Saturday, March 21, 2009
As I write this, I have just popped in my freshly acquired DVD of One Dark Night, released way back in 1982. On one hand, I am excited and expecting a real treat in genuinely atmospheric, creepy horror; but on the other hand, I’m wondering whether a movie that’s rated PG can really be scary. We’re talking PG here – not even PG-13!
Soon after I started researching One Dark Night, I got some reassurance from FastRewind.com (see References section below) :
Never has a PG-rated, low-budget horror film successfully created a sense of impending doom and terror as One Dark Night did. . . Don’t let the PG rating fool you, either – this movie is scarier and more effective than the plentiful R-rated gore fests released around the same time.
Very cool! Also, I was soon reminded that when this movie was rated, there was no such thing as PG-13.
After writing he previous sentence, I decided to perform a search for horror movies that carry a PG rating to see if anything truly terrifying were listed. This will definitely be a future topic, but for now I will name a few decent supernatural horror movies that are rated either PG or PG-13:
• The Legend of Hell House
• Solstice
• Storm of the Century
• The Sight
• When a Stranger Calls (2006 remake)
• White Noise 2
• Watcher in the Woods (1980)
• Salem’s Lot
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
DVD Cover
A short review on the DVD cover reads: “…spooky horror outing aimed at teen audiences…” This is another concern, albeit a minor one. Can this movie really be scary? Of course, being a very well-seasoned horror fan, there is not much that really scares me anymore; but relatively speaking, how scary can One Dark Night be?
Also on the DVD cover:
World famous psychic Raymar is found dead–along with several victims of his bizarre experiments. On the same day his body is interred in a mausoleum, high-schooler Julie Wells (Meg Tilly) agrees to spend the night there all alone–as part of a hazing to join the clique, The Sisters (Robin Evans, Elizabeth Daily, Leslie Speights). Later that night, the Sisters secretly return to torment Julie in an attempt to scare her out of her mind. But the girls are not alone. Raymar’s experiments continue even after death–on his own body and on the dozen resident corpses in various stages of decay. Soon they’re exhumed and looking for fresh bodies.
One Dark Night haunts audiences’ psyches with its claustrophobic setting, moody cinematography, foreboding score, and ultra-realistic makeup effects.
Plot of One Dark Night: Brief Version
As part of an initiation, a high school girl spends the night locked in a crypt. Unfortunately, the crypt she picks is haunted by a ghost with a sick sense of humor.
Watching One Dark Night
The first minute of One Dark Night -– while the opening credits are rolling — has all the makings of a wonderful creep-fest! It’s a dark and stormy night, with lots of lightning and thunder, accompanied with eerie background music which consists mostly of a very low note on a synthesizer.
After the opening, we are at a major crime scene where we see a pile of dead women with their eyes still open, and dead psychic Raymar whose body apparently still contains some pent-up energy!
Soon we meet the main cast, the group of teens, which conforms closely to one of the standard horror movie recipes: the good girl, the funny one, the slut, and the jock boyfriend. We also have the persistent reporter.
Oh, what memories! Near the beginning of the movie, the teens are at a video arcade, and some of the video games I used to spend so much money on were shown close-up. Two notable games shown are, I believe, Defender and Tempest.
The second half of One Dark Night takes place in a mausoleum, which ranks in my book as one of the creepiest settings for a movie. There are not many horror movies featuring mausoleums, at least that I can think of right off the bat.
This brings the question to mind: who in hell would want to decay above ground in a mausoleum? Maybe these are fundamentalists who believe their bodies will be resurrected when the trumpets sound; or perhaps they are rich people who think they are too good to rot in the ground like everyone else. Why on earth someone would insist on taking up space above the ground after they die is beyond me. As for me, please use no chemicals and bury me au natural in a simple pine box; in all honestly, I want my body to return to the earth and be a part of everything else ASAP after I die. I digress.
The creepiness begins when the girls drop off our homely heroine at the mausoleum, basically forcing her to spend the night there as an initiation rite into their little club of cool. (I cannot help but wonder if it would be considered cheating, to take in a couple of strong sleeping pills? That would be me!) She enters the mausoleum, with all its large drawers, with some trepidation, clutching her red sleeping bag. At first, the building is well-lit. Curious, she explores a bit, reading some of the plaques.
Julie finds a place to settle down and sits on her sleeping bag, leaning against a wall with no corpse drawers; however, she bores quickly and goes exploring.
People, this girl is far braver than I! Would I spend the night in a mausoleum? The only scenario that might include my bunking in such close quarters with corpses would necessarily include the transfer of a large sum of money into my bank account! Plus, I would smuggle in and quickly consume two or more Ambien (or something stronger).
The Sisters of Cool are in the car arguing about the hazing situation when it is revealed that Sisters leader Carol (the blond bitch) gave Julie a pill earlier, which Carol says was Demerol. Good enough.
The movie flips between Julie at the mausoleum, the Sisters of Cool, jock Steve (concerned for Julie, not happy with the Sisters and their pranks), and Raymar’s own sister, who is staying up late doing some research into her brother’s experiments – listening to his tapes and such.
The Sisters of Cool head back to the mausoleum with the intention of scaring poor Julie to death; after all, they – especially the blond ice bitch – have no intention of actually letting Julie into their pathetic little club, no matter what. They have a sheet and a rubber mask with which to do some frightening, which they do; they sneak into the mausoleum, find Julie asleep (passed out, more like), and start terrorizing her. But the Sisters do not have the last laugh. . .
Steve finally finds out from the abandoned Sister that Julie is indeed at the mausoleum, so he goes to the rescue.
At this point some truly horrifying things happen to the girls in the mausoleum. For example, a casket slowly slides out of its mausoleum drawer all by itself and then the casket opens to reveal the moist, rotting body of an older man. The eyes of the corpse open, and the girls find it in them at this point to run to another part of the building, where the same thing happens with other caskets and bodies, in varying states of mortification and putrefaction. It is damn scary to see the corpses being dragged by an unseen force – a force supplied by dead Raymar – into the faces of the terrified girls.
Suddenly, I vaguely remember seeing One Dark Night when I was around 20, and being frightened by it.
One Dark Night: Wisdom Morsels
Made in the fall of 1982 for a mere $1 million and taking less than a month to film, One Dark Night became a surprise international hit upon its theatrical release.
One Dark Night was nominated for Best Horror Film of 1983 by the Academy of Science Fiction.
The most attractive female in One Dark Night, IMHO, is the young Meg Tilly; however, those who favor blondes will almost surely vote for Elizabeth Daily!
Verdict: One Dark Night
This is a wonderfully creepy horror movie, and it manages to deliver real scares without excessive gore, sex, any skin at all, very little gutter language, etc. In fact, One Dark Night relies only upon effective storytelling, a creepy atmosphere, supernatural occurrences, and some good corpse special effects (especially for the early 80s) to deliver chills. In other words, there is no cheating or relying on phony props – and this is a huge plus. So many horror movies of today utterly fail to scare on their own merits and rely on nudity, gore, or taboo-breaking to gain some level of viewer approval, and that is truly unfortunate.
In fact, one of the primary missions of my new supernatural horror movie website is to cull the truly scary gems from all those movies that rely on any of the aforementioned crutches to deliver “scares.” (More on the new horror site will be revealed in later posts; please visit again soon.)
I highly recommend One Dark Night to all but the most jaded horror fans. This movie should be suitable for most audiences, given its age, its rating, and its being relatively free of potentially offensive language, imagery, and even teen behavior – all of which are benign by 2009 standards. The creep factor, however, is not benign; it’s very effective. Enjoy it!
Standard Movie Resources
Amazon.com – One Dark Night
Wikipedia – One Dark Night
IMDB – One Dark Night
Rotten Tomatoes – One Dark Night
Movie Reviews – One Dark Night
Dread Central Reviews One Dark Night (4/5 stars)
Eccentric Cinema Reviews One Dark Night
Fast Rewind – Review of One Dark Night (92/100)
Blood Type Online Reviews One Dark Night (3/5 stars)
DVD Verdict Reviews One Dark Night (78/100)
Resources – Other
One Dark Night – Official Website
Trivia – One Dark Night
Behind the Scenes – One Dark Night
Fast Rewind – Resources for One Dark Night
Discussion – Best PG-Rated Horror Movies
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