One Dark Night/Shudder/Fresh Thoughts

 

This was a better experience than my first, back in 2009 when I rented One Dark Night (1983) on DVD. I've read there are different versions so I'm not sure which one was the 2009 version I watched. Timing, too, is important. When watching it the first time, I remember my interest lagged. It felt like a slog. I want to say it was a late Friday night, and my attention was waning. It was as if the film was testing my patience. But something was different when watching it this Tuesday evening. Maybe it's that I'm older and I already know what to expect. There's no big expectations. This was a big deal back in 2009 because of it being an early work of McLoughlin. That great unknown of this unearthed little spook movie. And Meg Tilley in an early role was such a lure to watch it. And the mausoleum setting with the big entrance of Hollywood mausoleum has a striking look, not to mention, the numerous LA locations obviously shot independently. And the Santa Monica Pier and Arcade in 1982 was cool for some time capsule nostalgia. I still don't quite jibe with the corpses coming after the pranking Sisters because the effects are very nickels and pennies and just don't look very convincing. I credit McLoughlin and Hawes for their passion. It's obvious they really cared and wanted this to work. I was not a fan of the head supernatural heavy of the film shooting bolts from his eyes previously but while I admittedly cringed a bit this go-around, it wasn't altogether a lousy ordeal for me. I certainly liked the melting face this time unlike the last in 2009. I didn't like the mausoleum in 2009 while this time I did. The build to the mausoleum takes a while and McLoughlin and Hawes were quite commited to psychic vampire angle. On Adam West, I think he's more than competent. I didn't realize he was so typecast, two struggling kids making a small budget movie felt bad for him and hired him. His smooth voice and collected delivery aren't a liability at all. And his name value for it isn't without merit. Perhaps then he wasn't taken seriously--Hollywood can be cruel--but West in a low budget horror film now from the 80s has its novelty. Still I enjoy this revisit to early 80s LA, and Tilley's boyfriend is actually a decent guy. The 80s had a thing for bitchy blond stunners making life miserable for ex beau's new girlfriend. I felt Prom Night vibes, for sure. I appreciate Shudder for having a lot of 80s horror to "thumb" through.

Okay, at the time I gave the film 4/10 on IMDb. I will up that rating here. I liked it more this second time around. And I just really like McLoughlin, so I'm a softie. ***/*****