Alone in the Dark
Brief Synopsis
Four escaped lunatics invade a doctor's home.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Jack Sholder
Director
Jack Palance
Donald Pleasence
Jana Schneider
Ken Burns
Earl Michael Reid
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
1982
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 33m
Synopsis
Four escaped lunatics invade a doctor's home.
Director
Jack Sholder
Director
Cast
Jack Palance
Donald Pleasence
Jana Schneider
Ken Burns
Earl Michael Reid
John Weissman
Gordon Watkins
Phillip Clark
Laura Esterman
Michael Medeiros
Erland Van Lidth De Jeude
Brent Jennings
Robert Pastner
Fred Coffin
Paula Raflo
Ralph Corrado
Keith Reddin
Annie Korzen
Carol Levy
Larry Pine
Deborah Hedwall
E D Phillips
Steve Daskawisz
Elizabeth Ward
Dorothy James
Norman Beim
Mallory Jones
Lin Shaye
Crew
William Bellettiere
Production Assistant
Pino Bernardini
Sound
Jim Bigham
Assistant Director
Elisha Birnbaum
Foley
Tom Brumberger
Special Makeup Effects
Allan Byer
Sound
Michael Christopher
Stunts
Cliff Cudney
Stunt Coordinator
Alexandra Demarande
Costumes
Michael Estler
Stunts
Tony Farentino
Stunts
Conrad Fink
Production Assistant
David Franco
Music Supervisor
Arline Garson
Editor
Gale Goldberg
Location Manager
David Z. Goodman
Production Assistant
Lyzanne Goodson
Makeup
Bill Hale
Production Assistant
Michael Harpster
From Story
Benni Korzen
Executive Producer
Linda Laias
Production Coordinator
Don Lumpkin
Special Makeup Effects
Scott Macqueen
Production Assistant
Robert Maier
Production Manager
Matthew Malach
Assistant Director
Joseph Mangine
Director Of Photography
Stephen Marro
Unit Manager
Joe Masefield
Sound Editor
Peter Monroe
Art Director
Suzanne O'sullivan
Wardrobe
Marjorie Phillips
Production Assistant
Todd Rankin
Production Assistant
Sara Risher
Associate Producer
Tom Savini
Other
Renato Serio
Music
Robert Shaye
Producer
Robert Shaye
From Story
Jack Sholder
From Story
Jack Sholder
Screenplay
Matt Vogel
Visual Effects
Webster Whinery
Stunts
Mel Zelniker
Sound
Greg Zoll
Stunts
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
1982
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 33m
Articles
Alone in the Dark
Four escaped lunatics invade a doctor's home.
Alone in the Dark
Four escaped lunatics invade a doctor's home.
Alone in the Dark - 1982 Cult Horror from New Line
Alone in the Dark came out during a trying period for horror. The runaway success of Halloween and Friday the 13th brought on waves of imitators, and slasher movies were all the rage. Like Sam Raimi's Evil Dead, Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case and even Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street - which few recall all had region-by-region runs, not wide national openings - Alone in the Dark arrived on the fringes of mainstream horror. Frankly, it's not as good as those three movies and its B-list cast is actually more upscale than the first two, including Dwight Schultz just before he would become a TV star on The A-Team and Martin Landau and Jack Palance at low ebbs, roughly a decade before each would win Supporting Actor Oscars®. Like those other alternative horror standouts, Sholder's movie is another smart, down-and-dirty genre picture that was a welcome relief from the brainless sequels and knock-offs that so often made horror profitable, but vacuous, during the 1980s.
Alone in the Dark often shows its influences of the day. The musical score is one of several from the 1980s that echo John Carpenter's Halloween keyboard-based score, and the story includes such genre conventions as a precocious young girl (Elizabeth Ward) and a frisky babysitter (the shapely Carol Levy), the latter of whom, of course, has a coitus interruptus demise (call it the P.J. Soles role). But both of those stock characters are good, entertaining characters as rendered here, not burdens. And Sholder's script also injects post-punk energy into his story of Dr. Dan Potter, the new psychiatrist (Dwight Schultz) at a New Jersey insane asylum who quickly becomes the enemy of the irrational psychopaths on the locked third-floor ward (including characters played by Martin Landau and Jack Palance), who think he killed the predecessor they liked better. The story gives Dan a New Waver for a younger sister, Toni (Lee Taylor-Allen), who drags big brother off to a club to see The Sic F*cks, the New York punk/comedy act who not only provide appropriately grisly humor while onstage, but whose scene also sets up the amusing gag that finishes the film.
The denizens of the punk club (both on-stage and off-), the looters who run wild after a blackout strikes the area and increasingly frazzled Toni, who's getting over a nervous breakdown, suggest there's a fine line between the mundane and the mad, one that's echoed by the New Age-y asylum head (Donald Pleasence from, of course, Halloween) and brings a layer of irony and humor to the movie's events. At one point, the asylum's pot-toking head doc pooh-poohs his new staff member's negative impression of the third-floor psychos by telling him, "They're crazy. Isn't everybody?"
We might all be loony, but we're not all maniacal. The psychopaths plot to break out of the ward and kill the new shrink in his own home, and they strike when the blackout occurs, eluding the high-tech security devices that keep them inside - that is, "high-tech" within the context of a 1982 low-budget horror movie (as always, with B movies, sometimes you just have to play along). An asylum orderly (Brent Jennings), the babysitter and her boyfriend (Keith Reddin) all have fatal encounters with Palance's paranoid ex-soldier, Landau's pyromaniac ex-preacher and Erland van Lidth's oversized child molester. By the time Dr. Potter and his family hunker down in their darkened house, the maniacs have laid siege to it, with a stolen crossbow, a hunting knife and three headfuls of twisted grey matter fueling their thirst for vengeance. Dr. Potter's transition from nerdy man of words to a man of action and a neat plot twist involving Tom (Phillip Clark), the friendly hunk Toni brings home from an anti-nuke rally, thicken the drama during the movie's intense climax.
The combination of grudge-bearing sickos and family under siege make Alone in the Dark feel more like the original Cape Fear than the slasher movie its marketing suggested, and Alone in the Dark often compares favorably to Martin Scorsese's cartoonish Cape Fear remake from a decade later. For a budget-priced disc, the Alone in the Dark DVD is impressively generous. Extras include recent interviews with Carol Levy, who makes a big impression as horny babysitter Bunky, and with three of the Sic F*cks. All have fond memories of the movie and interesting stories to tell. There's also an audio commentary track by Sholder, who later made another dandy 1980s genre movie, The Hidden. Among Sholder's many topics are the logistical troubles of making his first movie, the vagaries of dealing with set-in-their-ways old pros like Palance and the reason why he didn't cast Matthew Broderick, who auditioned for the role of Bunky's boyfriend. Alone in the Dark might not have been what teen horror audiences wanted back in 1982, or now, but its cleverness hasn't diminished over the years and it's still appreciated by those of us who saw it during its original run. If there's any cinematic justice, its DVD will win it more fans.
For more information about Alone in the Dark, visit about Alone in the Dark, visit Image Entertainment. To order Alone in the Dark, go to TCM Shopping.
by Paul Sherman
Alone in the Dark - 1982 Cult Horror from New Line
Jack Sholder's Alone in the Dark was never a great
movie. But 23 years after its release, it continues to be a
very good one. Most definitely not to be confused with the
2005 Christian Slater-Tara Reid stinker of the same name, the
1982 Alone in the Dark has a
characters-trapped-by-fiends-who've-cut-the-phone-line second
half that wouldn't work in today's cell phone era, but that
last half is also an extremely well-done exercise in terror
that can still give you the creeps.
Alone in the Dark came out during a trying period for
horror. The runaway success of Halloween and Friday
the 13th brought on waves of imitators, and slasher
movies were all the rage. Like Sam Raimi's Evil Dead,
Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case and even Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street - which few recall all had
region-by-region runs, not wide national openings - Alone in
the Dark arrived on the fringes of mainstream horror.
Frankly, it's not as good as those three movies and its
B-list cast is actually more upscale than the first two,
including Dwight Schultz just before he would become a TV
star on The A-Team and Martin Landau and Jack Palance
at low ebbs, roughly a decade before each would win
Supporting Actor Oscars®. Like those other alternative
horror standouts, Sholder's movie is another smart,
down-and-dirty genre picture that was a welcome relief from
the brainless sequels and knock-offs that so often made
horror profitable, but vacuous, during the 1980s.
Alone in the Dark often shows its influences of the
day. The musical score is one of several from the 1980s that
echo John Carpenter's Halloween keyboard-based score,
and the story includes such genre conventions as a precocious
young girl (Elizabeth Ward) and a frisky babysitter (the
shapely Carol Levy), the latter of whom, of course, has a
coitus interruptus demise (call it the P.J. Soles
role). But both of those stock characters are good,
entertaining characters as rendered here, not burdens. And
Sholder's script also injects post-punk energy into his story
of Dr. Dan Potter, the new psychiatrist (Dwight Schultz) at a
New Jersey insane asylum who quickly becomes the enemy of the
irrational psychopaths on the locked third-floor ward
(including characters played by Martin Landau and Jack
Palance), who think he killed the predecessor they liked
better. The story gives Dan a New Waver for a younger sister,
Toni (Lee Taylor-Allen), who drags big brother off to a club
to see The Sic F*cks, the New York punk/comedy act who not
only provide appropriately grisly humor while onstage, but
whose scene also sets up the amusing gag that finishes the
film.
The denizens of the punk club (both on-stage and off-), the
looters who run wild after a blackout strikes the area and
increasingly frazzled Toni, who's getting over a nervous
breakdown, suggest there's a fine line between the mundane
and the mad, one that's echoed by the New Age-y asylum head
(Donald Pleasence from, of course, Halloween) and brings a
layer of irony and humor to the movie's events. At one point,
the asylum's pot-toking head doc pooh-poohs his new staff
member's negative impression of the third-floor psychos by
telling him, "They're crazy. Isn't everybody?"
We might all be loony, but we're not all maniacal. The
psychopaths plot to break out of the ward and kill the new
shrink in his own home, and they strike when the blackout
occurs, eluding the high-tech security devices that keep them
inside - that is, "high-tech" within the context of a 1982
low-budget horror movie (as always, with B movies, sometimes
you just have to play along). An asylum orderly (Brent
Jennings), the babysitter and her boyfriend (Keith Reddin)
all have fatal encounters with Palance's paranoid ex-soldier,
Landau's pyromaniac ex-preacher and Erland van Lidth's
oversized child molester. By the time Dr. Potter and his
family hunker down in their darkened house, the maniacs have
laid siege to it, with a stolen crossbow, a hunting knife and
three headfuls of twisted grey matter fueling their thirst
for vengeance. Dr. Potter's transition from nerdy man of
words to a man of action and a neat plot twist involving Tom
(Phillip Clark), the friendly hunk Toni brings home from an
anti-nuke rally, thicken the drama during the movie's intense
climax.
The combination of grudge-bearing sickos and family under
siege make Alone in the Dark feel more like the
original Cape Fear than the slasher movie its
marketing suggested, and Alone in the Dark often
compares favorably to Martin Scorsese's cartoonish Cape
Fear remake from a decade later. For a budget-priced
disc, the Alone in the Dark DVD is impressively
generous. Extras include recent interviews with Carol Levy,
who makes a big impression as horny babysitter Bunky, and
with three of the Sic F*cks. All have fond memories of the
movie and interesting stories to tell. There's also an audio
commentary track by Sholder, who later made another dandy
1980s genre movie, The Hidden. Among Sholder's many
topics are the logistical troubles of making his first movie,
the vagaries of dealing with set-in-their-ways old pros like
Palance and the reason why he didn't cast Matthew Broderick,
who auditioned for the role of Bunky's boyfriend. Alone in
the Dark might not have been what teen horror audiences
wanted back in 1982, or now, but its cleverness hasn't
diminished over the years and it's still appreciated by those
of us who saw it during its original run. If there's any
cinematic justice, its DVD will win it more fans.
For more information about Alone in the Dark, visit about Alone in the Dark, visit Image Entertainment. To order Alone in the Dark, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Paul Sherman
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States on Video September 13, 2005
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1982
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1982
Released in United States on Video September 13, 2005
