Editorials
[Keeping it Golden] All Star Slasher ‘Alone in the Dark’
The Slasher Golden Age began with Halloween in 1978 and ended right around the time a group of protesting moms with too much time on their hands led to the truncated theatrical release of Silent Night, Deadly Night in 1984. Of course, the production of slasher films didn’t stop there. Theses films remained prominent throughout the rest of the decade, only they became even more “economical” (read: indie AF) as time went on. In the early 80s, horror meant quick cash at the box office and even bigger dollar signs came pouring in with the advent of home video. The budgets got lower and the profits larger. Still, there’s nothing as magical as the Golden Age.
With “Keeping it Golden” I aim to chronicle my journey watching every single slasher film from that period, 78′ – 84′. By my calculations (and I’m certain I’m missing a few), there are a total 194 films featuring masked murderers and nubile corpses in the making, and I’m going to watch them all! Sure, some of them are classics I’ve seen a zillion times already (Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street). However, there are plenty that I’ve never gotten around to, or, simply, never knew existed (Fatal Games, The Phantom Killer). For a list of all the films, head here. And, please, if you notice any omissions – let me know.
“Keeping it Golden” #1: Alone in the Dark (1982)
“A mind moving fast is crazy. Mind slow is sane. Mind stopped…is God.” – Donald Pleasence as Dr. Leo Bain
Friday the 13th: Part 3 was released on August 13th, 1982. As I’m sure we’re all aware, this is the film where one Mr. Jason Voorhees discovered his iconic hockey mask. Only three months later, November 12th, 1982, another sicko with a penchant for murder got ahold of one too. The Bleeder might not have been intentionally copying the deformed camper with mommy issues, but it’s safe to say he never earned quite the same reverence in the slasher canon as ol’ Jason. It’s likely the film in question, Alone in the Dark, was in production around the same time as Friday 3, and the dueling hockey masks were simply a coincidence. While, Friday the 13th was a surefire franchise at this point, fledgling New Line Cinema was still looking for their own horror cash cow. Wes Craven and his crispy nightmare demon were still two years away, and producer Robert Shaye was turning to then newbie Jack Sholder for a slasher film to compete in the crowded dead teenager market.
Sholder was a first time writer/director, raring to take a crack at a feature. His script for Alone in the Dark played with a lot of the cliches already inherent in the slasher genre while still managing to elevate the material from just another run of the mill “kids get killed by a psycho” schtick. Sholder presented not just one villain but four! In the film, a young doctor, Dr. Dan Potter, moves his family to a new town for a job he’s secured at the Haven, an out there mental institution ran by the hippie-dippie Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence…playing an even more off his rocker doc than Loomis from the Halloween series). Bain has interesting ideas in regards to mental health. He believes his patients should be free to make their own decisions and roam about as they please. This philosophy even extends to the murderous psychopaths on the third floor. There are no bars on their windows, and the only thing keeping them from the outside world is an electronic [not so] state of the art security system. And unfortunately for Dr. Potter, the lead loonies believe he not only replaced their previous doctor but that he killed him. When a blackout sends the entire town into darkness, it’s only one helpless security guard and a few flights of stairs between the inmates and their intended victims – Potter and his family.
The setup is simple but much more layered than one would typically expect from the genre. There’s plenty of gold to mine from Pleasence’s conked out portrayal of Dr. Bain in juxtaposition to the uptight Potter. Potter’s family also manages to help add some emotional heft to the story. His wife, Nell, is nervous about his wild sister, Toni, coming to visit. Toni has just recovered from a nervous break and Nell isn’t sure if she can handle it. Their daughter, Lyla, is just about as precocious a child that’s ever been on screen, but the young actress at play manages to make the character far more endearing than such roles tend to be. In fact, a moment late in the film where young Lyla requests a Valium to cope with the mounting tension from the killers circling at the family’s door is easily one of the movie’s standouts.
Of course, we have to talk about the killers! The three main baddies are Erland van Lidth as Fatty, Martin Landau as Preacher, and Jack Palance as Hawkes. It’s astonishing to see such established actors as Landau and Palance supposedly “slumming” it in a genre picture, but they both bring their A games to the roles. Landau as the religious zealot who just can’t help but punish the wicked, never misses a chance to let loose a maniacal laugh capped off with a chillingly demented grin. It’s Palance that steals the show, however. As Hawkes, Palance perfectly portrays a man who could smile in your face one second and just as easily as crush your throat with his bare hands the next. It’s a perfect balancing act between someone who knows they’re crazy, knows they have to pretend not to be crazy, and someone who just doesn’t give a fuck that they’re crazy. The man can (and does) cycle through all three in a matter of one line delivery. It’s chilling and, quite honestly, a performance for the horror film record books that folks have been sleeping on for too long now. He’s really that good.
It doesn’t take long for the entire town to descend into madness after the blackout. The power goes out and people are instantly rioting and looting the local shops. This proves the perfect backdrop for our escaped loonies to stock up on the arsenal they need for their prey. SPOILERS FOLLOW. The Bleeder, which I mentioned up top, is the fourth escaped lunatic whose identity is kept secret. We first see him sporting a stolen hockey mask and ripping out the throat of a rioter with a garden hoe. We learn his moniker is due to the fact his nose bleeds profusely after he’s landed a kill. The fact that we never see his face early on comes into play with a wicked twist actually concocted by the film’s producer, Robert Shaye (also New Line exec). While the film would still work without the addition of this character, it culminates in a moment that pays off in spades during the final act. END SPOILERS.
Ultimately, Alone in the Dark is a smart, suspenseful addition to the Slasher Golden Age (further referred to as SGA). While the bodycount is relatively high and some of the kills are fairly bloody, this isn’t a film for gorehounds. A few bits and bobs of grue should satisfy those with a bloodlust, however. The main draw is easily the performances from Hollywood heavyweights (Palance and Landau) and horror royalty (Pleasence and even Lin Shaye pops in for a fun cameo). Several suspenseful moments will draw you to the edge of your seat. And if you’re like me, a certain jump scare designed by the legend, Tom Savini, will have you practically leaping out of your skin (for reals, it’s a good one). Somewhat early in the slasher cycle, Alone in the Dark doesn’t necessarily play by all the rules (perhaps, because they weren’t all set in stone yet). It features an ending that defies expectations yet feels completely satisfying in a dramatic sense, just not the kind of slam-bang climax audiences would typically expect of this type of film. It’s this elevated approach that makes Alone in the Dark the type of film worth championing…and the perfect start to “Keeping it Golden.”
The Golden Tally:
Bodycount: 10
Jump Scares: 3
Best Murder Sequence: Machete Bed
SGA Tropes: Fake Out Dream Sequence (though, surprisingly from a villain’s perspective), Black Character Dies First, Babysitter Invites Over Boyfriend, Sex Equals Death, Casting Donald Pleasence
Until next week, Keep it Golden!
Auteur Filmmaking is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days in reference to big name directors like Quentin Tarantino and even Wes Anderson, but the truth is that film is a collective medium, and no one person can be responsible for every single aspect of a particular production. However, the smaller a film’s budget, the bigger the individual impact of every creative decision behind it – and the easier it becomes to identify a genuine auteur.
This isn’t necessarily a judgement of value, as blockbuster filmmaking comes with its own challenges and a good movie remains a miracle regardless of how big the crew is, but I’ve always been more interested in soulful b-movies produced by handfuls of passionate artists than blockbusters backed by creative armies.
That’s why I love exploring low-budget franchises that never left the hands of their original creators, as you really get to know the artists involved with these flicks and can accompany their evolution over a period of time. With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to join me in this multi-part series as we look into a vampire saga helmed by one of the most fascinating auteurs of the 1990s. Naturally, I’m referring to Ted Nicolaou’s criminally underrated Subspecies!
The Birth of an Unlikely Horror Franchise
A proud graduate of the University of Texas’ Film program, Nicolaou got his start in the industry as a sound technician working on Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. From there, the filmmaker would go on to work for notorious indie producer Charles Band, the founder of both Empire Pictures and Full Moon Productions. According to Nicolaou, Band would usually contact him with an offer to direct a feature after more prominent filmmakers, such as the late, great Stuart Gordon, had already refused, meaning that his projects tended to have lower budgets and more inexperienced crew members.
The plans for Subspecies began almost immediately after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, with screenwriter David Pabian turning in an initial draft of the film after a Romanian producer contacted Band and explained that Romanian tax incentives could cover the cost of film production there so long as Full Moon took care of the post-production process. Since Stuart Gordon was unwilling to travel to Romania, Ted Nicolaou ended up taking over the picture.
However, while the financial incentives meant that this Romanian-American co-production could look and feel much more expensive than it really was, with Nicolaou scouting for locations in advance and selecting real castle ruins to be featured in the movie, the director was soon faced with an incredibly difficult shooting process. In interviews, Nicolaou would later describe the experience as something of a nightmare, with language barriers and the generalized distrust of capitalist outsiders sabotaging many of the team’s plans for the film.
In fact, the script, which had already been altered by Band, ultimately had portions of it rewritten by both Jack Canson and Nicolaou himself in an attempt to adapt the story to their unique limitations.
Radu Is One of Horror’s Greatest Underrated Villains
In the finished film, which was released directly to video in 1991, we follow a pair of American anthropology students, Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and Lillian (Michelle McBride), as they reunite with their Romanian colleague Mara (Irina Movila) in her native land. The group intends to study the folklore surrounding the secluded town of Prejmer, but their research is cut short by the return of Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) – the evil son of a vampire king (Angus Scrimm) who had previously established a truce with the region’s human residents. It’s now up to Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) to protect the girls from a fate worse than death as the power-hungry vampire seeks to control a magical artifact known as the Bloodstone.
Right off the bat, you may have noticed that the film’s premise sounds decidedly old-fashioned when compared to other vampire movies from around the same time. While the 1990s saw the rise of cool-looking bloodsuckers with badass elements borrowed from Westerns, as well as the sexy aristocrats of Anne Rice’s stories, Subspecies has a lot more in common with Nosferatu and the Hammer Horror series than any of its contemporaries.
This is both a blessing and a curse, as the film falls victim to overly familiar genre tropes while also standing out as a rare example of a ’90s vampire flick that isn’t afraid to flex its muscles as a Creature Feature. In fact, I’d argue that the presence of age-old clichés is a small price to pay when confronted with one of the most compelling vampire antagonists in all of cinema.
Named after Vlad the Impaler’s real-life brother, Anders Hove’s Radu is such a fascinating character and the main reason why Subspecies is still worth watching 35 years later. From his animalistic mannerisms to the joy he feels in simply existing as a chaotic creature of the night, and that’s not even mentioning the iconic makeup that almost certainly inspired the undead from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Radu is a hypnotic presence harkening back to a time when audiences didn’t mind purely evil villains that couldn’t be redeemed through tragic backstories or sex appeal.
Gothic Atmosphere on an Indie Budget
Of course, the film’s Romanian setting and authentic art direction do a lot of the heavy lifting whenever Radu isn’t around. From the masked festivals of the village to the visually interesting selection of local extras, Subspecies’ multicultural elements help it to stand out when compared to similar flicks from the ’90s.
That being said, Nicolaou’s unique eye for special effects and exciting action sequences – as well as Vlad Paunescu’s excellent cinematography – make the movie a delight for fans of expressionist cinema and old-timey gothic horror. While the crew is obviously dealing with limited resources, many of the flick’s blemishes (such as the odd stop-motion demons that serve Radu) end up feeling more like charming idiosyncrasies than actual flaws.
I’d argue that the only real issue here is pacing, as there are long stretches of film where the protagonists are simply bumbling around without realizing what’s really going on around them. Thankfully, the gorgeous visuals and surprisingly effective soundtrack usually make up for this. Besides, how can you dislike a movie where shotgun shells are loaded with rosary beads and our lead vampires duke it out in a dramatic swordfight that would feel out of place during the golden age of Hollywood?
Your overall enjoyment of Subspecies will mostly depend on whether or not you find low-budget corner-cutting and janky practical effects charming rather than distracting, but I know I’ll keep coming back to this Full Moon feature again and again in the future.
That being said, while this first movie is worth revisiting by its own merits as the birth of an indie horror icon, I’d like to invite you to join us as we look into the cult sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II soon.
You must be logged in to post a comment.