Horror is not only one of the oldest film genres, but one of the oldest fiction genres in history. The genre’s roots go all the way back to 1700s literature with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto in 1764. With the dawn of cinema in the 1800s came the rise of horror films, namely The Haunted Castle in 1896. There was also the German Expressionist movement, which brought The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in 1920 and Nosferatu in 1922. From the Universal Monsters of the 30s-40s to the atomic horrors of the 50s-60s, horror has continued to evolve. In October 2018, CreatorVC Studios launched a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary exploring the horror cinema of the 1980s. Between its Kickstarter and IndieGogo campaigns, the project amassed over $450,000, making it an overwhelming success. After premiering at Beyond Fest in 2019, In Search of Darkness was released to backers.
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Synopsis
The documentary covers some of the most iconic horror films, and some obscure ones, from the 1980s, year by year. Some of the films covered include Friday the 13th, They Live, Re-Animator, The Changeling, The Lost Boys, and Pet Sematary. Filmmakers and actors from these films interviewed include John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Alex Winter. Also, various genre experts and commentators are interviewed, including Cecil Trachtenberg, Ryan Turek, Heather Wixson, and James A. Janisse. In between each year, they explore how various real-world events at the time affected the horror films being made. Various trends such as holiday horror, the rise in slashers, and the birth of the direct-to-video horror film are explored. At the heart of it all, they discuss the attraction to both 80s horror and horror in general. It’s over four hours of exploring 80s horror films and why people love them.
Review
In Search of Darkness lives up to what it promises and then some, being both informative and entertaining. As stated previously, they cover plenty of films you’d expect, plus some lesser-known ones that deserve more attention. While they gather tons of amazing guests for the documentary, it’s disappointing that there were some they couldn’t get. For example, it would’ve benefitted if they had effects artists like Rick Baker, Steve Johnson, and Tom Savini on board. Also, with its 4+ hour runtime, it can be an intimidating watch for people given all the information that’s presented. While it’s quite an undertaking, you start to not notice the runtime after a while and it goes by quickly. It flows at a good pace, the editing is tight, and it never feels like it drags to a halt. For hardcore horror fans, this is an absolute dream come true.
What helps is that this a documentary that can be watched either in one sitting or in chunks. Each year is broken into its own 15-20 minute segment with an intervening 10-minute break to discuss various themes. Some fans might be disappointed that a film they’re hoping for isn’t covered, but they still cover some good ones. For burgeoning horror fans, this provides a great resource of films to watch that they may not have heard of. The discussions on what was going on during the 80s also offer further perspective on how these films were made. Given how much of a massive undertaking this one, the creators should be given credit for their hard work. It’s a testament to fans of the genre that so many were able to come together to make this happen. Overall, In Search of Darkness is a phenomenal love letter to 80s horror cinema.
Watch In Search of Darkness on Shudder: https://bit.ly/3bU8WDM
