Friday, October 20, 2017

Brief Thoughts - ONE DARK NIGHT (1983)


A few years ago I saw a fairly crappy looking print of ONE DARK NIGHT and liked it. I had obtained a copy because I had heard some good things about the film and, at the time, the only way I could see it was through rather dubious means. This month I rewatched the film because a pretty decent print has popped up on Amazon Prime. Now I don't have to feel so bad about talking about this movie and kind of recommending it again. 


I've seen this movie sold as a slasher movie and while it has some superficial similarities to movies in that genre I would term it much more a supernatural horror movie. It certainly one of the few films I can think of that features a telekinetic killer ghost! Our main character played by Meg Tilly is coerced by gang members to sleep overnight in the mausoleum/Crypt housing the newly dead, possibly psychic local loon who was somehow responsible for the death of six women. Tilly's character  wants to be a part of the gang and is willing to take whatever hazing these girls can dream up. Of course her potential  sisters aim to sneak into the place and terrify her throughout the evening and, as you might expect, things go horribly wrong. The dead fellow somehow rises from his tomb and begins wreaking havoc all over the mausoleum. Other than a few character complications that's really all there is to the story and that simplicity allows this movie to work pretty darn well. The film shows it's inspirations (PHANTASM and POLTERGEIST) without seeming to steal things outright from them. It's not a classic but it's solid and it does its job very well. Its flaws are the flaws of budgetary limitations, the 1980s and the subgenre that it is a part of. 



2 comments:

Unknown said...

It's on Amazon Prime? I guess I'll be checking that out. Thanks.

James Lewis said...

This movie brings to mind Commander USA's Groovy Movies. I think that is where I saw it for the first - and only - time. I remember liking it very much. Thanks for keeping it alive. I'll have to check it out again.