Darkness: The Vampire Version

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Irate T The best low-budget SOV, still ways away from being a great movie It's super surprising that the young director of this SOV movie was never picked up by Hollywood besides being queued for one movie by Tim Burton a decade later. His eye for cinematography is brilliant. As the title suggests, Darkness uses darkness on camera in ways that actual true B-movies could never dream of. I know that most people will seek out this movie because of its reputation as a gore movie, but it's so much more than that. The lead actor, Tobe, disappointingly, is one of the worse actors in the movie. The supporting actors really hold their weight and bring back the realism of the portrayals. They sort of make a cast that's similar to The Lost Boys. The gore is very satisfying, and definitely over-the-top for a typical vampire movie. The fact that the vampires are almost more like zombies that run (a la 28 Days Later) is either a positive for the director's vision of the story, or negative if you're a traditionalist with vampire movies, but it serves as a buffer for an obviously inexperienced screenwriter to be able to tell a story that leads to goriness without exaggerated narrative techniques. Rather than what you would get with a typical vampire movie that wanted to use this amount of gore, ie., long dramatic sequences of vampire stalking leading to gore, we get here instead just nonstop action. There are some truly iconic scenes and sequences. The sound design definitely gets an E for Effort but struggles for sure. I've seen a good dozen or so SOV horror movies, and this is by far the best one I've ever seen. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/20/25 Full Review key t Made in Wichita by a 17 year old. This films special effects are unparalleled even 30 years later. Unfortunately it was magic in a bottle as director Leif Jonker never got the opportunities he deserved to make the next step as a director. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/25/24 Full Review Audience Member As far as no-budget horror movies go, this one is a classic. I was bestowed the honour of premiering my own no-budget movie, Blackbags, as the opening short at a rare screening of Darkness - my first time viewing the film. Although it pre-dates 30 Days of Night by about a decade, it's almost the exact same set-up: vampires invade and take over a small town. This is an epic splatter fest from before the days of CGI, when you had to actually create tangible special effects on screen. For the time, you can see a fresh attitude regarding the classic vampire myth reflected in the style and heavy metal soundtrack. Although the ending is a little drawn-out, fans of b-movies should see this hard-to-find gem if the opportunity should arise. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Dated and unintentionally silly, but good for a laugh and a solid take on `90s gore bereft of self-conscious restraint. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member I wish Lief would have done more after such promise. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member I have a soft spot for no-budget indie horror. Darkness is a pretty good achievement by some young and obviously amateur film buffs. The cinematography is pretty poor, and the acting is mostly bad, but it's hard to fault the film for these, since it is virtually just a backyard movie. What is important is that the gore effects are pretty decent, and the pacing is pretty good. Budget restraints and filmmaker experience aside, the characters weren't developed very much, and the whole thing is a little murky in terms of exactly what the hell the story is supposed to be about. Decent film, but not quite up to snuff when compared to BAD TASTE, PREMUTOS, or VIOLENT SHIT III. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Darkness: The Vampire Version

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