Change Your Image
duelist-1
Reviews
Alone in the Dark (2005)
Movie Review
The other day my roommate called me up and said he had two complimentary tickets to a special pre-screening to a new moving coming out soon: Alone in the Dark.
If the name sounds familiar, it's probably because you're familiar with the video games by the same name. If not, don't worry, although the movie claims to be based off the games (games I know very well), I didn't see any similarities other than the names of the main characters.
My friend and I wandered into the theatre and took our seats. Anxiously awaiting the movie. I was especially excited because the game Alone in the Dark ranks in my very exclusive list of all-time scariest games ever...it's only competition is Doom 3. The point is, I was expecting a movie that would scare my pants off and send chills up my spine, much like the first game did back in the early 90s.
Before the movie started, a man came out and stood before us, and announced that we were the very first audience ever to see this movie, and he hoped we enjoyed it. The excitement built!
The movie started...and it wasn't long before that excitement turned to confusion, and shortly thereafter, disappointment combined with a healthy dose of disbelief.
This movie sucked! Plain and simple. The plot was, by far, the worst thing about the movie, followed not too distantly by the dialogue and cheesy acting. The only actor who did a halfway decent job was the main character, Edward Carnby (played by Christian Slater). In fact, I would go so far as to say he carried the entire movie.
Please note: From here on, I will be making references to the movie that would be considered spoilers. Even references to how the movie ends. If you actually intend to see this movie even after reading this review, you may want to skip the part about the plot.
Let's return to the plot for a moment. (This is where the bulk of the problems lie.) The plot can be summed up through the following words: broken, confusing, irrelevant, uninformed, and poorly written. Why?
The movie has practically nothing to do with the games. The games were based off of an investigator who explored various "supernatural" phenomena, and became trapped in this haunted mansion. The entire point of the game was to get out of the mansion alive...something that was not so easy to do! The movie didn't take place in a mansion, really had very little to do with the supernatural and more about some sort of alien creatures. It wasn't a psychological thriller with some action interspersed, it was an action flick...and if it attempted to be the former in any way, it failed miserably...so much so I never noticed any elements of it.
There were several questions raised in the movie that were never answered or even dealt with for that matter. There was this theme of some ancient civilization which apparently had something to do with these creatures, but it was never explained what the civilization had to do with the creatures, or where (or what) these creatures were to begin with.
Several inconsistencies with elements of the movie. For instance (big spoiler ahead). It's established that these creatures cannot exist in the light. They're hurt by sunlight and various other types of light sources. Then, at the end, the main characters climb out of their underground ordeal, appear in the city, during the day, and notice that everyone is missing. (no bodies, no blood, no signs of struggle...just missing). Then, in broad daylight, one of these creatures jumps out at them and the movie ends. ...uh, folks...daylight. It seems the director forgot to pay attention to that little fact. This is one of many inconsistencies in the movie. It's rife with them.
There was this (military? police? rebel?) institution called 713 which was apparently hunting these creatures (aliens?) for a while now. It was never established what this organization was, if they were part of the government or not, or anything about them. They just showed up and all the characters in the movie just accepted them as being in charge of things.
The love scene. Completely gratuitous! There was no chemistry between the hero and the heroin. In fact, the only way one would know that there was any kind of attraction between them was that it was briefly established in the beginning that they used to be in a relationship. Then, for no apparent reason, in the midst of all this danger and alien creatures in the same building with them, bam. They go at it. Then, as if nothing had happened, the rest of the movie they continue on their way with absolutely no chemistry to the very end.
Character Development...there was none.
Several points where the movie moved way too fast or way too slow, causing either confusion or boredom. I could go on, I have a whole list of things I disliked about the movie, but I'll stop here.
There were a couple good points to the movie, and it's only fair to state them. The introduction was well done and was relatively engaging. I'd go so far as to say the first scene was the best scene in the entire movie (although even that scene had several points to it which raised questions that were never answered or dealt with in any way - adding to the confusion later on). The cinematography in parts was creative and showed a level of quality that was far beyond this film. The special fx held their own and, for the most part, were impressive at points.
Alone in the Dark could have followed in the footsteps of the games it was based on, and potentially done an amazing job. The games were incredibly frightening and established a mood of horror and suspense from the moment you started playing till long after you quit playing. This movie did nothing more than leave a feeling of disgust at the pit of my stomach, that it should represent a series of amazing games and fail so miserably at doing so.
The sad fact is, my friend and I had the opportunity to see Alone in the Dark for free, and yet, somehow, we both came out of the ordeal feeling cheated.