Alone in the Dark: Collector's Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Alone in the Dark: Collector's Edition



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
One of the biggest advantages of Scream Factory getting access to Warner’s archives of titles is that we get hidden gems like Alone in the Dark in a nice new special collector’s edition from them. I have a real weakness for the movie as it combines some genuinely creepy thrills for us, with almost too good to be true humor that reminds of of a less HORRIBLE version of Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (though nothing can truly beat the humor of “Garbage day!!” from that flick. I’m giggling just thinking about it). Not to mention the fact that it also came out on my birth year, so my older brothers used to try and scare me with it as a child by sneaking it on during my birthdays as a kid (yes, the joys of older brothers in the late 80s/early 90s).

Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz, who will forever by Lt. Barclay to me) moves to a secluded little town with his family where he takes up residence at the local psyche facility as a new doctor. There’s he’s introduced to the 3rd floor residents who just so happen to be a quartet of convicted killers. One Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance), “Preacher” (Martin Landau), The Bleeder (Phillip Clark) and Fatty Elster (Erland van Lidth). The state is allowing the head of the psyche ward, Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence) to keep them there only on the condition that they’re kept in strict isolating from the rest of the patients. To do so Dr. Bain refuses to use bars and chains like a prison, but instead uses an electric field that runs the doors and window coverings so that the men don’t feel like prisoners.

However, a power outage in the middle of the night allows the 4 to escape, where they decide to go and terrorize Dr. Potter’s family, whom they delusionally believe killed their previous doctor that ushered him into their lives. Naturally chaos ensues as Dr. Potter attempts to keep his family safe while trying to keep the men from murdering everything in site.

Alone in the Dark is technically called a slasher ala Halloween etc, but it really isn’t. Only the last 30 minutes have any semblance of your traditional slasher tropes in it (random teenagers getting it on, knives, blood, the whole works), but instead plays out like a creepy thriller for the first hour. In fact, the whole terror and horror aspect of the plot doesn’t come up TILL that last 30 minutes, despite what the back of the case may tell you. Insomuch that it really is a bit of a hybrid horror experience.

The movie is hilariously bad in some ways. So much so that you can’t help but genuinely bust up laughing at some of the cliches and insane things that go on. Dr. Bain is so out to lunch that he comes across almost as a joke from the beginning, and some of the over acting by everyone getting killed would put something like Silent Night, Deadly Night in the running for unintentional hilarity. At the same time it really delivers some creepy scenes as well. Knowing that Fatty supposedly go in jail for “assaulting” minors the scene with his daughter is so tense, and the audience so fearful, that you can cut said tension with a knife. That and both Martin Landau and Jack Palance absolutely save the movie too. Jack Palance is forceful and powerful as ever, relating a sense of unhinged madness that is hard to do properly. But Martin Landau steals the show as “Preacher”. His visuals and demeanor just reek of unhinged insanity, and can shift between evil and confused at a moment’s notice. That creepy wide smil of his really helps sell it too. I honestly got chills whenever he came on screen.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

I can’t remember seeing the DVD ever, as my days of watching this flick were back in the VHS days, but Scream Factory HAS announced that this is a new master taken from an interpositive. The end result is a nice looking Blu-ray that hits way about it’s weight class. I remember the VHS looking pretty stinking awful, but this master looks fairly clean and clear for the most part. There is some softness in the dark, as well as grain spikes during some of those moments and occasional banding as well. Otherwise it’s a very well textured looking disc with plenty of details and a nice cool hue to it. The outdoor shots at the asylum give it a very “fall” era look with burnished ambers and browns and reds, while the home itself is more of the cool blues of that the new cover looks like. All around this is a very impressive looking disc.






Audio:

Alone in the Dark sports a very nice, if not simple, 2.0 Stereo track in lossless DTS-HD MA. It’s not flashy, it’s not showy, but it gets the job done nicely with a few elements of harshness on upper ranges of dialog (as is pretty common with these 80s movies). The score and effects come through very cleanly and everything is well balanced. Baked in bass is a little anemic (even with using processing on the track to bring out a .1 channel it felt milder than expected), but at the end of the day this is more than satisfactory for the type of movie at hand.









Extras:

• NEW 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM AN INTERPOSITIVE
• NEW Out of the Dark – an interview with director and co-writer Jack Sholder
• NEW Mother Choppers: The Sic F*cks Remember Alone in the Dark
• NEW Sites in the Dark: The Locations of Alone in the Dark
• NEW Audio Commentary with genre film critic Justin Kerswell and film historian Amanda Reyes
• Audio Commentary with director Jack Sholder
• Bunky Lives! – an interview with actress Carol Levy
• Still F*cking Sick – Catching up with the The Sic F*cks
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Radio Spots
• Still Gallery

Final Score: ​

Alone in the Dark is one of those genre titles that really is a must own for horror fans who enjoy movies that are so bad that they’re good. Now, this doesn’t get up to the sheer insanity of some 80s horror movies, but it still is just the right mix of dumb 80s over acting and craziness, along with genuinely creepy moments that deliver the scares. Scream Factory has given us a nice new transfer (I haven’t seen this since the VHS era, so I can’t comment on the DVD) and it looks very nice for a rough old 80s movie. Well worth picking up if you’re an 80s horror fan.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Dwight Schultz, Erland van Lidth, Deborah Hedwall
Directed by: Jack Sholder
Written by: Jack Sholder, Roberty Shaye, Michael Harrpster
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 14th 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Asere]

Fun indeed. This one is one of my favorites. Thanks for the review. I may consider buying it.