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Blu-ray Sheds No Light on ‘The Darkness’ [Review]

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As much as this pains me to admit, there’s just no getting around it: The Darkness is a huge misfire for Australian horror director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek, The Belko Experiment). Completely devoid of scares or ingenuity on any real level, this lifeless family melodrama could have aired on the Hallmark Channel and nobody would have been the wiser. I mean, hands down, the scaries thing in the movie is its graphic depiction of bulimia.

And, I swear, I’m not even trying to be snarky. I’m a fan of everybody involved in this project, from writers Shayne Armstrong & Shane Krause who broke onto the scene with 2008’s wonderful suburban serial killer flick Acolytes, to producer Jason Blum and actors Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell. It feels like an odd miscalculation from a group of talented folks who should have been able to see the problems a mile away.

So what happened here? Was The Darkness a troubled production? Was it a rushed shoot with too little resources? Was McLean hamstrung by an underdeveloped script?

To anyone interested in the answers to these question, prepare to be disappointed in this week’s Blu-ray release which sheds no light on the story behind the film; a story that I have a feeling is more interesting than the film itself. Which is too bad, because often a great commentary, or series of candid interviews can go a long way to earning a film goodwill with genre fans. Lionsgate’s release of Guillermo del Toro’s  Mimic director’s cut comes to mind as an example of this. Allowing del Toro to spill the beans on the troubles he faced on that production changed the narrative on the film and it has something of a new place in the eyes of his admirers.

Unfortunately, McLean and Blum don’t sit down to discuss the film, nor do they show up for even a simple publicity reel. There are no behind the scenes featurettes with the actors or to provide additional information on the aboriginal myths that fuel the film’s premise. Instead we get a couple deleted scenes and an alternate ending which, if it had stayed in the film, would have made the film even worse, essentially killing the film’s message of family unity in the face of great adversity.

Speaking of the myths that fuel the film’s premise, I was on fully on board with the concept of a vacationing family unwittingly bringing something ancient and deadly home with them from holiday. If you’ve ever been to, say, the Catacombs in Paris, you’ll know how blatantly tourists refuse to follow any rules, touching everything and taking pictures when they shouldn’t.

And these dudes *should* have been super scary, right? Right?

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Unfortunately, they’re really not. Particularly during the film’s final moments when they sort of just stand there while the heroes dispatch them one by one. For a studio with a track record like Blumhouse, it truly boggles the mind.

At the end of the day, The Darkness is an odd misstep for Blumhouse, as forgettable at home as it was in theatres. Maybe one day we’ll get some insight into what happened, but until then wait until it hits Netflix.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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