The Dark

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          7*******skulls</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>*Blood* *Violent* *Strong Language* *Sexual Situations* *Brief Nudity* *Gory*</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Director............Craig Pryce </B></div> <div> <B>Screenplay.......Robert C. Cooper</B></div> <div> <B>Music................Paul Zaza, Guy Zerafa, & Alun Davies</B></div> <div> <B>Producers.........Robert Bergman & Craig Pryce</B></div> <div> <B>Executive Producer.....Peter Simpson</B></div> <div> <B>Creature Designed by Ron Stefaniuk</B></div> <div> <B>Make-up by Slap & Tickle </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Dramatis Personae</U></B></div> <div> <B>Hunter.......Stephen McHattie (Beverly Hills Cop 3, Ultimate Warrior)</B></div> <div> <B>Tracy.........Cynthia Belliveau</B></div> <div> <B>Ed.............Jaimz Woolvett</B></div> <div> <B>Jesse........Neve Campbell</B></div> <div> <B>Jake.........Dennis O'Connor</B></div> <div> <B>Buckner......Brion James(Another 48 Hours, Cabin Boy, The Horror Show)</B></div> <div> <B>FBI Agent....Desmond Campbell </B></div> <div> <B>Biker........Bruce Beaton</B></div> <div> <B>Al the Cook..Addison Bell</B></div> <div> <B>Biker 2......Robbie Rox</B></div> <div> <B>Biker 3......Ian MacDonald</B></div> <div> <B>Arnold.......William Lynn</B></div> <div> <B>Gabe.........Christopher Bondy (Deadly Surveillance)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Critique: This film begins by underlining a horror truism: Cries in the darkness at a distance are scary. Boasting a very unattractive array of small town characters, the film's strongest suit is the realistic dialogue which provides more than a few laughs without distracting from the scariness of the triassic rat. Said rat likewise accomplishes the rare feat of being a creature which does not detract from the film. Likewise, the cast is generally outstanding, particularly Steven McHattie's earnest Hunter, and the bumbling Shakespearian gravediggers Jake and Ed (a Gilligan and Skipper act approaching "Return of the living Dead") are outstanding. McHattie could make a career out of cop/horror by ringing all the bells that the better known Lance Henrikson and Scott Glenn do. We enjoyed Tracy's theory that the beast ate cops. Unfortunately, there is no real explanation of why prehistoric rodents have invaded the twentieth century, and it comes off as rather implausible that the beast secretes regenerative goop. Nonetheless, the film's pace, top rate script and direction reduce such complaints to nitpicking. </B></div> <div> <B>Memoranle Line: "Don't just stand there like a useless pile of cowshit. Crank the sucker!" -Jake</B></div> <div> <B></B></div> <div> <B>Plot Summary: At the grave of Samantha Henderson 1956-1989</B></div> <div> <B> three men have a shootout while a growling monster lurks nearby. Hunter who was short by Buckner makes a miraculous recovery from his wounds and is interrogated by his shooter. He is accused of interfering with the pursuit of a suspect. After being shot he hallucinated about seeing a growling monster. x offers his help but Agent Buckner explains "None of this ever happened" and pounds the shit out of Hunter to help him remember this. Jake brings Ed the gravedigger coffee in bed before they strike off to dig a grave. "You gotta love the smell of death in the morning. Jake "The first time that you break ground on a new grave you wake the dead" Meanwhile at the town's very unfriendly coffee shop, Hunter and a very un-pc cast of characters ogle and abuse the beautiful but unlucky waitress who longs for something better.  Al the cook is shot and the waitress shoots the abusive gang leader before she and Hunter escape on his motorcycle and incinerate the gang's bikes with a shotgun blast before tending to x's knife wounds in a nearby hotel. x: "I hate the dark." After a romantic interlude, Tracy takes the opportunity to look through some of his things and finds descriptions of cell regeneration and extinct creatures who are alive today. X tells her the regenerate is in the graveyard. Jake stomps on a hollow spot and nearly falls through into the growling monster's tunnels. The boys come back later with moving equipment and uncover what looks like an extensive network of tunnels that quashes the gopher theory. When they notice that the thousand pound headstone has disappeared, they decide this is not in the job description. The new theory is chemically altered gophers, mutated by the local toxic dump. When the police arrive, it is dark, and they begin poking around the excavation. Tracy and x are now wanted for the shooting of Al. The sheriff heads into the tunnels tethered by a rope, dropping jokes about mutant gophers. He finds a slimy substance and starts hearing sounds. The rope is suddenly pulled at high speeds out of her hands and Jake runs in after him. Jake is grabbed from behind but he escapes. They run into Hunter and Tracy and Donovan, Jake and Ed return to the house. Hunter explains that the thing is a member of an undiscovered giant rat species from the triassic. Hunter explains that the creature secretes a regenerative substance. Donovan gets a call from Arnold who will show up momentarily when the rat attacks. Arnold's shots bring about the expected result. Hunter is informed "it killed another cop". Paul Buckner shows up and he has a clear view about what should be done with the thing. The creature feeds on recent corpses. Hunter sets himself up in a coffin with a tranquilizer as bait for the beast. Buckner, meanwhile, thinks Jake would make excellent bait. Jake earnestly tells Tracy to kill Buckner.</B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>