Given all that, most of which proved to be true, would I still enjoy the film? After all, it wouldn't be the first time I revisited a film from my youth that did not hold up well to adult scrutiny. However, in this case, I'd have to say it was the rare case of a film actually being better than I remembered it.
I mean, don't get me wrong: it's no overlooked masterpiece that should be held in the same high regard as the other high-water benchmarks of the 80's era, but it's not too shabby, either. For one thing, it's slicker than a lot of low-budget movies of the time, and looks great (especially on DVD/Blu-Ray).
For another, at a time in which the horror genre was neck-deep in slasher movies, it dared to go sort of Gothic and old-school. It's hardly a gore-fest, to say the least. Perhaps because of this very fact, it has become somewhat underrated.
Also, keep in mind, this was a banner year for horror movies of all sorts as well: John Carpenter's seminal The Thing, Poltergeist (with which ODN shares some similarities), Creepshow, Basket Case, Tenebrae, the Cat People remake and the immortal Pieces were all released the same year, among plenty others where they came from, none of which were exactly subtle. (See pics.)
Not helping matters was the fact that ODN was actually filmed several years before its actual release, before being stopped by post-production issues that held up its release for some time, necessitating some re-shoots, some of which were not approved by the director- as well as a complete overhaul of the editing which changed some of the key elements of the film, notably the director's intended much-darker ending.
Factor in a PG rating at a time when gore reigned supreme in the genre and the film seemed doomed from the start. As such, it tanked at the box office and sank without a trace, only to resurface on cable and VHS some time later, which is where I first saw it. Eventually, the film went out of print altogether, and became a highly sought-out collector's item, often fetching exorbitant prices online.
Luckily, demand was such that filmmaker Tom McLoughlin took note and spearheaded a campaign to get the film released on DVD, which he successfully achieved in 2006. There was also a 2-disc edition available, which itself became a collector's item for a hot minute before being resurrected yet again on Blu-Ray via Code Red in 2017.
Both the 2-Disc DVD version and the Blu-Ray contain the so-called "workprint" version of the film, which is essentially as close as McLoughlin could get to a "Director's Cut." This version features the film's original, darker ending, in which- SPOILER ALERT for those who want to preserve the surprise- Tilly's character is shown to be possessed by the evil spirit of the film's villain Raymar.
End of Spoiler!
However, for the purposes of this review, we will be sticking to the original version, which I quite enjoyed, warts and all- and there are some definite issues with it, if I'm being honest. But we'll get to that in a moment- first a quick recap.
The film revolves around an evil telekenetic named Karl Rhamarevich, aka Raymar, who is obsessed with increasing his powers. Willing to die for the cause, he does just that under the patented "mysterious circumstances," taking a group of teenage girls with him for good measure.
Enter his estranged daughter, Olivia (Melissa Newman, of the John Wayne/Rock Hudson vehicle The Undefeated), who he always kept at arms' length for some reason. According to one of her father's former associates, Dockstader (Donald Hotton, also in yesterday's pick, Deadly Lessons, as well as Nightwing, The Hearse, Brainstorm, Rampage, and The Freeway Maniac, among other genre faves), this was all by design.
It turns out that Raymar was a so-called "psychic vampire"- think Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce- which means that he "fed" off the "bioenergy" of the girls he terrorized. The more scared his victims were, the more power he was able to absorb from them. Given that his condition was passed down from generation to generation, he kept away from Olivia, so as to not be tempted to "feed" on her.
At the same time all of this is going down, a group of mean girls, somewhat ironically called the "Sisters," opt to put a would-be new recruit through the ringer by peer-pressuring her into spending the night at a local mausoleum. If she stays all night and is there when they go to pick her up in the morning, then she's in. If not...too bad.
The new recruit, Julie, is played by Meg Tilly (yes, she's Jennifer's sister, for those who don't know), in one of her earliest roles. Tilly made her big-screen debut in 1980's Fame, as a dancer- she trained as one for years before a back injury cut her intended career short- before hitting it big in a series of hits, beginning in 1982.
That includes a turn in the S.E. Hinton adaptation Tex (alongside Hinton regular Matt Dillon), the better-than-expected Psycho II and especially the highly-influential The Big Chill. If you've seen a movie about a group of long-time friends reuniting to rehash old times and catch up, while dealing with emotional fallout from the past, you basically have that movie to thank for it.
Tilly worked steadily throughout the 80's and well into the 90's before opting to retire around '95 to spend more time with her family. Interestingly, though they started around the same time, it was right around then that sister Jennifer's career began to take off in earnest, notably with the excellent Wachowski flick Bound. Meg still acts now and again, notably on TV's Caprica and Bomb Girls.
Leading up the "Sisters" is Carol, played by the sexy Robin Evans. Evans' career consists mostly of TV credits, but she did crop in a few more movies, including Fire in the Night and Rage of Honor before she likewise retired from the business in the late-80's. It's too bad, as Evans manages to be pretty likable, in spite of the hissable quality of her character here, who uses the "initiation" as an excuse to torment the girl who is currently dating her ex-BF.
Carol's right-hand woman is Kitty, played by Leslie Speights. This was her only non-TV credit, sadly, as she also has an inherent likability. Reportedly, her ubiquitous toothbrush chomping was inspired by a friend of director McLoughlin and co-writer Michael Hawes, who both found it endearing and wrote it into the script. Speights later went into voice-over work for cartoons- as well as the aforementioned Melissa Newman.
As did the lovely lady rounding out the group, Elizabeth Daily (aka E.G. Daily), who plays Leslie, the girl who wisely opts out of her fellow Sisters' shenanigans. Daily was all over 80's cinema, cropping up in the likes of Valley Girl, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, No Small Affair, Bad Dreams, Loverboy and a film I reviewed recently, Streets of Fire, among plenty others.
In addition to her exhaustive voice-over work- which notably includes the voice of Babe, the pig, Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls and Tommy Pickles from Rugrats- Daily is also a singer, with songs cropping up in movies like Scarface, The Breakfast Club, Better Off Dead (in which she also plays herself) and Summer School, among others. She's pretty freaking adorable, too- and still is, I might add.
Back to the movie...
Naturally, the big meanie Carol has more in store for the poor Julie, as she and Kitty double-back later to the mausoleum to torment the poor girl with a series of practical jokes, not unlike the yahoos of Hell Night. Little do they know that the very same location is the resting place of none other than Raymar, whose spirit is awakened by the fear aroused in Julie by her so-called friends, and returns to wreak more havoc.
Lucky for Julie that her boyfriend, Steve (David Mason Daniels, Tag: The Assassination Game) gets wind of it from Leslie, who bailed on the festivities, thinking it a bridge too far. You go, Julie! Steve rides to Julie's rescue on his trusty motorcycle, around the same time as Olivia realizes that her dead father may not be so dead after all and likewise heads to the mausoleum to try and stop him.
Spooky stuff ensues, including stuff flying around everywhere at the three hapless girls, corpses literally rising from their graves and coming after them, and Raymar himself attempting to drain the girls of their bioenergy and resurrect himself in earnest. Can Steve and Olivia stop the madness? You'll just have to see yourself, but if you can't wait that long, read on.
As I mentioned, the distributors balked at McLoughlin's darker ending and re-edited the film to make for a happier ending, which he didn't find out about until he attended a screening himself, along with screenwriter Hawes. While they were able to talk the financiers into letting them film an additional shock ending, as seen in the film, alas, the overall happy ending stayed.
In addition, said distributors also went so far as to film additional scenes, including some with actress Newman, so as to allow for more voice-over explaining things "better," not trusting audiences to figure it out for themselves. McLoughlin would later edit most of this out in his cut of the film for DVD, as well as going back to his original, darker ending.
Be that as it may, I kind of like the original cut of the film, iffy effects and all. Oh, don't get me wrong: those "lightning bolts" are hella cheesy and could not be more 80's, and yes, some of the corpses are a little goofy-looking, but overall, it works for me. (Fun fact: some of the skeletons are real- eep! 😯)
One thing I will say, though, is that the new additions do indeed slow the film down considerably, so McLoughlin was right to balk at them. It takes forever for the film to get going as a direct result of this additional footage, which may make it tough going for some impatient viewers. (It's a good hour or more before anything supernatural happens in the film, really, save the stuff in the opening scene.)
That said, though, the 80's vibe is strong with this one, thanks to the hairstyles, outfits, and a priceless scene set in an arcade (why hello there, Tempest!). All it really needed was a few choice cheesy 80's tracks on the soundtrack (a theme song would have been nice, for sure) and it would have helped immeasurably to fill in the voids caused by the distributors' meddling.
I worried that the nostalgia factor might have made me look back more fondly on this one than perhaps it deserved, but overall, I still really dug it, even if it is tame by the era's standards. Honestly, though, it's not really that kind of film, anyway. McLoughlin said he was going for more of an Edgar Allan Poe vibe, and that's exactly what it feels like in places.
(SPOILER ALERT #2: In the original cut, Carol and Kitty managed to get out from under the corpse pile-on, only to be entombed by Raydar, "Cask of Amontillado"-style, a far darker fate than the one in the film as it stands, where their deaths are somewhat left up in the air.)
McLoughlin went onto a few successful flicks, notably Jason Lives: Friday the 13th, Part VI and the Phoebe Cates fantasy flick Date with an Angel, before turning to the small screen, where he churned out episodes of the Friday the 13th spin-off Friday's Curse and the Nightmare on Elm Street spin-off Freddy's Nightmares.
He's also directed a host of TV-movies, including the Stephen King-adaptation Sometimes They Come Back, The Haunting of Helen Walker (based on the Henry James' story "The Turn of the Screw," which also inspired the classic The Innocents) and true-crime-based flicks like Murder in Greenwich and Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal.
Co-writer Michael Hawes hasn't fared as well, I'm afraid, though he did go on to write and direct the horror flicks Family Reunion and Terror in Sutterville.
It's also worth a mention that the film features a small role for none other than O.G. Batman Adam West, who was having trouble getting work in movies (albeit faring better on the small screen) because of his inevitable association with the role. McLoughlin felt bad for West and hired him to play Olivia's husband, on the advice of his casting director.
The film did indeed help West to get out of the rut he was in, leading to more big-screen roles, although typically of the lowbrow variety, i.e. The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, Hell Riders, Young Lady Chatterley II, Zombie Nightmare, etc.
Everyone knows- or should- that those movies are more fun than mainstream fare, though, so I say he's better off. Regardless, West worked steadily until his death in 2017, so good on him, and on McLoughlin for giving the Bat a break.
One Dark Night may not be a diamond-in-the-rough of 80's movies that aren't that familiar to modern crowds, but it is a nice little slice of Gothic horror with just enough camp to be a good time for those looking for something a little off the beaten path.
Calling it a cult classic might be a stretch, but it certainly qualifies as a fun, oft-overlooked horror-lite film that will undoubtedly appeal to 80's completists, particularly those who are fans of any of the aforementioned actors, especially Tilly and Daily. It may be a little slow in places, but it gets there eventually, and the finale is worth the wait.
Check it out! 💀👻👹
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