Hi 54 / Lo 51
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Volume 70, Issue 81,
Monday, January 31, 2005
Life & Arts Fans of horror can leave Boll's latest alone By Amy Perez
The days of enjoying a big bag of popcorn and a good old campy horror movie like the original Friday the 13th are long gone. Case in point: Alone in the Dark, a movie based on the Atari game of the same name and set to open this weekend. But because of the way its cast of B-list actors, cheesy gore scenes and weak storyline are thrown together, it would be surprising to see or hear anything good about this shoddy "thriller/horror" flick. In fact, this movie makes Freddy movies seem as innovative as the original Alien. Just before the opening credits, a stern narrator explains to the audience that an ancient civilization known as the Abkani Indian tribe opened the gates that separated the light from the dark, and therefore good from evil, in the world. Because they discovered the abundance of evil creatures that live in darkness, their people were wiped off the face of the planet -- but not without leaving behind a bunch of gold relics where an old bearded white man can find them.
Director Uwe Boll's Alone in the Dark is another attempt at a film adapted from a popular video game. The flick fails to frighten audiences and offers a disappointing cast, including Tara Reid as a museum curator, that doesn't help push the storyline. Photo courtesy of Lion's Gate Films Now zoom into present day Anytown, USA, throw in face-lifted Christian Slater as a paranormal investigator, Tara Reid as a laughable assistant museum curator and Stephen Dorff (whose best work was in The Gate) as a commander of a special government sector created with the sole purpose to stop the threat of monsters, and you have Alone in the Dark. Some would think that with the limited success of 2003's House of the Dead (based on a Sega video game), director Uwe Boll would have moved on to slaughter another genre with his irritatingly banal special effects and soundtrack of second-rate metal-fused house music. But apparently Boll thinks he's got horror in his blood, as the director is currently working on yet another movie, set to be released later this year, based another mundane video game. When it comes to movies this week, skip the horror genre altogether. After all, you'll only be disappointed with Alone in the Dark, and the whole "child-drawing-scary-pictures-in-crayon" thing in Hide and Seek has been done in The Ring. If you absolutely must get your horror fix, Freddy's always waiting for you at the video store. Alone in the Dark Rated: R for violence and language Starring: Christian Slater, Tara Reid Lionsgate Films. Verdict: Alone in the Dark fails to
live up to its B-movie status
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