Dark Tower | |
---|---|
Directed by | Freddie Francis [1] [2] (as Ken Barnett) |
Screenplay by | Robert J. Avrech Ken Blackwell Ken Wiederhorn |
Story by | Robert J. Avrech |
Produced by | John R. Bowey David Witz Sandy Howard |
Starring | Michael Moriarty Jenny Agutter Carol Lynley Theodore Bikel Anne Lockhart |
Cinematography | Gordon Hayman |
Edited by | Tom Merchant |
Music by | Stacy Widelitz |
Production company | Sandy Howard Productions |
Distributed by | Fries Distribution Company (US) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Countries | United States United Kingdom [3] |
Languages | English Spanish |
Dark Tower is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, Theodore Bikel, Carol Lynley, Kevin McCarthy and Anne Lockhart. It centers on a high-rise building haunted by a malicious presence.
The film had a troubled production, with Freddie Francis disowning the final cut and crediting under a pseudonym, 'Ken Barnett'. [4] This was his final film as director, before he returned to cinematography full-time. It premiered at the MIFED Film Festival in October 1987, and was released direct-to-video in the United States.
This article needs an improved plot summary.(July 2019) |
After a window washer plunges to his death from a high-rise, several people come to investigate, including security consultant Dennis Randall. He cannot locate a problem, but decides to investigate further when more gruesome deaths take place inside and around the office building. His investigations appear to show a sinister force behind all the deaths, a supernatural entity.
Ken Wiederhorn's script for Dark Tower, from a story by Robert J. Avrech, was made as a film by producer Tom Fox using his production company Greenfox Films in collaboration with Howard International Pictures. [5] Wiederhorn had been intended to direct, but lost the opportunity when financing took longer than expected to come through which coincided with Wiederhorn dealing with personal issues that also forced his withdrawal from the project. [5] [6] However, Fox eventually offered Wiederhorn the opportunity to write and direct Return of the Living Dead Part II . [5] Wiederhorn did retain a contractually-obligated executive producer's credit on the final film.
Several online sources (including IMDb and Turner Classic Movies) claims Wiederhorn was the original director, and was replaced by Francis mid-shoot. However, Wiederhorn denied this in an interview with Flashback Files, stating that he was never on-set and had never seen the finished film. [7]
The film was shot on location in Barcelona. [8]
The film features one of the earliest on-screen appearances of actor Doug Jones, who plays the ghostly form of Dennis.
Freddie Francis had become disillusioned with directing as he no longer wished to do cheap horror films and preferred working as a cinematographer on larger projects. [6] Sandy Howard called Francis informing him they had lost Wiederhorn with production scheduled to begin in three weeks and after liking the script agreed to direct the film. [6] After accepting the position, Francis had to deal with various production issues such as original stars Roger Daltrey and Lucy Gutteridge dropping out for unknown reasons and a lawsuit by Howard against three film companies that failed to provide financing resulting in Francis needing to cut corners further than expected. [6] A number of plot aspects, such as the character of Dennis Randall suffering from recurring nightmares of being pushed from the top of a tall building and a climax involving Randall and Carolyn Page on the building's roof that would payoff the plot point, were altered after shooting had completed with the producer adding several new scenes and special effects sequences. [6] Due to dissatisfaction with the quality of the film Francis had his name removed from the film with producers replacing it with the pseudonym Ken Barnett. [6] [4] Francis's dissatisfaction with the experience of making Dark Tower led to him returning to his primary role as a cinematographer, and never to direct a feature film again. [4] Two years after Dark Tower's premiere, he would win an Best Cinematography Oscar for the film Glory.
Dark Tower premiered on October 29, 1987 at the MFED Film Festival in Italy. It had theatrical runs in Europe throughout 1988. [2]
The film was not released theatrically in the United States and instead was released to home video in February 1989. [2]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2019) |
TV Guide awarded the film one out of five stars, calling it a "dull, talky, and incoherent haunted-skyscraper suspense thriller." [9]
Incubus is a 1966 American horror film directed by Leslie Stevens. It was filmed entirely in the constructed language Esperanto, shortly before its star, William Shatner, began his work on Star Trek. The film's cinematography was by Conrad Hall, who went on to win three Academy Awards for his work on the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition.
Nicolas Jack Roeg was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing Performance (1970), Walkabout (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Bad Timing (1980) and The Witches (1990).
Dark Tower may refer to:
Mario Bava was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre".
Gary Douglas Kurtz was an American film producer whose list of credits includes American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Return to Oz (1985). Kurtz also co-produced the 1989 science fiction adventure film Slipstream, which reunited him with Star Wars star Mark Hamill.
Carol Lynley was an American actress known for her roles in the films Blue Denim (1959) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
Frederick William FrancisBSC was an English cinematographer and film director whose filmmaking career spanned over 60 years, from the late 1930s until the late 2000s. One of the most celebrated British cinematographers of his time, he received numerous accolades for his photography, including two Academy Awards and five BAFTA Awards. As a director he was best known for his horror films, notably those made for production companies Amicus and Hammer in the 1960s and 1970s.
Richard Einhorn is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Shock Waves is a 1977 American horror film written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn. The film is about a group of tourists who encounter aquatic Nazi zombies when they become shipwrecked. It stars Peter Cushing as a former SS commander, Brooke Adams as a tourist, and John Carradine as the captain of the tourists' boat.
Q – The Winged Serpent is a 1982 American monster horror film written, co-produced and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree. The film follows a petty swindler (Moriarty) who accidentally intrudes in a case involving a winged deity monster that poses a threat to New York City. He is the only person who has information that can help the police to stop the creature.
Ken Wiederhorn is an American former news and documentary editor at CBS and film and television director, known mainly for the horror films Shock Waves and Return of the Living Dead Part II. Other features include Eyes of a Stranger, Meatballs II, and A House in the Hills. He also directed multiple episodes of 21 Jump Street, Dark Justice, and Freddy's Nightmares. Documentaries include, "Mission In Mississippi", "Breaking Vegas", "US Marshals; The Real Story", "Hunt for Amazing Treasure" and "Fugitive Task Force".
The Deadly Bees is a 1967 British horror film based on H. F. Heard's 1941 novel A Taste for Honey. It was directed by Freddie Francis, and stars Suzanna Leigh, Guy Doleman, and Frank Finlay. The original screenplay was by Robert Bloch but was rewritten by Anthony Marriott. The film was released theatrically in the United States in 1967 and was featured in a 1998 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Woman Obsessed is a 1959 American romantic drama film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Susan Hayward, Stephen Boyd, Barbara Nichols, Dennis Holmes, Theodore Bikel, Ken Scott, James Philbrook, and Florence MacMichael. The screenplay concerns the hardships faced by a widow and her eight-year-old son on a rugged Canadian ranch.
Kevin Francis is a British film and television producer.
The Shuttered Room is a 1967 British horror film directed by David Greene, and starring Gig Young and Carol Lynley. It is based on the 1959 short story of the same name by August Derleth, published as a so-called "posthumous collaboration" with H. P. Lovecraft. A couple move into a house with dark secrets.
The Psychopath is a 1966 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Patrick Wymark and Margaret Johnston. It was written by Robert Bloch and was an Amicus production.
Craze is a 1974 horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Jack Palance, Diana Dors, Julie Ege and Edith Evans. It was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, based on the 1967 novel The Infernal Idol by Henry Seymour. A psychotic antiques dealer sacrifices women to the statue of Chuku, an African idol. It was the last film produced by Herman Cohen.
The Doctor and The Devils is a 1985 gothic horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea, Julian Sands, Patrick Stewart and Twiggy. It is based upon the true story of Burke and Hare, who in 1828 Edinburgh, Scotland, murdered at least 16 people and sold their bodies for anatomical dissection.
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly, released as Girly outside the United Kingdom, is a 1970 British horror-comedy film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Michael Bryant and Ursula Howells.
The Dark Tower is a 2017 American neo-Western science fantasy film directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. Loosely based on Stephen King's novel series of the same name, the film stars Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, a gunslinger on a quest to protect the Dark Tower—a mythical structure which supports all realities—while Matthew McConaughey plays his nemesis Walter Padick, and Tom Taylor stars as Jake Chambers, a boy who becomes Roland's apprentice.
I wrote some of that film, but never even set foot on the set. I don't even know how much of mine is in there, because I've never even seen the film.