Creature of Darkness
Directed by Mark Stouffer
Courtesy of Ed Baran Publicity / MTI Home Video
Released: 2010
You know those movies that you just love because they are not done very well but they are still extremely entertaining? Come on…don’t look at me like that…you know what I’m talking about. If you are any kind of movie watcher, then you have at least ONE title that popped into your head the instant I asked that question.
For me, Creature of Darkness is one of those movies.
Released last April, this film stars Devon Sawa (from Idle Hands and Final Destination fame) as Andrew, a young man who is plagued by the same horrific nightmare every night. In his dream, he sees his gruesome death at the hands of a strange, terrifying creature. In an attempt to escape the terror of the dreams, Andrew joins his friends for a weekend off-road trip in a remote area.
Unfortunately, the creature in Andrew’s nightmares is real. It stalks them as they try to enjoy the outdoors, snatching them away one by one, until only a few are left. Andrew and the remaining party members band together and form a dangerous plan in a desperate effort to survive.
This movie was a lot of fun for several reasons. It tries to take itself seriously for the most part, but there are just too many goofs and editing flaws that keep it from doing so. For example, about seven minutes in, there is a scene where an actor turns to Andrew and speaks. Unfortunately, we only hear a couple of background noises, instead of the character’s dialogue. I guess the boom mike didn’t pick up the actor’s voice and it was not added in during post-production. As a result, the scene is a wash and Andrew’s response to the unheard lines is confusing.
Also, the dialogue itself in certain scenes is very campy. At one point, as the group is gearing up to go to battle with the creature, one of the characters spouts off with, “I wanna see that thing mounted in the Smithsonian!” Really? Who talks like that? If it were me in that situation, I’d be more concerned with blowing the creature to goo instead of stuffing and mounting it for future generations to see.
Another problem I had was the creature-vision. Throughout the film, the audience gets to see through the creature’s eyes at various points. But the blurry, color-ridden view is almost too blurry, making some of the images on-screen indiscernable. I found myself having to rewind a couple of times to make out what the creature was actually seeing.
And finally, not to spoil anything for you, but towards the end of the movie, the creature starts toting around a small axe that it takes from one of its victims. I found this ridiculous, particularly because the creature has long, wicked talons on the end of each hand, not to mention a mouth full of pointed teeth. Why do you need an axe when you’re strong enough to rip the spine right out of a victim’s back?
But like I said, even with its flaws, this movie was a lot of fun.
The close-up creature effects were excellent, and I loved the details that were added in, such as the unique way the creature blinked. The gore throughout the film was great as well. This film isn’t a splatter-fest, but it uses the little human carnage it does show very well. And there are some truly unique aspects to the gore, too. I can honestly say that I have never seen a human spine used as bolas before. The creature in the film is apparently very crafty when it comes to using human body parts as weapons.
This film won’t win any Academy Awards, but I enjoyed it overall. I recommend it to anyone who likes campy humor mixed in with their horror.
MSB
