Darkness (1993)

Okay, before I start my review, I would like to make something unmistakably clear, DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE WHO SAYS THAT THIS MOVIE IS AS GORY OR GORIER THAN DEAD ALIVE AKA BRAINDEAD!!! The amount of gore in this movie was highly disappointing, save for one long vampire melting sequence near the end, there are some stabbings, some bitings, a lot of off-screen stuff, maybe two or three actual on screen deaths. There was actually so little gore in the movie that I stopped thinking of this movie as a gore film and started looking at it as an '80s style B-horror movie, and it actually was entertaining in that aspect. Nevertheless, there are still several other little things in this movie to bug you and/or get on your nerves. Including but not limited to:The vampires... or zombies... or both,... Yah, I'm not really sure what they were.In the first part of the movie, the film constantly cuts from "19 minutes to sunset" to "2 minutes to sunrise" to "23 minutes to sunset" and so on and so on and so on. It does this a LOT, sometimes with nothing happening in between.Cut to two minutes before sunset, guy sits in his car, cut to twenty minutes before sunrise.It's just really unnecessary.There's one scene where a guy is being eaten by vampire-zombies in a car wash, while his girlfriend stands a couple feet away and screams "No!". We then see him being eaten for a while, and cut back to the girl still standing there, probably meaning she was just standing and watching the whole time.The acting is really not that good to be honest, it didn't really bother me any, but there are probably a lot of people that will be bothered by it, so I thought I should bring that up.Almost the entire soundtrack is heavy metal, whether that is a good or bad thing depends on the viewer. I personally liked it myself.Also, the movie is called "Darkness - The Vampire Version". OK, so there's another version? I thought it was just rough translation but according to the credits that list credits for "both versions" of the movie, I could be wrong. I wonder if the other version has more gore.There is apparently a VHS version and a digitally remastered DVD version with less gore but with some "spit and polish" applied to it like in the American unrated version of Dead Alive. I really don't know which one I watched, I don't think it would make much of a difference either way.6.5/10

"Darkness" is a lot of fun and certainly enjoyable for a low-budget vampire film.**SPOILERS**In a small town, Tobe, (Gary Miller) manages to find that a vampire plague has overtaken the citizens, and continually runs into the deadly creatures wherever he goes. Finally managing to find survivors in Greg, (Michael Gisick) Kelly, (Cena Donham) Dianne, (Lisa Franz) Glenn, (Bill Hooper) and Steve, (Christopher Owen Michael) who have all had experiences with vampires as well. As they spend more time together and develop a way of dealing with the creatures, the confrontations with them slowly start dwindling their numbers as the vampires grow in size, strength and cunning. Holding out hope that his good friend, master vampire slayer Jodie, (Steve Brown) is still alive through it all they set out to find him and use his expertise to help them. Finally reaching his place, they realize that the vampire plague is spreading faster and must survive against the deadly threat.The Good News: There's some really nice stuff to this one. One of the greatest parts to this is that there's a large amount of graphic gore in here. This one is really littered with a lot of bloody gore and graphic violence in here, which is a big plus and really helps this one. The amount of gore comes from the really brutal deaths as well, and the ones here are really great. There's some that have the skin melt down completely from the exposure to the sunlight down to bubbling skin and torn flesh, a whole slew of gunshots to just about every single orifice capable of handling a bullet, a massive amount of bites to the neck, throat and arms, in most cases ripping skin away to get more blood to come out, a creature knocked to pieces after being run over by a truck, chopped to pieces with a chainsaw, a couple are repeatedly stabbed with knives and sharp objects and another has their arm sliced into with a machete and then sawed off, leaving a ton of blood to occur. There's a lot more in here, leaving a large amount of blood and gore to appear. That's a big reason for this one to be enjoyed. There's also a large amount of action in here, mainly because there's a rather large number of confrontations in here. That's also good as well, making it really hard to lose interest in the film since it's got plenty to enjoy about it. From the battle in the abandoned house, where a big brawl makes out a lot of excitement through the destruction of the house and the gore-filled finish, a big shootout with them on a deserted highway road, a confrontation in an alley way and the opening scene in the deli is a classic, for it's a fast and hard-hitting scene that really feels quite exciting and is definitely fun to watch. It also opens the film on the right note, as it's a gory, action-packed sequence that is a real shock to see so quickly in the film's running time. All of the film's action scenes are like that, really fun and big, which makes them so entertaining and are paced at just the right interval to keep from getting boring, so there's really no big lulls in the action to this one. The last big plus is the film's ability to hide the reason for the resurrection and the war that occurs here is kept unknown, making it just like a seeming onslaught that occurs for no reason, and that's always a fun reason for the film. These here are the film's best points.The Bad News: This one here didn't have too many flaws at all. One of the big ones is that the film's low-budget is quite apparent. Here, it sticks out mainly in the use of the blood and gore on display, which is mostly just colored water and not at all very realistic as well as the special effects used for the vampires. It's not that they're bad, but the fact that they're very obviously just plastic or prosthetics, which is quite easy to spot and pick up and makes for plenty of moments where it's hard to take the scene seriously as they take you right out of the film. The other flaw to this is the film's ability to take a ton of liberties with the vampire route and almost turn them into another creature altogether. The aversion to sunlight and holy water is kept, but here they are so bloodthirsty they don't mind spilling it all over the place or tearing open any place to get at it, they get taken down from gunshots anywhere on the body and they have a pack mentality like zombies, and all of these are very different from the usual vampire rules. These here are what's really wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: With a lot to really like about this one and only a couple really mild flaws that aren't too damaging, this one is a really worthwhile entry. Give it a shot if you're into the low-budget horror fare or a hardcore gore-hound, as well as vampire fanatics, while those who can't stand the budgetary issues should heed caution.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence and some Language

"Darkness: The Vampire Version" is a terrifically ambitious zero-budget movie by first-time director Leif Jonker. Its high-octane, non-stop bloody action is gripping from the start and despite some less than perfect acting from the cast, this film succeeds with its large-scale portrayal of the effect that a master vampire (Randall Aviks) has on various towns in North America. Aviks' character manages to turn a seemingly endless number of townsfolk into fast moving, gut chomping vampires and there are some superbly dark scenes of carnage.This shot-on-film horror production puts much higher budget pictures to shame. The scenes of jugular-spurting bloodshed are numerous and intense - very impressive for a film of this independent nature.The excellent synthesiser produced score is very reminiscent of early John Carpenter tracks - very moody and foreboding. Director Leif Jonker also co-produced this music - is there no end to the man's talent?Speaking of John Carpenter, I've read that Carpenter was responsible for the editing of this cut of the film (the "Vampire Version"). If this is true, it would explain the extremely effective pace and editing of the movie.I've given "The Darkness" a 10 for sheer effort. Along with "Nekromantik" and Mendez's "Killers", this ranks as one of my favourite low-budget movies.Check out the Barrel 2 disc DVD edition if you can as it's a lovingly presented set.

Yes, I know I'm one of the few people longing to trample this movie into the dust of oblivion.So let me me tell you why I feel this way. In truth,had it been advertized as a Zombie film or the like,I might have enjoyed it.But right now,I'm totally speechless.*SPOILER...Though I'm not sure what's to spoil* Let's start with the first HUGE flaw. If I did not know that the movie is called "Darkness - The VAMPIRE Version" and had I not seen some sequences where some individuals seem to be sucking blood, I would not have seen the connection with Vampires. I mean, FANGLESS???? Give me a break!!!Second bad point: what's with the Metal? It appears that all young people, but mainly those so-called "vampires", are into various kinds of Metal,judging mainly by their shirts! Don't get me wrong, I've been into the more extreme forms of music for almost 15 years, but nobody 's going to scare me by showing me some ridiculous teenagers in Iron Maiden (of all bands!!!) T-shirts running around,pretending to be Vampires! "Pathetic" is the only only word that I could use here.Third weakness: the actors. Wait a minute. WHAT actors?! You mean the director's wooden friends! Words would be a waste here.Yes, alright, the movie is very gory, but what difference does that make? It WOULD have been a strong point and something to enjoy if the "briliant" director had not chosen to create an ARTIFICIAL vampire topic in this movie. I wanted to see Vampires,but was treated to some stupid looking kids I would have loved to use my baseball bat on. The Film-makers should simply have advertized the movie saying "cheap B-grade horror with no plot but a lot of gore" !!!This movie is blasphemy against the whole concept of Vampirism. And it makes me sick.