The Dark (1979 film)

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The Dark
Directed by John Cardos
Written byStanford Whitmore [1]
Produced by Dick Clark [2]
Starring William Devane
Cathy Lee Crosby
Richard Jaeckel
Keenan Wynn
Casey Kasem
CinematographyJohn Morrill [1]
Edited byMartin Dreffke
Music by Roger Kellaway [1]
Distributed by Film Ventures International
Release date
  • June 1979 (1979-06)
Running time
92 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Dark is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by John Cardos and starring William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel, Keenan Wynn, and Casey Kasem. [1]

Contents

Plot

A young woman is murdered and mutilated late one night. An ambitious female journalist decides to find out what happened..

Cast

Production

Tobe Hooper was hired by Film Ventures International to direct the film. However, since Hooper fell behind schedule, the producers fired him and replaced him with Cardos. [2] Cardos disclosed that initially, the monster was intended to be a “large, retarded giant of a human being,” who was kept locked in an attic by its parents until it broke free, but halfway through production the producers decided they wanted the monster to be more "electronic" in nature and shoot laser beams from his eyes. [3] While Cardos felt the film was overall decent, he disagreed with the producer's decision to change the monster so late in production. [3]

Reception

Roger Ebert awarded the film one and a half stars. [4] Jim Knipfel of Den of Geek awarded the film two stars out of five. [2]

Home media

Released on VHS by Media Home Entertainment in 1982 [5] and 1985 | Cat.# M173 |

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Young, R.G. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies. Applause. ISBN   9781557832696. page 132
  2. 1 2 3 Knipfel, Jim (15 June 2014). "Looking Back at The Dark (1979)". Den of Geek . Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 Fischer, Dennis (May 1985). "Mutant". Cinefantastique . Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  4. Ebert, Roger (6 June 1979). "The Dark". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  5. "The Dark | VHSCollector.com". vhscollector.com. Retrieved 2023-07-17.