Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness: Part III (2022)

I have previously reviewed In Search Of Darkness a few years ago, and then grudgingly decided to check out the second instalment in the series back in 2021, so I was always going to get to this final part of the trilogy eventually. The runtime for this thing is 5 hours and 41 minutes, but I would say that at least 20-25 minutes of that is dedicated to lengthy end credits that namecheck everyone who kicked in at a certain level of their crowdfunding campaign while splicing in video clips of horror fans saying how much they enjoyed these documentaries, as well as sometimes mentioning a favourite film. It's just another self-indulgent, and ultimately pointless, bit of filler in a documentary series that easily ranks as among the worst I have ever seen.

The format remains the exact same, of course. A lot of posters/movie images are shown, one title is picked out for discussion, and that repeats again and again. The problem, as has been the problem with every part of this series, is that the people involved don't often have anything meaningful to say about the movies, often simply delivering a riff on "it was wild, the deaths were cool, and I loved it when I saw it." The lack of anything meaningful to say is even more obvious with the one or two titles that are discussed for less than a minute, or the movies that are accompanied by someone just relaying the plot in a nutshell.

I've already forgotten most of the previous instalments, but this time around it seems that writer-director David A. Weiner, someone we can also refer to as a blight on the landscape of movie documentaries (mistaking nostalgia and personal anecdotes for context and interesting information), has tried to present a slightly more varied mix of talking heads, possibly in response to the opinion that the first selection of people he had involved seems to be seriously lacking in diversity. The same could be said for the films, although you would expect a much more eclectic mix in an overview of the horror genre through the 1980s that has a total runtime of approximately 2/3 of an entire day.

I don't want to namecheck anyone else here, you get a mix of film-makers, musicians, bloggers, and podcasters, but I will say that there are one or two people who DO actually try to add something worthwhile to the conversation, thanks to their more specific viewpoint and relationship to some of the movies being discussed. Take those people and put them in better documentaries and I might have a better viewing experience.

I admit that I was waiting for this to annoy me, and annoy me it did, but maybe in ways that others won't necessarily notice, and maybe in ways that wouldn't annoy other people. Here's a prime example of why I dislike this series so much. There's a segment about the Video Nasties debacle (and I HIGHLY recommend checking out both of the Video Nasties documentaries, directed by Jake West). Part of this segment is illustrated by a tabloid newspaper cover encouraging people to get rid of their video nasties, and a photo showing them being burnt. But the main movie being burnt is Child's Play 3, a film that wasn't ever a part of the Video Nasty mess, and was simply, and erroneously, named years later as the possible factor (it wasn't) in a horrendous crime that shocked the UK. People might see this and say "well, that front page symbolises the spirit and language of the original Video Nasty age", but I would disagree. And there are surely many other headlines and front pages that Weiner could have chosen, from the actual decade being discussed. It's another little moment that smacks of laziness and/or ignorance.

There are other things here that irk, not least of which is the fool's errand of trying to discuss so many movies from the decade while overlooking so many other gems (and, yes, many other gems are STILL missed from what some try to claim is the definitive look back at a golden decade for horror movies). A number of movies that I recall seeing back in my youth, when I was too young for almost all of them, might not be good films, but they were in line with everything else on lining the shelves at that time: a lurid bit of cover art making promises that the film inside the box would rarely fully deliver on.

I'm sorry to anyone who thinks that this is a bit of an unfocused ramble, spending too much time to say too little of note. But if you watched these documentaries then you must be used to this by now. At least it shouldn't take you over five and a half hours to read this.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness: Part II (2020)

I was quite clear when I discussed In Search Of Darkness last year, a lengthy documentary about the horror movies of the 1980s. So many people loved it, and the only reason I can think of for that love is the shared affection for the genre, and a large helping of nostalgia. A lot of the contributors offered nothing more than the most basic opinions, there were very few films mentioned that weren't already very well known, and they angered me by crediting John Carpenter with that fine score for The Thing which came from Ennio Morricone.

Why would I dive into this sequel then? Well, I was hoping they might do better. 

The format is pretty much the same. You get a lot of the same selection of talking heads (some better than others, and some make you question why they were chosen for involvement in the first place), you get plenty of clips from the movies being discussed, and you get some attempts to contextualise individual entries within the bigger picture of what was happening to the horror genre throughout the decade.

First of all, although the titles picked here are generally a bit less "mainstream" than the titles in the first instalment, this still almost steadfastly refuses to dive into the really dark recesses of the video selections from the '80s. A whole section could have been dedicated to Gremlins rip-offs, but instead they're simply name-checked by Joe Dante, who gets to state that he doesn't rate Ghoulies, but considers Critters the best of the bunch that came out about that time. Every time the camera shows a number of movie posters (or I guess they are supposed to be video covers), you get to see some more obscure titles before it zooms in to focus on the next film up for discussion, which is most often one that most horror fans will be familiar with. And a horror documentary full of movie clips spending some time discussing a previous horror documentary full of movie clips - Terror In The Aisles - seems both meta and also completely unnecessary.

I won't try to list some of the many notable omissions, as that would just be too depressing, but things are saved this time around by some sections that allow stars to discuss their careers. You get Nancy Allen On Nancy Allen, Tom Savini On Tom Savini, Robert Englund On Robert Englund, and Linnea Quigley On Linnea Quigley. These, alongside a section that looks at the horror movie videogames of the era, offer up just enough insight and enjoyment to make this a better film than the first instalment. It's also bittersweet to see some on-camera contributions from the late, great, Stuart Gordon.

If you enjoyed In Search Of Darkness then you're bound to enjoy this. It's more of the same. If, like me, you were in the minority then this at least improves things slightly. I have no doubt that a third entry would be possible, and it would be the same yet again. And I'll be bemoaning the fact that we horror fans seem to be so easily pleased sometimes by stuff put out there with minimal amounts of care and real insight. 

4/10

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Shudder Saturday: In Search Of Darkness (2019)

I watched this ridiculously long '80s horror doc on Shudder, despite being warned by people who had already seen it. It's all too familiar stuff, and ultimately unsatisfying, sadly, but here's a way to review it without really reviewing it. It's overlong, at almost four and a half hours, and there are no real insights into the genre that you can't find in other, better, documentaries. I'd also have to say that the people picked to comment range from the wonderful to the absolutely awful (but I'll name no names). What it did, however, was spur me to think back on my own relationship with horror films, and films in general.

The babysitter who would let me watch the late-night Hammer horrors while he taped all of the vinyl albums that my parents owned. The Star Wars action figures that my cousins had, that I conspicuously did NOT have (although I don't think I had even seen the movies at that point). Afternoons spent with grandparents while the TV schedule was filled with old Westerns that put me to sleep, with the occasional Cary Grant movie appearing to cheer me up no end. These elements all helped to keep movies in my young mind, but it was the VHS years that set me on a path to obsession and adoration, both with movies and with the horror genre.

My parents rented their first VHS player. It was quite common when they were new. Big chunky TV, and those could also be rented (some even had a coin-slot at the side where you could put 50p in for a few hours, that change paying for the rental and any extra being paid back to customers), and a big top-loader video player. I remember pretending to sleep while uncles and cousins came to visit and watch horror movies. Because horror really sold the format. That seems to be all my parents watched, well horror movies and films like Who Will Love My Children? and Melanie (1982).
So I was excited when I heard they were going to rent the likes of Scanners and Creepshow.
I watched both of those films through eyes squeezed tight to pretend that I was sleeping. Both intensely terrified me. Both gave me nightmares. Both also helped me move from the classic double-bills of Hammer horrors to more modern fare.

I'd already also been freaked out by TV movies such as Don't Go To Sleep and the Salem's Lot epic, but neither of those had the real show-stopping moments that were in the even more recent theatrical releases.

Move forward a few years and I get used to just trying to sit there and be quiet while adults plan their horror viewings for the evening. I saw John Carpenter's The Thing in black and white, on a weird little combo TV/radio device, and I saw George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, and that had tension I had never experienced before. Funnily enough, I caught Night Of The Living Dead on TV a few years later, and I was still slightly shaken by the intensity and power of it.

I loved Halloween, was bemused by the lack of Michael Myers in Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, and first encountered Jason in Friday The 13th Part 2 (a series I didn't see again until we rented Part 7). Then I met Freddy, thanks to an uncle who had "copies" of every movie ever. Or so it seemed.

A Nightmare On Elm Street freaked me out. I went to bed. I sneakily put my lamp on, thinking I would get up early to put it off again. Yeah, right.
Mum came in and was very angry in the morning.
No more horror movies for me, she said.
"Nooooooooooooo, I'll be fine," I replied.

There was the video van, an old ice cream van converted (I believe) so you could wander into the back and browse a limited selection of titles. I rented the original Freaky Friday many times (crush on Barbara Harris helped) and kept mistakenly renting The Ghost Busters (a video with 2 episodes from the 1970s TV show, NOT the movie Ghostbusters). I also rented Children's Film Foundation movies, but wanted the genre-based stuff. The Glitterball was a favourite.

I saw The Company Of Wolves, wasn't sure of what it was doing, but absolutely loved it (still do, wrote about it in a book and everything).

The Amityville Horror was a "family favourite", and Amityville II: The Possession was wild, especially to a kid who didn't realise the third act was ripping off The Exorcist.
And both An American Werewolf In London and The Howling were shown some love. As well as The Omen movies, but those were relatively glossy and "acceptable" mainstream hits, for the most part.

And I think back on the films that terrified me, that I now can't view as anything other than wonderful horror comedies. Films that I was allowed to rent just by nipping along to a local video store and using the card held in the name of my mother.
Evil Dead II, Re-Animator, The Return Of The Living Dead. Hell, even Creepshow has that E.C. humour all through it. Child's Play may seem ridiculous to many modern horror fans. I was thirteen when I first saw it (night in with a mate, and we figured we could handle it). It was, as we described it to others, "the scariest thing ever!"

I thought I was becoming a trusted teen when we hooked up a cable that meant I could finally watch a video in my own room, as the VCR signal was threaded through to my own little portable TV. It was going to be the next step in my cinematic journey, due to begin with Night Screams.
Night Screams (1987) is a terrible film, but my memory of it is just gratuitous sex and violence. Result.
Except all the sex was fast forwarded by my mum, who was overseeing the film as it also played in the living room.
Fun denied. Dammit.

Is there a point to this ramble? Not really, but maybe there is. Instead of watching all of these documentaries that regurgitate the same information, just reach back into your own memory and recapture that feeling. Whenever you need to. You grew to love the horror genre as you.
Don't start having the impact of it dictated to you by others (not that anyone means it that way as they discuss their love/favourites). And never let anyone tell you what you should like in order to be a "true fan", or how, and how often, you should watch your movies. Gatekeepers aren't necessary. The fact you find the gateways is the main thing. Unless it comes to Jaws. Because, y'know, nobody should dislike Jaws.

There will always be good and bad movies coming out. But nothing changes how you became the film fan you are today, whatever your fave genre.

3/10

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