The People Who Own the Dark (1976)

A group of rich businessmen and military officers who are partying in an old castle are spared when a nuclear war ravages the earth. When they venture out into the nearest town to search ... See full summary »

Director:

León Klimovsky

Writers:

Gabriel Moreno Burgos (story) (as Gabriel Burgos), Gabriel Moreno Burgos (screenplay) (as Gabriel Burgos)

Stars:

Nadiuska, Alberto de Mendoza, Teresa Gimpera

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nadiuska	...	Clara
Alberto de Mendoza	...	Prof. Fulton
Teresa Gimpera	...	Berta
Emiliano Redondo	...	Dr. Messier
Julia Saly	...	Marion (as Julia Sali 'La Pocha')
Tomás Picó	...	Victor
Diana Polakov	...	Tania
Antonio Mayans	...	Vasily
Leona Devine	...	Luna
Ricardo Palacios	...	Dr. Robertson
Carmen Platero
Estela Delgado
Barta Barri	...	Russian ambassador (as Berta Barry)
Gumersindo Andrés	...	(as Gumersindo A. López)
Gonzalo Tejada

Storyline

A group of rich businessmen and military officers who are partying in an old castle are spared when a nuclear war ravages the earth. When they venture out into the nearest town to search for food and supplies, they find most of the residents blinded, and soon they discover the existence of a sinister group called The People Who Own The Dark.

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Plot Keywords:

cult | psychotronic film | castle | nuclear war | officer | 

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Taglines:

Now ... there is nothing between you and ... "the people who own the dark"

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

The People Who Own the Dark

Filming Locations:

Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

José Luis Renedo Tamayo, Newcal, Sean S. Cunningham Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The English dubbed version released in the United States as "The People Who Own the Dark" had a replacement score that included music cues from "The Blob" (1958).

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Alternate Versions

The version released in the United States as "The People Who Own the Dark," was dubbed into English, had a replacement score, and was cut to 82 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Our VHS Collection (2019)

User Reviews

The People Who Own the Dark

The People Who Own the Dark (1976)

** (out of 4)

A group of people gather at a home where they enter an underground bunker to do a De Sade worship. After hearing a loud explosion they return to the surface and notice that something strange has happened. They don't realize how strange until they go to town for supplies and notice the title monsters, a group of people who have turned blind due to a nuclear holocaust. THE PEOPLE WHO OWNS THE DARK has a pretty good reputation among Spanish horror fans but I'll be the outsider and say that I was pretty disappointed in the film. People have compared it to a cross between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, which is certainly true but I'd also add THE OMEGA MAN in there as another influence. I watched the American cut of the movie, which features twelve fewer minutes than the Spanish cut but apparently only some more detailed character development is missing. With that said, I thought there were some major issues with the screenplay including the fact that none of the characters are all that interesting. When you think about it, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD features a lot of dialogue scenes and more often than not the zombies aren't on the screen. That's the same here but the only problem with this film is that nothing being said is all that interesting and unlike the Romero film you really don't care about any of the characters here either. None of the characters really stood out from one another and outside of the familiar faces (Alberto DeMendoza and Paul Naschy) there's really no one to root for or care about. For the most part the performances seemed fine, although this is always a hard thing to judge when you're watching something with an English dubbing. I will say that the look of the film was quite nice but director Leon Klimovsky just doesn't add any flare to the subject and even at 82-minutes the film drags in spots. Again, I know I'm in the minority on this one but the film just didn't work nearly as well as it should have.