Out of the Dark (1988)

Beautiful young women who work at the offices of a phone-sex company are being stalked by a psychotic killer.

Director:

Michael Schroeder

Writers:

J. Greg De Felice, Zane W. Levitt

Stars:

Cameron Dye, Karen Black, Bud Cort

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cameron Dye	...	Kevin Silvers
Karen Black	...	Ruth Wilson
Bud Cort	...	Doug Stringer
Lynn Danielson-Rosenthal	...	Kristi Larson (as Lynn Danielson)
Starr Andreeff	...	Camille
Divine	...	Det. Langella
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Dennis
Tracey Walter	...	Lt. Frank Meyers
Karen Mayo-Chandler	...	Barbara
Silvana Gallardo	...	McDonald
Karen Lorre	...	Jo Ann (as Karen Witter)
Angela Robinson-Witherspoon	...	Vanessa (as Angela Robinson)
Lainie Kazan	...	Hooker / Nancy
Tab Hunter	...	Driver
Paul Bartel	...	Hotel Clerk

Storyline

Suite Nothings, is a sleazy L.A. phone *fantasy* hot-line...in other words a phone-sex service, voiced by failed models, in which callers get to divulge their fantasies over the phone. Among them is Bobo, an individual who's twisted sense of humor, is matched only by his warped mental state. Dressed in an eerily comical mask of all things a clown, he begins murderous vendetta against these hot-line workers. As a body-count in this city steadily increases, this so-called ringmaster in his own personnel circus of fear and fatal pain, who makes his victims walk a tightrope of sheer terror moments before he brutally ends their lives. Bobo is going to prove why no one should talk to strangers...especially when they are as strange and insane as he is.

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Plot Keywords:

phone sex | clown | serial killer | killer clown | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

The phone sex line was for fantasy... now it's for murder!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Máscara da Morte

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$419,428 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinetel Films, Zeta Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Divine's last movie.

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Quotes

Kevin Silvers: No extra business.

User Reviews

Silly, routine slasher, but still fairly watchable.

A telephone sex service named "Suite Nothings" is being tormented by an insane killer, who knocks off the beautiful woman on the other end of the phone one by one, in many brutal ways. So now, one of the women and their boyfriend who is a prime suspect of these sex-related crimes by the police try to work who is this killer that hides behind a clown's mask with their twisted sense of humour. This leads them too so many unexpected clues and suspicious suspects, which just keep on popping up.

Well, this is my second viewing of this film and it hasn't improved on my first one bit, but its mildly amusing despite we've seen it all before. What we got here is a reasonably sub-standard slasher with A LOT of sleaze, sex and added nastiness, with some very twisted humour along the way too. Although some things actually don't work, and you'll be snickering at how ridiculous certain set-ups are and how outrageous the violence is. Even the oh so many coincidences and why would you do that scenarios that crop up doesn't help either. Its main problem was that it took itself FAR to seriously in spots, making it funny in parts that it shouldn't have been. But then again, this is what really keeps you watching this particular film. I'm hoping its trying to be a parody on the sub-genre. Hold on, I almost forgot… a cheesy, but sometimes-erotic soundtrack helps you get into the 80's spirit!

The actual plot has so many twists, turns and plenty of red herrings, with certain sub-plots being left up in the air and characters disappearing from on screen. Such as one of b-grades finest Karen Black, one of the film's strong points… her character just vanishes after the halfway point. This is why certain things you pick up don't make too much sense and why at times it tries to be a moving drama, then comedy and a sudden u-turn into horror. Please make your mind up! It just seems there was too much going on at times, which gave it a padded feel. When it finally comes to the outlandish climax the killer's identity is a real let down in my opinion. Overall, the killer was just too goofy and cracked too many lame one-liners.

Fine performances from an exceptional b-cast (Cameron Dye, Bud Cort, Tracy Walter, Geoffery Lewis, Starr Andreeff, Paul Bartel, Tab Hunter). There was your occasional flat or eccentric performance and the cross dresser Divine makes a small cameo as a police detective. It's just that most of the characters were unlikeable and the dialogue that came from their mouths was shallow trite. The actual production wasn't too shabby and there were some well setup sequences. But where's was the suspense? Actually, what am I going on about? Oh right, it's a cheesy 80s slasher film.

Overall, there's some fun to be had with it providing enough nudity and cheap violence, which you expect from this type of film.