Dark House – (Shriekfest) Review

The name Darin Scott might not be known to most cinephiles, but if I were to list his body of work you might raise an eyebrow or two. He is a quadruple threat in the movie industry: Actor (Eddie Presley), Producer (Stepfather II, Menace II Society), Writer (Tales From the Hood, The Offspring), and Director (Caught Up). He has a brand new film coming out called Dark House, which recently had its World Premiere at the 2009 Shriekfest Film Festival.

Fourteen years ago a terrible massacre at a Foster Home traumatized a young Claire Thompson. She witnessed the aftermath of the unspeakable doings of religious whack-job Miss Darrode, who murdered seven young children.

Cut to present day and a haunted house impresario named Walston Rey (Jeffrey Combs) has decided to set up his newest state-of-the-art attraction at the home. He recruits a bunch of young actors to play the cast, one of which is Claire.The evil spirit of Ms. Darrode decides to take control of the computer system, causing the various setpieces to come to life and start picking off everyone in creative fashion.

The best word I could use to describe Dark House is refreshing. With remakes and torture-porn getting all the headlines, it was nice to see an old-school premise updated with current FX tricks.

The dynamic duo behind all the eye candy is make-up artist Megan Areford (Dead Air) and visual effects master Al Magliochetti (Frankenhooker). Megan creates a gallery of ghastly ghouls: The Fingernail Wraith(Gillian Foreman), The Templar Knight, an evil clown, and The Brutal Butcher (R.A. Mihailoff of Leatherface: TCM III). Al delivers stunning CG splat, mist, severed limbs, and a flying, flaming skull that looks better than anything seen in Ghost Rider.

Jeffrey Combs was born to play the master of scaremonies, the emcee of horrors – Walston Rey. His performance is beyond over-the-top, but I couldn’t resist his enthusiam and magnetic persona. Imagine William Castle on speed and you get the idea.

Diane Salinger’s maniacal performance as Ms. Darrode is one that gives you chills up your spine. This is one truly disturbed individual whose very presense makes you uncomfortable.

Darin Scott has a visual style that is charming. The interior of the house has a color scheme that would make Dario Argento proud. It was a pleasure to see a filmmaker not shake his camera around to tell a story. Much appreciated.

Dark House is a solid genre effort that by no means reinvents the wheel, yet, any film that harks back to the fun spirit of 80′s classics like Waxwork and Fright Night is a keeper in my book.

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