Left in Darkness (2006)

A young woman, whose mother died giving birth to her, is facing eternal life in either Heaven or Hell. She must make the choice who to listen to, her guardian angel, whom she met when she was a child, or the evil ones.

Director:

Steven R. Monroe

Writers:

Philip Daay, Jane Whitney

Stars:

Monica Keena, David Anders, Jessica Stroup

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Monica Keena	...	Celia
David Anders	...	Donovan
Jessica Stroup	...	Justine
Travis Van Winkle	...	Corby
Tim Thomerson	...	Joe
Chris Engen	...	Doug
Tarah Paige	...	Rachel
Eric Ladin	...	Gopher
Chelsea Cannell	...	Tawnia
Christina Cellner	...	Young Celia
Marisa Lauren	...	Marie
Michael Worth	...	Celia's Father
Cody Klop	...	Young Donovan
Jeridan Frye	...	Lorie Ann Dobson
Patty McCormack	...	Grandmother

Storyline

A young woman, whose mother died giving birth to her, is facing eternal life in either Heaven or Hell. She must make the choice who to listen to, her guardian angel, whom she met when she was a child, or the evil ones.

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Plot Keywords:

female butt clench | hell | heaven | guardian angel | portal | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 September 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hamenes psyhes

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

IDT Entertainment,Soul Eaters Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Celia is struck by her grandfather, the strike is on the right side of her neck. At one point later in the movie it is on the left side.

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Quotes

Celia: Goodbye, Donovan!

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Connections

References Punk'd (2003)

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Soundtracks

Television Child
Written by Ron Kustes
Performed by Spooky Jones
"Ain't Got No Woman"
Written by Ron Kustes
Performed by Spooky Jones
"Get Together"
Written by Ron Kustes, London McDaniel
Performed by Spooky Jones

User Reviews

A real surprise

I caught this on cable the other night, and to be honest I wasn't expecting much. You don't expect much from Zone Horror, not after a while - there are an awful lot of Z-grade turkeys on that channel, but occasionally they do come up with a gem, almost in spite of themselves. This film isn't quite a lost diamond, but it's not at all bad.

If nothing else, the writer and director have a bit of imagination. The plot goes like this: Celia goes to a party, messes about with a ouija board, then gets raped and murdered. Most films would take a drearily predictable tack at this point - Celia has to ensure that her killer is brought to justice, yadda yadda. You can see half a dozen movies with that plot on any given evening, if you really want to.

But this film takes another tack. Celia finds herself in something like Purgatory, a dangerous place inhabited by creatures who will eat your soul, given half a chance. By working through the ghosts of her past, and working with her 'imaginary' friend from childhood, she has to try to escape and get to, presumably, Heaven.

The bad news is that the budget was obviously about seven dollars. Purgatory is represented by something that looks very like suburbia, and there is at least one scene too many set in the front of a car. Parts of the plot are slightly repetitive, too, and the dialogue isn't particularly memorable.

But - and it's a very big but - everyone involved obviously cared about this movie. The acting is more than competent, especially from David Anders as the morally ambiguous childhood friend, who is a rarity in this type of horror film - a really interesting character. The movie whooshes along at a good clip, the plot actually makes some sense, and I found myself genuinely caring about Celia's plight, which was totally unexpected.

The most surprising thing, for me, was the the director of this movie also did a couple of truly horrible films that I saw recently, It Waits and Sasquatch Mountain. This movie is, thank God, in a different class to those cheese-fests. Hopefully this means that Steven Monroe is getting the hang of this directing business, and we can expect more like this in the future.