Alone in the Dark

Director - Jack Sholder (Tales from the Crypt, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge)

Starring - Jack Palance (Twilight Zone: Rod Sterling's Lost Classics, Batman), Donald Pleasence (Halloween, Prince of Darkness), and Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Frankenweenie)

Release Date - 1982

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "They're out...for blood!  Don't let them find you"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Several years ago I was at a convention, possibly Cinema Wasteland, when I saw a few copies of the 1982 slasher Alone in the Dark on blu.  This release looked fantastic but it was clearly a boot.  I debated about snagging it because I had never seen the film before.  The guy offered me one of the copies for around $10 so I snagged it.  Ironically, I never took the time to actually watch it due to my work and review schedule.  A few weeks ago I received the press release for Scream Factory's release of the film on blu.  This was exciting news because it gave me a reason to finally watch the film and I could do it with a legitimate release instead of the boot that I'm ashamed to say I bought.  Like always I want to thank Scream Factory for sending this one over.  

     The film follows a doctor at an experimental mental institute that suffers a power outage.  Some of the more unstable patients escape and make their way to the home of a new doctor who they believe killed the doctor he is replacing.  As the night falls the doctor and his family finds themselves trapped in their home with the three deadly patients waiting for their opportunity to strike.

     I had always heard good things about this film but I did not expect to love it as much as I did.  It's not try to reinvent the slasher sub-genre but it does offer up a different approach to our beloved slashers.  The acting in this one is fantastic which is something you don't really see in a slasher from the early 80s.  Palance, Pleasence, and Landau are fantastic actors and watching them all deliver performances like this is out of place for two of them.  Pleasence had already cemented himself in horror history as Dr. Loomis by this point so seeing him tackle a similar role was a no brainer.  Palance and Landau deliver some seriously unhinged performances that made this film what it is.  Landau was easily my favorite part of the film and his performance here should be embedded in horror history.  The rest of the cast is great but they don't stand out like these.  The story for this one is a slasher at it's heart but does have a different set up that most slasher films do not.  The slashers released at the beginning of the 80s all followed someone that was wronged seeking revenge.  This one follows mental patients who think someone they liked was murdered and seek revenge against the doctor they think is responsible.  It does loosely used this trope but the mental hospital is a great set up for a slasher.  I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this story and the pacing makes it even more fun.  Finally, the film has plenty of blood and some fun kills but it's not as gory as one would expect.  I loved the kills and how they fit the film but some gory deaths would have set it over the top.  Overall, Alone in the Dark is the most underrated early 80s horror film that I've been fortunate to review.  It was a lot of fun and embodies everything that I love about genre films from that decade.  I highly recommend checking it out and the Scream Factory release is the best way to watch it.