An Exploration into Everything Great About 1980’s Horror Films
Many of you know that I am a huge fan of the horror movie genre. I grew up in a time when horror movies were going through a massive reinvention. That coincided with the true movement where metal music became popular, MTV was becoming a movement, and the undercurrent of pro-capitalism was making U.S. citizens really think. Welcome, my friends, to the 1980’s.
I spent over a decade beginning in the early 2000’s contributing to the movie review site, www.HorrorView.com. Over time, I jumped from reviewing everything to becoming mostly the indie review guy and expanding to interviews and book reviews. It was a wonderful hobby to have. I got to celebrate and boost the signal on things I enjoyed either at the time or when I was growing up.
Today, my reviews cover everything from pop culture to sci-fi to comics, but when I experience a film like In Search of Darkness, it really strikes a chord and brings me back to why I do any of this in the first place. This movie is a trek through my childhood and adolescence, and probably has a lot to do with why I express myself the ways I do.
What is In Search of Darkness?
ISOD is written and directed by David A. Weiner and is part of the catalog from a company called CreatorVC. It is part of a series that also includes In Search of Tomorrow that explores 80’s sci-fi, and In Search of the Last Action Heroes which does the same for action films. This film, however, stays focused on the incredible decade that introduced fans to Freddie Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, Pumpkinhead, Pinhead, and so many more icons.
The format is documentary styled, with different topics ranging from sound editing and soundtracks to monster design to creating iconic killers to the power of female protagonists. It features a wonderful cast of actors, filmmakers, writers and directors. Interspersed between these segments are a chronological countdown that features important films from each movie of the decade.
The In Search of Darkness Cast
The interviews feature insight from an amazing array of those involved with signature 80’s horror. The list of actors include Tom Atkins (The Fog), Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), Lori Cardille (Day of the Dead), Nick Castle (Halloween), Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), Caroline Williams (Stepfather 2), Keith David (They Live) and Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th X.)
Directors and filmmakers include Stuart Gordon (From Beyond), Tom Holland (Child’s Play), Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger), John Carpenter (The Thing), Larry Cohen (It’s Alive) and Joe Dante (The Howling.) Composer Harry Manfredini weighs in on the Friday the 13th franchise. Effects master Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead) talks about working on the Evil Dead films.
They’re joined by genre mega-fans and those carrying the torch, like Joe Bob Briggs, Diana Prince aka Darcy the Mail Girl, Fright-Rags creator Ben Scrivens, Slipknot front man Corey Taylor, Heather Wixson from the Daily Dead, and Mike Redman from Deformer. Watching this crew geek out as hard as I did was a welcome experience.
In Search of Darkness as a Movie
Fangoria editor-in-chief Phil Noble Jr. sums it up well. There is a nostalgia to these films that is undeniable. The thing that scared you or inspired you or made you change how you think in your early years never truly goes away. Every time you see it or feel it, you’re brought back to that first exposure. I certainly had that experience multiple times while watching this movie.
One example is my relationship with the movie, Creepshow. It was the first movie I ever saw on VHS. My brother’s friend brought it over and we watched it. I was probably 11 years old at the time. The first sketch scared the life out of me. When Jon Lormer’s character crawls out of the grave in the Father’s Day sketch, I was terrified. I don’t even remember watching the rest of the film the first time around. I remember watching it dozens of times later, usually during the day with the curtains open and all the lights on.
Another sketch in that same film features the brilliant E.G. Marshall as a germaphobe who is trying to keep any hint of cockroaches out of his airtight apartment. It ends famously with hundreds of roaches crawling out of his body. That scene was disgusting and yet it was brilliantly written, with John Harrison’s score punctuating every tense moment and jump scare. Years later, I had a chance to meet Tom Savini at a HorrorFind weekend in Baltimore, and it wasn’t long before our conversation turned to Creepshow and other incredible visual effects like the Zuni Hunter doll from Trilogy of Terror.
Conclusion
In Search of Darkness is an exploration into arguably the most creative and original decade in horror movie history. As several of the people interview state, “it was about what they could make, not what they could remake.” This was the birth of the slasher films. It propelled visual effects to accomplish impossible tasks. It married the raw instincts of violence and sexuality in ways that had never been attempted. Plus, it featured some damn good kills and one liners. Find out more about In Search of Darkness at the official CreatorVC site and start building that list of movies to revisit and share with the kids.