''One Dark Night'' (also known as ''Entity Force'') is a 1982 American
supernatural horror
Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A ...
film directed by
Tom McLoughlin
Thomas Maurice "Tom" McLoughlin (born July 19, 1950) is an American screenwriter, film/television director and former mime who is most notable for directing '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' and ''One Dark Night''. His other credits inc ...
, and starring
Meg Tilly
Meg Tilly (born Margaret Elizabeth Chan on February 14, 1960) is an American-Canadian actress and writer.
For her role in the 1985 film '' Agnes of God'', she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...
,
E. G. Daily
Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer.
Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ''All Grown ...
, and
Adam West. The film follows three teenagers sent to a mausoleum for the night as part of a high school initiation rite. A dead, telekinetic occultist returns from the dead and haunts them, forcing the three to survive the night inside the crypt.
The film was conceived and filmed under the title ''Rest in Peace'' before ''
Poltergeist
In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...
''. It was given a limited platform release in the United States on July 9, 1982, before receiving wide distribution by
Comworld Pictures in January 1983.
Plot
The police find six girls murdered in the apartment of famed
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n
occultist
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism an ...
Karl Raymarseivich Raymar, and they can't explain it. When coroners lift Raymar's body onto a stretcher, bolts of electricity shoot out from his fingers. His estranged daughter, Olivia McKenna, and her husband Allan are unaware of this until they meet Samuel Dockstader, a feature writer for The World of the
Occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
. As a friend of Raymar, Dockstader explains that Raymar was a
psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
who gained great
telekinetic
Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...
powers by kidnapping young girls, terrorizing them, and feeding off the
bioenergy
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...
they produced. Allan does not believe him, but Dockstader shows Olivia a set of photographs to demonstrate how bioenergy works and gives her an
audiotape that outlines his findings, which convinces Olivia to believe him.
Meanwhile, high school student Julie Wells wants to be part of a club entitled The Sisters, which consists of three snobby high school girls named Carol, Leslie, and Kitty. Unfortunately, Carol is the ex-girlfriend of Julie's new boyfriend, Steve, and is jealous. She intends to get back at Steve and Julie by making Julie spend a night alone in a
mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
, unaware that Raymar's body was just entombed there. That evening, Julie is dropped off by only Carol and Kitty, as Leslie had refused to accompany them on the plan. Julie explores the mausoleum and sets up her sleeping bag, unaware of the cracks appearing around Raymar's vault.
Hoping to scare Julie, Carol and Kitty dress up in costumes and sneak back into the mausoleum. While they succeed in frightening Julie, who locks herself in the
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, they are unaware that Raymar is slowly reawakening by using his powers to make the walls shake, windows explode, and doors slam shut. Before Carol and Kitty decide to leave, Raymar's powers open up the vaults containing coffins inside. Many rotting
cadavers telekinetically float and surround the girls before they pile on top of them to suffocate them.
Meanwhile, Steve has gone to Julie's house to find her missing. He catches up with Leslie, who reluctantly tells Steve about Julie's initiation, and Steve angrily heads over to the mausoleum. At the same time, Olivia dashes over after learning about her father's powers and the possibility that she might also possess them. Back at the mausoleum, Raymar finally breaks out of his coffin and controls the rotting corpses and the doors with his psychic powers. Just when Steve breaks in and finds a hysterical Julie, they become surrounded by the corpses that advance toward them. Steve tries to fight the bodies, but they knock him out. Raymar pulls a dazed Julie closer to him before Olivia arrives to save her. Ultimately, Olivia takes her
compact
Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to:
* Interstate compact
* Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines
* Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
and reflects the bolts from Raymar's eyes at him, causing Raymar and the carcasses to disintegrate, rescuing Julie and Steve.
The three, including a now traumatized Julie, begin slowly walking out of the mausoleum. The film ends with Kitty's toothbrush seen near the mound of corpses inside the empty mausoleum before a corpse falls in front and emits a scream.
Cast
Production
Development
Before becoming a director,
Tom McLoughlin
Thomas Maurice "Tom" McLoughlin (born July 19, 1950) is an American screenwriter, film/television director and former mime who is most notable for directing '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' and ''One Dark Night''. His other credits inc ...
was a struggling scriptwriter and also starred in several minor roles in film including playing the monster in
John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1 ...
's 1979 horror film ''
Prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...
''. He worked with director
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
in his 1973 film ''
Sleeper
A sleeper is a person who is sleeping.
Sleeper may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Sleeper (Marvel Comics), a Nazi German robot utilized by the Red Skull in Marvel Comics
* The Sleeper (Wild Cards), a character in the Wild Ca ...
''. Not having much success with selling several comedy screenplays, McLoughlin and his friend Michael Hawes decided to make a gothic horror film similar to the works of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
. For inspiration McLoughlin drew upon his experience of exploring the
catacombs
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Etymology and history
The first place to be referred ...
in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
when he was 19 years old, as McLoughlin recalled years later, "It was the first time that I ever felt psychological or supernatural fear. There was nothing there; there was nobody coming after me; but there was just something about knowing where I was and what I was surrounded by, that gave me a chill that was unforgettable".
McLoughlin and Hawes also came up with the idea of a group of people being trapped inside a mausoleum with a "psychic vampire" that fed on the life energy of the other members of the group. After a period of four years failing to sell the script to various studios McLoughlin and Hawes found a group of Mormon investors who were willing to finance the film for one million dollars on the condition that they started filming in three weeks.
Casting
When searching for a lead actress to play the role of the film's heroine director McLoughlin had a specific vision for the film's heroine, "I wanted the classic beautiful blond geek girl who had a sense of innocence about her, and she was the one who was going to be tormented," he later recalled. After looking at actresses like
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...
and
Dominique Dunne, then 19-year-old actress
Meg Tilly
Meg Tilly (born Margaret Elizabeth Chan on February 14, 1960) is an American-Canadian actress and writer.
For her role in the 1985 film '' Agnes of God'', she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...
was cast for the role, and
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
actor
Adam West was later cast for the role of the lead male character.
Filming
Filming took place in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
over a period of 28 days both on sets and on location with a budget of $800,000. The film's impressive special effects for the corpses used in the film were designed by Tom Burman along with several other artists. On filming in the actual mausoleum McLoughlin recalled, "In all those mausoleum scenes, Meg really got freaked out. She did not want to be there, and she allowed all that fear to work, even though we went into a set for some special effects sequences. She still carried the same vibe with her that she had in the mausoleum. She raised the bar in the film."
Post-production
During the film's post-production the film was taken out of McLoughlin's hands and re-cut with the original ending removed. As McLoughlin recalled, "There was a version of the movie that wasn't shown in theaters, where there was this passing of Ramar's energies to the Meg Tilly character... In our version, she turns and we actually used
Nastassia Kinski's eyes from ''
Cat People''. There was this look that made them look dead and animal-like to give the audience this chill that it's not over. She got whatever Ramar had in her now".
Release
''One Dark Night'' was given a regional
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in several U.S. cities on July 9, 1982. It later received a special screening in Philadelphia on December 31, 1982.
The film opened in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
the following week, on January 7, 1983.
Home media
Shriek Show
Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...
released ''One Dark Night'' in January 2006.
It was released again in November 2007 in a three-pack with ''Girls Nite Out'' and ''Duck: The Carbine High Massacre''. The film was released on Blu-Ray from
Code Red on August 15, 2017.
Critical response
Steve Barton of
Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
rated it 4/5 stars and called it a guilty pleasure that is horrible in an endearing way.
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
awarded the film 2/4 stars, commending McLouglin's direction, acting, and special make-up effects.
Annie Riordan of ''Brutal as Hell'' called it a dull and formulaic horror film, recommended only to hardcore fans of the cast. Mike Long of
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote that the film would have made a better 30-minute short. Long highlighted the final sequence as the film's best, which is gory for a
PG-rated film.
[ Bryan Pope of ]DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...
called it "good, scary fun" and also highlighted the final gory sequence. Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', academic Peter Dendle
Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...
called it a quirky horror film whose zombies parody the stereotypical actions of early 1980s zombies.
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
One Dark Night - from concept to screen
One Dark Night Film Trailer
at Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{Tom McLoughlin
1982 films
1982 horror films
1980s horror thriller films
1982 independent films
1980s mystery films
1980s teen horror films
American zombie films
American teen horror films
American supernatural horror films
American independent films
American mystery horror films
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films directed by Tom McLoughlin
Films with screenplays by Tom McLoughlin
American vampire films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films