The final love letter to 80’s horror
Friends who know me know that I spent over a decade writing reviews and interviews for the wonderful Horrorview website. That site is long gone, but the torch has been passed to plenty of fantastic writers, content creators, and podcasters. One of the most dedicated displays is the movie trilogy from CreatorVC, In Search of Darkness. (I reviewed the first film HERE).
There are now three of these fantastic deep-dive movies, each clocking in around five hours of interviews and footage and behind-the-scenes looks at the rise of horror movies in the 80s. This was the time of slashers. This was the expansion of horror comedy. The most famous franchises of all time were launched in the 80s. Yes, Halloween was technically in the 70s, but Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Puppet Master, and Evil Dead became beloved franchises during this time.
This decade gave us the rise of home video. Movies came home. Horny teenagers could watch characters get it on and get stabbed, chopped, slashed, and bitten to their hearts’ content. Movies like Black Roses, The Video Dead, Intruder, and Hobgoblins were available. Sequels no one expect to movies like Sleepaway Camp and Fright Night emerged. International movies became available. The earlier films that targeted adult audiences like The Exorcist, The Omen, and Psycho gave way to slasher franchises with gratuitous sex and even more gratuitous violence.
Just as the earlier installments, the third film interviews a ton of iconic actors, directors, and filmmakers. These include Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), Robert Englund (Freddy Kruger), Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing), Dee Wallace (Cujo), Alex Winter (The Lost Boys), Tracie Thomas (Death Proof), Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th), Joe Dante (Child’s Play), and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator).
I didn’t go into watching Part III thinking that I needed another five hours of documentaries about the movies that I grew up loving. I was wrong. This film was an incredible mix of movies I hadn’t thought about in decades, movies I want to still introduce to the next generation of fans, and yes, movies, I hadn’t actually seen.
CreatorVC deserves all the credit in the world for yet another wonderful installment of this series. Other projects that they have put out include similar ventures into sci-fi and video games. They also have deep dives on Aliens (and one coming up on John Carpenter’s The Thing).
In Search of Darkness Part III will appeal to hardcore horror fans, those new to the genre who would love to know how we got here, and anyone remotely nostalgic for the days of Blockbuster, Erol’s, and your local video store.
Find out more about this movie and the others from CreatorVC here.