Nuit noire

Unlike the other movie with the occasional alternate title "Mauseoleum"; this one has a few great things going for it IMO. The effects were much better... the amateurish dialog writen to justify teenagers hanging out in the place was kept to a bare minimum (Thankfully) and the atmosphere was dark and very cool. I even like the concept and fee of the film. It is fairly original as far as you can say any horror movie is. Some other readers seemed confused about the "zombies" not moving their feet. They were not zombies at all!!!... The audio tape that 'Ramar's' daughter listens to explains that he used to like to 'move' a dead animal to scare the other still living animals in their cage to freak them out. His draining people of their life force psychically and using the corpses to scare the girls in the mauseoleum was a pretty cool story line and idea. I'm not suggesting this deserves any awards but the major flaws inherent in almost all horror movies did not render their ugly heads enough to detract me from enjoying this when I saw it years ago.. and a few days ago. It holds up pretty well for a 20 year old flick with a tiny budget and 'Batman's' pseudo dramatic line delivery. Don't expect an academy award winner... but watch it if you can locate it and see if you can get past it's flaws... I think you'll find a diamond in the rough.

I consider myself a veteran of horror films from the late 70's to the early 80's, so that time frame is in my wheelhouse, and this fits right into that category. While nothing in this mainly forgotten film has the wow factor, it also doesn't have the typical boring formula that plagued so many horror films around that time. This movie's "mausoleum" subject matter was sandwiched between other films of similar subject matter, such as Phantasm(1979), and Mausoleum(1983). The familiar faces include a serious acting Adam West, and Meg Tilly, as this was one of her first starring roles. I'm sure you know the plot by now, so I'll skip the details, but I felt the Raymar character was different from the standard "bad" guys in the horror genre, although the purple rays emanating from his eyes were a tad overdone when the madness and mayhem break out. I do feel the PG rating hurt, and perhaps that's a reason why it doesn't get the attention it probably deserves. Let me also mention I'm glad there wasn't the pointless nude scene, as films in that era were known for, but perhaps something could've been added to get an R rating. If you get the chance to catch this rarity, and you're a fan of the genre like me, then by all means spend the 90 minutes of your life deciding if this is worth your time. I'm glad I did.

As part of an initiation prank Julie (Meg Tilly of Psycho 2) has to spend the night in a mausoleum, but Karl Rhamarevich, a master of telekinesis has recently died and been put in there. When Julie's fellow sorority sisters desecrate where he's housed the real terror starts.

This little flick had a good deal of atmosphere and I enjoyed the build up, plus the last twenty minutes are just plain great. Anyone who's looking for a lost gem of an '80's horror movie needn't look any further. Highly under-appreciated. Plus Elizabeth Daily is adorable.

My Grade: B

Media Blaster DVD Extras: Disc 1) Commentary with director Tom McLoughlin and co-writer Michael Hawes; and trailers for "the Being", "Frankestien's Bloody Terror", "Just Before Dawn", & "Devil Dog" Disc 2) Alternate director's cut (that's almost unwatchable due to a bad print) & Behind-the-scenes featurette

Meg Tilly plays a girl that has to spend the night in a mausoleum as part of a club initiation. The club is basically just three chicks, one of which is Dottie from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Why Meg wants to be a part of this club is silly. It's pretty much the same motivation used on Leave It to Beaver whenever Beaver let his friends talk him into something stupid. Anyway, turns out a psychic vampire named Karl Raymar has been buried in the crypt Meg's spending the night. Wouldn't you know it, he returns from the dead this night and terrorizes Meg and the other girls.

It's a fun little movie if you don't have high expectations. There's zombies, lots of cool electrical effects, and some nice creepy atmosphere. Don't let the rating dissuade you from trying it out. It may not please the gore & guts crowd but it's a pretty good low-budget horror movie.

Multiply named and strangely casted, "One Dark Night" aka "Mausoleum", is one of the better early horror video-rentals. Original and quite raw, we meet Adam West briefly in this film about telekinesis and teen-age headgames. Meg Tilly is dared into spending the night in a crypt by "The Sisters" a high-school gang of hair-hoppers in blue satin jackets. The initiation is interrupted by the recently interred body of a mass-murdering psychic wizard called "Raymar". Surprisingly awesome make-up and scare effects paints this chiller film with style and deliver a heart-pounding climax.