Alone in the Dark

When the story begins, Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz) arrives at a psychiatric hospital to begin his new job. The place is run by Dr. Bain (Donald Pleasance) and he seems, at times, to be as weird as the inmates. His relationship with the patients sure reminded me of the Poe story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and the movie based on it, "Stonehurst Asylum". But the story goes a different direction. There is a huge power outage and the security system at the hospital goes out...and the inmates find the alarms and doors no longer function properly. Soon a group of dangerous psychotics leave to go on a killing spree...all the while Dr. Bain seems amazingly chill. What's next??

This is a slasher film at heart, but it has more depth and more story to it than a Friday 13 or Halloween-type movie. It also helps that there was an impressive cast--with Jack Palance and Martin Landau playing two of the super-dangerous psychotic escapees. Now this does NOT mean the film is especially brilliant, as like other films in the genre, it has some cliches--such as the identity of the fourth slasher as well as how the psychotics all attack one at a time instead of at once (thus making them easier to beat).

By the way, although Dwight Schultz is not a household name, Star Trek fans will likely recognize him as the extremely nervous and geeky Lt. Broccoli.

"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.

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.

Four dangerous patients from a mental institution escape one evening and go after their doctor in "Alone in the Dark". Dr. Dan Potter is just starting his job at an high security/high-tech asylum, run by Donald Pleasence's character Dr. Bain. He is assigned to four of the most dangerous men at the asylum; "the preacher" who sets fires to churches with people in them, "the bleeder" who gets nosebleeds after each time he kills someone, "Fatty" who is a child molester and an interesting fellow named Frank Hawkes. They believe that Dan Potter murdered their old doctor, someone they trusted and valued very much. So they set out to murder Dan and anyone that gets in their way including his wife, sister and daughter. A city wide blackout gives the four men a perfect escape as they trap the Potter family inside of their new house in this early eighties chiller.

I thoroughly enjoyed 'Alone in the Dark'. It is like a slasher film, but has a lot of smarts to it as well as a good story. There is tons of character development in this on as well, which only makes the viewers feel for the characters and want them to survive. Each character has their own personality, and the actors play it very well. Donald Pleasence plays the doctor who runs the asylum, but he appears to be just as deranged as some of the patients. It has a "Don't Look in the Basement" feel to it. The character Toni (Dan's sister) spent time in an institution recently, so it doesn't do her any good going through this attack by the escaped patients.

Martin Landau, Jack Palance and Erland Van Lidth give brilliant performances as the patients. I also thought Deborah Hedwall (who played Dan's wife) was superb in the supporting role as well. There is also a subplot going on throughout the film; who and where is "the bleeder"? When the four men escape, he takes off from the group leaving us to wonder where he went. Well let me tell you, we find out all about the bleeder in one terrifying scene that left me shocked! Overall, 'Alone in the Dark' is a creepy little eighties horror flick with some good scares and interesting twists/turns. Check this out!

8/10

So I was in a slasher movie binge at the time and I watched this one right after "Tourist Trap" and "Alice, Sweet Alice".

I felt like this one was kinda "meh" but It had to be higher than Tourist Trap® because at least there was a lot of gore and people dying© which is expected for a slasher flick. (although I gave both movies a rating of 6 on IMDB, my personal rating would be 6.25 for Tourist trap and 6.75 for Alone in the Dark).

The story was reasonable but didn't get me caught up. I've spend basically the entire movie wondering if I should stop watching and go do something else like drawing, reading, etc...