IN SEARCH OF DARKNESS
Country: USA
Year: 2021
Director: David A. Weiner
Stars: John Carpenter (Halloween [1978], The Thing [1982]), Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Don Mancini (Child’s Play, Curse of Chucky), Cassandra Peterson (iconic horror host “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”), Doug Bradley (Pinhead from the Hellraiser series), Sean S. Cunningham (producer, Friday the 13th [1980], the House series), Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Nightmare), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), Bill Moseley (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Devil’s Rejects), Larry Cohen (The Stuff, It’s Alive), Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Stepfather II), Tom Atkins (The Fog, Halloween III: Season of the Witch), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, Dolls), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series, the Hatchet franchise), Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, House on Haunted Hill [1999]), Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Entertainment founder), Nick Castle (Michael Myers in Halloween [1978] and Halloween [2018]), Greg Nicotero (special effects Evil Dead II, The Walking Dead)
Also featuring a number of pop culture pundits and industry experts alike including Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor, Joe Bob Briggs (“The Last Drive-In”), Diana Prince (Darcy the Mail Girl from “The Last Drive-In”), Katie Featherston (the Paranormal Activity series).
Genre: Documentary
IN SEARCH OF DARKNESS
A 4+ hour documentary about 80s Horror Films? Just let me put on my jimmie-jams, grab my cat, Steve, for company, and get myself comfy! Proper love 80s horror, and love filling my tiny brain so full of random trivia that the useful things dribble out my ears like yoghurt. Steve doesn’t care so long as his belly gets scratched and I occasionally enable his weird addiction to crisps.
Anyhoo, I was really looking forward to this one when I heard about it. And I was not disappointed! What we have here is 4 hours of trivia about various horrors mixed in with punditry by some genre stars and famous fans, and a little social commentary of the times on the side. And I enjoyed every little memory and anecdote, along with every little titbit that reminds me of that decade (my first horror memory was watching copies of American Werewolf in London and Evil Dead in 1981 with my much older siblings – good times!). Really made me want to get hold of a whole bunch of movies I’ve not seen in years – and rewatch ones I’ve watched hunners of times already!
In short, this is a must-see doc for any horror fan! I loved it! The length may be a little off-putting for some, true, but it’s cracking. Might be a little unbalanced with certain years being more represented than others, and the list of movies mentioned is really random. Good times tho,
