Darkness (1993)

A small community is besieged by vampires. After he watches friends ravaged in a convenience store, a lone avenger goes off to do battle with the undead, armed with shotgun, chainsaw, and ... See full summary »

Director:

Leif Jonker

Writer:

Leif Jonker

Stars:

Gary Miller, Michael Gisick, Randall Aviks

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gary Miller	...	Tobe
Michael Gisick	...	Greg
Randall Aviks	...	Liven
Cena Donham	...	Kelly
Steve Brown	...	Jodie
Lisa Franz	...	Dianne
Bill Hooper	...	Glenn
Christopher Owen Michael	...	Steve
Jake Euker	...	John
Veronica Page Dennen	...	Cop
Bob Lower	...	Bob
Jodie Way	...	Customer
Brian Cardwell	...	Vampire
Michael J. Martin	...	Vampire
Ross Boehringer	...	Vampire

Storyline

A small community is besieged by vampires. After he watches friends ravaged in a convenience store, a lone avenger goes off to do battle with the undead, armed with shotgun, chainsaw, and Holy water. Later he finds other survivors and they try to stay alive long enough to do battle with Liven, king of the vampires.

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Plot Keywords:

battle | vampire | chainsaw | splatter film | splatter gore | 

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Taglines:

Even the dead will scream.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Darkness: The Vampire Version

Filming Locations:

Augusta, Kansas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

13th Dream Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Production began in 1988, stalled, and was later finished in 1989. Post-production began soon after the project wrapped but wasn't completed until 1991.

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Quotes

John: We've got to leave here! He is coming! It's too late! We're already dead!

User Reviews

A stylish, yet uneven vampire film

Leif Jonker's DARKNESS is a mixed bag.

The nomadic vampire Liven (Randall Aviks) wanders from town to town, creating havoc (and vampires) wherever he goes. Hot on his trail is Toby (Gary Miller), a sole-survivor of one of Liven's murderous rampages. Hellbent on destroying him (as well as any other vampire he happens to come across), Toby bands together with a group of teens from the latest town to fall victim to Liven's carnage.

That's about it for the plot, but that's not really the point of this film. It's more of an excuse for flashy camerawork and excessively gory effects. This is where the strength of this film lies.

The biggest problem with this film is the lighting (or the lack thereof!). The film is aptly named DARKNESS, since most of the time you can't tell what's going on! There are numerous scenes where there's just enough light to make out the image on screen, but not much else. The film would've definitely benefited from a few extra lights!

Although none of the youthful cast give spectacular performances (most of them seem to just be making up their lines as they scream frantically at each other), but within the context of the film, the actors do a decent enough job. Randall Aviks isn't as menacing as he tries to be. He looks more like a heavy-metal groupie than a vampire, but his scenes are minimal, so his presence isn't totally annoying.

The main attraction in DARKNESS is the gore, and it spills by the gallon! They're impressively done and they're graphic, as well as plentiful!

Jonker does his best to overcome his technical limitations to create a pretty cool little film, creating some memorable and haunting images - especially at the gruesome climax!

I'd like to see Jonker do something else, but I guess he's fallen off the planet. I've read reports in Fangoria that he was working on a film entitled "The Demon Machine". Anybody know anything about this? Hopefully Jonker will put together another project soon. If DARKNESS is any indication of his talent, he may very well have a promising career (provided that he invests in some more light kits).