Dark Tower (1987)

The deeply attractive Jenny Agutter (WALKABOUT) and the not-so deeply attractive Michael Moriarty (THE STUFF) team up with director Freddie Francis (LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF) for this POLTERGEIST-inspired supernatural horror flick set in a tower block. It's derivative stuff at best, a rerun of other films that are far better and more effective, but DARK TOWER ain't so bad.Sure, it has a few pacing problems, but Agutter is always a watchable actress and any film with Kevin McCarthy in it has to be good. Plus, the film does manage to summon up a halfway-decent atmosphere of chilly shocks and lurking evil, moments of unease that are punctuated by some brutal "accident"-style deaths a la THE OMEN. The opening scene of a Peeping Tom window cleaner falling to his doom is a goodie, and then later there are some scenes ripped off from THE LIFT as a mystery elevator bumps off a few other lower-cast-list actors. The ending of the film goes into POLTERGEIST territory (and even THE EXORCIST) as a medium and a parapsychologist are called in to investigate the evil, and come face to face with a bunch of flying killer tools (cool scene) and a rubbery blue zombie that bursts out of the concrete, seeking revenge. The zombie is actually pretty weird looking and effective and the ending, while obvious, a keeper.It's clear that there were some production difficulties with this film because the director's name is a pseudonym on the credits. In actual fact, two directors teamed up to make this one, although I'm not clear if one left and another completed the film, or whether it really was a joint effort (although I doubt the latter). Freddie Francis made loads of effective British horror films in the 1970s but nothing in the film reveals his presence. Similarly, Ken Wiederhorn was responsible for the decent Nazi zombie shocker SHOCK WAVES but direction here is pedestrian throughout. The good news is that, having been filmed in Barcelona, the film has some decent, authentic locations and, in Agutter, a highly attractive female lead.Unfortunately, Michael Moriarty – something of a horror regular in the 1980s – gives his worst-ever performance and one of the worst ever acting performances I've ever witnessed. Wooden just doesn't describe his blandness here. Thankfully, the Austrian Theodore Bikel turns up late with a fine turn as the investigating parapsychologist, and even later on, Kevin McCarthy (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) steals his scenes as a drunken medium on his final case. So it's not all bad, just run-of-the-mill with some decent bits. And one more thing – the scene in which Agutter is chased through the corridors by the camera is yet another homage, this time to THE EVIL DEAD. I'm not complaining.

So I saw this on NetFlix and was looking for a nice scary horror thriller. Hopefully one that wasn't gory and laced with strong profanity, just one that was scary.Watching this seemed like a very under rated film and was somewhat enjoyable. It was no 1408 or the Shining but it seemed to be only a few steps behind that.The main premise is that this lady has designed this tall office building. She's the architect. But strange deaths start occurring. The place is obviously haunted. But by what? One detective eventually sees the supposed ghost and tries doing some research. He soon realizes that he has psychic powers better than some shrink (or her patient through a psychic exercise of guessing colors and numbers) he hires to investigate the building.The film moves a bit slow but the suspense is quite interesting as the psychiatrist tries to communicate to the unrest-ed spirit to try and set things right. One main interesting thing is how they keep showing the inside of the elevator shaft as the elevator is going up/down.But the ending is disappointing and not pretty as more people die and not even clear to why the lady killed her ex-husband nor even why his spirit kills all those other people instead of just getting back at the wife. It's not the ending I wanted nor even expected.This film sort of reminded a bit of that 'Tower' movie I reviewed back in the summer, only this time instead of the security system going berserk its a ghost.

Oscar winning cinematographer Freddie Francis and writer Ken Wiederhorn share the blame for this dull supernatural high-rise horror; given that the film displays very little in the way of Francis's visual acumen, but everything one might expect from Wiederhorn—the man who gave us the shoddy Return of the Living Dead II—one has to wonder just how much Francis had contributed before being replaced as director. I'm willing to give Francis the benefit of the doubt and say 'not much'.Weiderhorn's script revolves around the construction of a Barcelona high-rise, designed by renowned architect Carolyn Page (Jenny Agutter), which has been plagued by mysterious deaths. Detective Dennis Randall (Michael Moriarty) investigates and, after coming to the conclusion that the building is haunted, calls in help from para-psychologist Dr. Max Gold (Theodore Bikel) and his pal Sergie (Kevin McCarthy) to cleanse the building of the restless spirit.With its solid cast, and the many possibilities for gory spectacle offered by a haunted semi-built office building, one might reasonably expect Dark Tower to be a cheesy piece of late 80s nonsense, packed with outrageously daft death sequences—indeed, the first scene, in which a window cleaner falls from his cradle onto a passing company exec, shows much promise. Unfortunately, nearly everything that follows proves to be extremely disappointing: long periods pass with nothing of note happening; too much of the film is focused in and around the building's elevator, resulting in extremely repetitive shots from inside the shaft; and there is very little in the way of satisfying splatter. The film's silly finale provides unintentional laughs in the form of a manky looking corpse that looks like a reject from Wiederhorn's earlier zombie movies.At 37, star Agutter has obviously decided that she is no longer young enough to do nude scenes (although we do get some cheeky shots of her in a camisole)—such a shame, 'cos I reckon she still looks great and some naked Agutter action would have certainly helped alleviate some of the pain (as would my Dark Tower drinking game: have a drink every time someone gets in an elevator or when there is a shot from the bottom of the elevator shaft. Hic!).

The two leads are cast against type:while Jenny Agutter ("Logan's run" "Werewolf in London" )plays a mysterious go-getter woman,Michael Moriarty (whose portrayal of Erich Dorf in "Holocaust" is memorable) is the nice cop.The first part is derivative but intriguing;it's more reminiscent of Dick Maas's "L'Ascenseur"(1983) -later remade (more or less) as " down" (2001)- than of "poltergeist".But as soon we know the "reason why" ,the flick loses 90% of its appeal.There's the ghost buster and the medium played by Kevin McCarthy who was the hero of the sensational "invasion of the body snatchers" (1956).The former is particularly unbearable ,with his interminable monologues when he's talking to the ghost.