One Dark Night

Summary

“Demerol. She’s gonna get so messed up, she won’t know what’s going on.”

MVD Rewind is one of my favorite film labels because of its unrelenting focus on nostalgic releases from the hey-day of VHS. Recently, MVD have begun rereleasing some of Code Red’s out of print titles with new slip covers featuring the MVD Rewind branding. I appreciate that they decided to take on this task and allow horror fans one more chance to purchase some of these films that can sell at steep prices online.

The other night I was in the mood to watch a horror film, but I was noncommittal about watching anything too grisly. Having recently received One Dark Night in the mail, I noted that the film was rated PG. The timing seemed right to check it out.

Numerous coroner cars pull up to an apartment complex. Inside the apartment of Karl Raymar, there is a bizarre sight to be seen. Six dead female bodies in a closet and another body in the middle of the apartment. The body in the middle is Karl Raymar. Numerous household objects like forks and plates are inexplicably lodged in the walls. When they begin to load the body of Raymar onto a gurney, some force comes out from its fingers and impacts the ceiling slightly. At a nearby high school, Carol (Robbie Evans) is the leader of a group of girls wearing jackets that designate themselves as the Sisters. Julie (Meg Tilly) wants to be initiated in the group. Her boyfriend Stephen used to date Carol, and Carol has definitely not forgotten about that. Carol offers to initiate Julie by having her sleep overnight at a mausoleum. Karl Raymar’s family arrives at the mausoleum for the ceremony. His sister Olivia (Melissa Newman) arrives with her husband (Adam West.) After Karl is interred, another paranormal scientist Samuel Dockstader arrives and tells Melissa that Karl was a psychic vampire who drained the life force from those girls and then allowed himself to die. Julie agrees to stay at the mausoleum where Karl Raymar was interred. Carol gives Julie a pill supposedly for her nerves. Carol plans to scare Julie later that night and has actually given her a Demerol. Carol takes her best friend Kitty with her to the mausoleum when the other Sister Leslie refuses to go with her. Meanwhile, outside the mausoleum Stephen begins to search for Julie. Inside the mausoleum, it is going to get a lot more frightening than Carol and Kitty had planned.

One Dark Night is slower than many horror films from the Eighties and has one of the smallest body counts of any picture from that time. That said, the film has some quirks to it that I enjoyed including the strange character Samuel Dockstader and a few other items. For example, I kept wondering,“why does Kitty chew on a toothbrush? That’s a strange quirk.” In the special features, it was revealed that Tom McLoughlin based that on Nancy Mott’s quirk. She had chewed on a toothbrush so that she could keep men from approaching her when she was on walks. The film is essentially somewhere in the middle in terms of enjoyment value. It is not very scary, and a couple death sequences in particular are a little bit of a letdown, but the final twenty minutes of the film tries its best to reach the heights of PG horror paved by films like Poltergeist. While the film is not as good as McLoughlin’s enjoyable take on Friday the 13th, it certainly shows off what the director could do on a limited budget. It also introduced the world to Meg Tilly, who I have always enjoyed watching onscreen in movies like Bullets Over Broadway.

Fans of the film were more than likely exposed to the film at a young age. Their memories probably consider this movie as far scarier than it feels now. For those filmgoers, I am happy that MVD Rewind has rereleased the film. For newcomers, this film probably deserves a rental prior to a purchase.

Video

MVD Rewind have provided transfer of One Dark Night in 1080p using an MPEG-4 AVC codec. The film is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This is the same transfer that Code Red supplied on their 2017 release. This is not the best looking transfer that MVD has put out, but it is certainly a huge improvement over the VHS. The film has a decent amount of scratches that pop up, and some heavy specking, but I thought the fine detail was for the most part pretty good. There is some print damage and banding. Colors occasionally fluctuate. This is not the very best this film could look, but it does actually feel right if that makes sense. I think fans will enjoy seeing the film in high definition.

Audio

MVD Rewind has provided an English LPCM 2.0 track. Similar to the video, this track has some hiss and sounds a little bit canned. That said, I can’t imagine any fan of the film being turned off by this presentation. I think it replicates the original sound design pretty well. 

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary with co-writer/director Tom McLoughlin and producer Michael Schroeder 
• Audio Commentary with co-writer/director Tom McLoughlin and co-writer Michael Hawes
• Cast and Crew Interviews include:
• Interview with co-writer/director Tom McLoughlin: this is an enjoyable interview with the director who discusses the unique funding of the project by Mormons that wanted the film to lack sex and cursing amongst other aspects of the production. He also shows off his plot he purchased within the mortuary!
• Interview with actress E.G. Daily: the actress who plays Leslie discusses her memories from working on the film and reflects on a long career in Hollywood. 
• Interview with actress Nancy Mott (McLoughlin): Tom McLoughlin’s wife who worked on the film and appeared in a memorable scene in Jason Lives discusses her working relationship with Tom and some fun stories from the production of One Dark Night. She also shares a story about a kiss with Francis Ford Coppola.
• Interview with cinematographer Hal Trussell: Hal Trussell discusses his work on the film and some of the more technical aspects of how the film was shot.
• Interview with production designer Craig Stearns: Craig Stearns talks through some of the more interesting aspects of the fairly low budget film’s production design.
• Interview with producer Michael Schroeder: Schroeder sheds some good light on the production of the film.
• Interview with FX crew member Paul Clemens: Paul Clemens shares a good amount of information on how the effects in the finale were rigged up.
• Behind the Scenes Footage 
• The Paul Clemens Scrapbook 
• Alternate Director’s Cut / Work Print Version (SD; 1:29:55)
• Trailers

Overall Scores:

Video – 3.5/5

Audio – 3.5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 3.5/5

One Dark Night is an enjoyable if somewhat minor first feature from writer and director Tom McLoughlin. He makes the most out of his low budget and within the limitations imposed by financial backers on what could be said or shown. The final twenty minutes show off a good amount of effects work and grisly images considering. One Dark Night never reaches the heights of PG horror that Poltergeist achieved a year earlier, but it tries its best. I liked the movie okay, but I was very pleased with the excellent supplemental package that Code Red put together. I am happy that MVD Rewind has started rereleasing some of the Code Red titles that have gone out of print. Fans of the film shouldn’t sleep on this release which also features a nice slipcover. Newcomers might want to rent prior to a purchase.