A strange man named Karl Rhamarevich dies shortly after discovering a way to become even more powerful in death through telekinesis. On the night of his burial in a crypt, Julie is to spend the night there as part of an initiation rite, supervised by two other girls. The crypt becomes a scene of horror as Raymar returns to life and deploys his horrifying telekinetic powers.
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I have only previously seen this on Betamax but now it has thankfully been released on blu ray here in Britain. AKA Mausoleum, which is where much of the film takes place. This is a slow but steady burn until the last half an hour which is when all the horror action takes place inside the mausoleum and it's well worth the wait. No sex, blood or even foul language, staple ingredients for so many horror films, but this film works perfectly without them. Phantasm, Carrie & Lucio Fulci are all names that spring to mind. Great casting including a young Meg Tilly, this is a horror movie that needs to be enjoyed late at night with the lights off!
This movie "One Dark Night" seems very tame and interesting. With no blood in it, it's still a good horror movie. Here you got a great cast of Meg Tilly, she plays Julie, a high school student who initially joins a clique called "Sisters" lead by Carol(Robin Evans) who happens to be Steve's(Robert Mason Daniels) ex-girlfriend. Along Carol is Kitty (Leslie Speights) and Leslie (Elizabeth Daily) who make up "The Sisters" test Julie so they make her one of them. There was a funeral earlier which a man named Raymar was interred into a mausoleum. He was delving into the occult and acquired telekinesis. His powers stayed active after his death. The three "Sisters" picked up Julie, dropped her off at the mausoleum, and went on their plan. All except Leslie. The estranged daughter, Olivia (Melissa Newman) hears the story of her father gaining power and abusing it, she knows what to do next. The other two members of the clique go on with initiation, unaware of Raymar's powers are in full force. This movie was coming close to becoming a zombie movie. It was still scary though. No fear, and vanity did the trick for Olivia. Goes to show that cliques aren't worth your life! Great movie, it got Adam West from "Batman" fame playing a non-positive person, and Kevin Peter Hall as Eddie. He can really play ball there. This movie is worth the watch! 3 out of 5 stars!
Let me start by saying I was only 2 when this movie came out but I loooove a good low budget 80's horror flick especially early & mid 80's(cheesy or not!)...a few good ones that I can think of off the bat are "Demons"..."Demons 2"..."Happy Birthday To Me"..."April Fools Day"..."Slumber Party Massacre"..."Witchboard"..."Chopping Mall"..."The Evil Dead" etc. BUT this movie is TOTAL garbage the special effects are crap (even for a low budget film),the storyline is whack & does'nt hold your interest...the acting is bad & not in a "so bad it's good" way...the killings are lame & ridiculous...& the finale was really poor! I kept waiting for it to get better but sadly the movie never lifts off,I can't believe people said this scared them when they 1st saw it cause this movie IS NOT scary! I watched this with my girlfriend on Friday (she also loves 80's horror) & when it was over we just watched each other & rolled our eyes then she buried her face in the pillow shaking her head & laughing in disbelief. Anyway enough of me slandering this doo doo pile of a "movie"...I actually feel awkward as I'm blasting this movie so much cause I'm not really a negative guy & I always try to find something good about movies I watch but I had to make an exception here because this film is that terrible! Those people that gave this movie a good rating & said it scared them must've been on acid when they watched it!
ONE DARK NIGHT is a highly overlooked and little known film from the early 80's that deserves an audience that I fear it will never get, and that's a damn shame. I have seen this film compared to others that have gotten a bigger name over the years, most notably PHANTASM, HELL NIGHT and MAUSOLEUM. This is a much different film than those and I don't see the comparisons other than the mausoleum, which is a bit similar to the one in PHANTASM, but not enough to make any real comparisons. I'm not sure how this one slipped through without a broader acceptance. Maybe it's all in the marketing, I don't know. Perhaps a remake would breathe new life into it, unless Raymar drained all the life out of it that is. I'm not too big on all the remakes that are abundant these days, but I think they do work well with lesser known films (except for the awful GHOST SHIP remake, which other than the opening scene and Mudvayne's Not Falling blaring, was utter crap). So if a remake of ONE DARK NIGHT would happen to fall into the right hands, I think it would make a lot of people go and watch the original. I know that's what I do if there's a remake of a film I haven't seen before. So anything short of a remake, I fear, would not bring this film back to life. Unless, of course, Raymar got his eyes on it.Anyways, ONE DARK NIGHT is a must see for horror fans, especially 80's horror fans ('cause we all know that's when the best horror movies were made). Creepy setting. Fairly good acting. Very good story. Campy. What more could you want from an early 80's horror film? What's that... nudity and gore? Well, sorry. No nudity or gore in this film, but it's still great nonetheless! A solid 8 out of 10. Enjoy.
