a doctor (Dwight Schultz), his wife, their little daughter, the doctor's sister (who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown) and a stranger. And the electricity is out, the phone lines are cut and the house is completely isolated... I saw this in a theatre in 1982 and it scared me silly. It had me jumping and two sequences (one involving a baby sitter on a bed and the other with blood dripping on a woman's face) had me cringing. Seeing it over 20 years later, it's not as scary but still is an above average horror film. The film moves quickly, there are nice directorial touches from Jack Sholder (who went on to direct "Nightmare on Elm Street 2") and it has an above average cast--Pleasance seems a little embarrassed but Palance is good and Landau is clearly enjoying himself. There are quite a few scary moments, a good spooky score and the final half hour is an all out assault on the family. Also it's pretty restrained in terms of gore. But there are huge gaps in logic which I didn't notice the first time and I really did not need a sequence where it is insinuated that a little girl has been molested. Also the young girl of the family is the most annoying little brat I've ever seen--I was desperately hoping she'd get knocked senseless just to shut her up. And it really has no ending. Still, if you ignore the plot holes this film really can work on you. Best seen at night, in a dark room...and all alone:)

I don't know why I hesitated with this one. I guess I just always said I would rent it and didn't. Finally, a few nights ago, I just got it. And I must say, I liked it. Set in New Jersey, my lovely state, a power outage in town releases four psychotic inmates of a mental institution, held in their own floor by electricity-controlled doors. Interesting twist. Before that, they had formed a grudge against their new doctor, Dan Potter, who they have convinced themselves as the killer of their old, beloved doctor, who has actually just transferred to somewhere else. Also, Dan's slightly wacky younger sister Toni comes to stay with the family, and had recently recovered from a breakdown. Nonetheless, she is quite an interesting character, and joins the Potter family as the innocents in the attack towards the end of the movie. The movie has a good setup, and some very creepy moments, especially when the child victimizer shows up at the home and pretends to be the daughter, Layla's, babysitter. Later on, of course, the real babysitter, Bunky, shows up, as does her boyfriend, and are taken out in some quite suspenseful scenes. The best part of the movie, though, is when the psychopaths show up and attack the Potter home, and all inside. This includes a detective, Dan and his wife Nell, Toni and Layla, and a man Toni and Nell met at a protest and invited to stay for dinner. There is a very scary jump-out-of-your-seat moment, where some of Toni's old "ghosts" from her past haunt her once again. And, in one very good scene, is a scene of retaliation of the family, and shows a very interesting scene where Nell is struggling to get herself to stab the attacking killer, while Dan hollers at her, "Stab him!" Not to mention the fact that Nell has a really great scream. And she isn't the scream queen type. But her scream is perfect. I don't want to give away too much, but see this movie. All the performances are good, and the characters are likable. A fun movie, too, especially towards the last quarter of the movie, during the attack. I recommend not hesitating like I did and getting this.

"Alone in the Dark" centers on a small New Jersey community, where Dr. Dan Potter is assigned to work as a new doctor at "The Haven", a mental institution outside of town, run by Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasance). The third floor of the institution homes a group of very insane, murderous men, who are under careful watch. But when a blackout occurs and the entire area loses it's electricity, the electrical powering that keeps the men behind closed doors is of no help. The murderous men escape from the Haven, and head towards town, where they begin a murderous rampage before reaching Dr. Potter's new home. Not to be confused with the 2005 creature horror flick of the same name, "Alone in the Dark" boasts a fairly unique premise that hasn't been used (town crazies let loose to wreak havoc on the city after an electrical shortage). If you ask me, I thought this was a fairly original idea for a horror movie, and a clever one at that; taking into consideration the time this film was made, this was a fresh idea. The problem here is that the film lags quite a bit, and really for no good reason really; one would think character development would fall in place here, but not really. It plods around aimlessly for about 45 minutes before really kicking in, which was a bit of a disappointment, because, if written better, this could have been a much more frightening movie. The idea of lunatics sieging a local house during a blackout is terrifying - it's too bad this film wasn't. Aside from that, it does have some positives. For one, the acting is quite good. Donald "Dr. Loomis" Pleasance plays the lead doctor of the institution perfectly, in a role that is similar to his in the "Halloween" series, but a bit different. Martin Landau and Jack Palance play a couple of the town psychos flawlessly - they're menacing but strangely funny as well, and this balance works. There are a couple of nice scare sequences (including the babysitter and her boyfriend in the bed ordeal), and above all, this film does manage to be fairly entertaining despite its dragging feet. The ending is also quite quirky, but it flows with the rest of the film's tone and was a nice little laugh to end on. Overall, "Alone in the Dark" is a slightly above-average horror/thriller that is worth seeing at least once. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the premise, quirky campiness, and decent acting make it a watchable horror movie. It's not your usual slasher flick, and for that I have to give it some credit. Not bad, not great, but just above the usual, if not a little different from. Worth a rental, you may enjoy it. 6/10.