Where were you when the bug first hit?

I remember the first time I ran across this one quite well. The year was 1995, and your old Uncle David was traversing the shelves of the sadly forgotten Elmo’s Video here in Conyers, GA. While most of my prepubescent peers were off experiencing group sex and STDs (for further evidence, check out the PBS special The Lost Children Of Rockdale County for a real-life version of Larry Clark’s body of work), I was off navigating video stores for sick flicks to spend a lonely afternoon with. After re-renting the odd bootlegs of HEAVY METAL, HEY GOOD LOOKIN’, and the super-rare original version of A CERTAIN SACRIFICE, a rather grotty-looking video cover caught my eye. A sickening image of a young man, soaked in blood with his ribcage poking out. The badly taped warning on the plastic cover reading MUST BE 18 TO RENT bringing only slight discouragement. Taking the cassette over to the Children’s section, I pried that sticker off and stacked it with another couple of videos (I think they might have been EATEN ALIVE and MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY). 3 tapes for 3 dollars? I’m in fucking Nirvana.

Sorry for all of that cheap nostalgia, but DARKNESS is one of those rare movies that take you back to the good old days. Times when the Internet was almost nonexistent for folks who didn’t spend all day in front of a computer. Years when FANGORIA ruled and a mere positive blurb in “The Video Eye Of Dr. Cyclops” could send a small but elite clique of young gorehounds searching for a roll of stamps and envelopes to send off for cheaply reproduced “catalogs” of the latest in splatter. Yes, the new generation of blood barons were upon us…too bad the “revolution” panned out way too fast.

Leif Jonker’s DARKNESS is the kind of movie that dares you not to like it. For every flaw inherent in this cheap backyard back-lot splatter epic, there are three or more genuinely good things that are so inspired and invigorating that, by the end, even the negative points turn into pluses.

Tobe (Actor/FX artist Gary Miller) is a young Kansas punk hanging out at the Sip N’ Serve looking for the right bag of Funions. After witnessing a terrifying nighttime assault on the station by an old friend turned into one of the living dead, Tobe grabs his folks’ old Plymouth and heads…somewhere. Along the way, he runs into even more undead punks and a couple of disaffected teenage waste-oids unaware of the oncoming vampire onslaught. Night is coming, and along with it comes Liven (Randall Aviks), the undisputed King of the Teenage Lestat wannabes. Nonetheless, it’s going to be a long night of mayhem and bloodshed for our pubescent Van Helsings here.

That might sound like a silly premise, and it most definitely is, but what makes DARKNESS work is its unending dedication to treat said premise with total seriousness. The urge to parody the material and turn it into a spoof must have been great, but Jonker (in his teens during the making of this film) has the courage to approach his work at face value. This may look like the kind of movie that weird kid down the street made with his head-banging buddies, but there’s a bravado and sureness to Jonker’s work that stands it apart from that category. The exhilaration Leif puts into his film, that sheer joy and release of moviemaking that feels embedded into every second of DARKNESS succeeds in completely winning over its audience with spectacular results.

As stated before, DARKNESS has plenty of flaws, and it would be impossible to write about this flick without going into them in excruciating detail. While not as painful as other grassroots horror flicks I’ve seen, the acting is strictly low-caliber all the way around. The super-8mm photography lacks focus and distinction, mainly hindered by a lack of lighting and the general flaws inherent in Super-8 photography. In moments, the film loses focus and drops dead in trying to play Character Catch-Up. In its scenes of grisly bloodshed, DARKNESS loses all concept of story and lingers way too long on the special effects. However, as previously stated, these things all add to the charm of the film rather than detract from it. By endpoint, you’ll be so caught up in the epic scope and sheer “fuck yeah!” attitude of the film that all of those rough spots will mean absolutely nothing.

In an edition befitting the greatest backyard horror film of the `90’s, our buddies at Barrel Entertainment dress this barnstorming bloodsucker up in the digital equivalent of an Armani double-breasted tuxedo. DARKNESS is never going to look like a million-dollar production, but the fine work of Barrel (the undisputed masters of preserving Super-8 features on DVD, bar none) has the film looking 10 times more watchable than the old Film Threat VHS or any of the foreign DVD releases lurking about. Don’t expect your shiny DTS system to get a real workout from this release, but at the very least Jonker has gone back and remixed the sound. In effect, it’s almost like seeing DARKNESS for the very first time.

Where the real charms of this set reside are in the special features. As proven with NEKROMANTIK and LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET, Barrel spares no expense on making their releases the last word on said film. Really, this DVD 2-discer could be subtitled “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Darkness And Were Afraid To Ask.” Honestly, you could spend all day with this DVD and still not be finished with it by bedtime. For your buying dollar, you get: two running audio commentaries, and trailers and demo reels (DEMON MACHINE looks killer!). There also is a DARKNESS retrospective, plus the original version of the film, outtakes, TV appearances, interviews, still galleries, music videos, and a smörgåsbord of other goodies I can’t even list without taking up the whole paragraph.

While I admit, I haven’t listened to the group commentary due to personal prejudice (sorry, I’m not a fan of people talking over each other…but maybe I’ll get over that next time I go to Rehab), I have to make a point of the solo commentary by [director] Leif Jonker. Much like Greg Lamberson’s attitude towards SLIME CITY, Jonker approaches the proceedings with total honesty about his successes and failures, and it’s refreshing to hear his story on getting this film finished. Along the way, Jonker also discusses how the project came to be and various personal anecdotes that are almost disquieting in their suburban nightmare reality. In summation, one really gets to know Jonker as a person during this commentary and he reveals himself as the kind of guy you can’t help but love. It's one of the best audio commentaries I’ve ever heard, thank you very much.

Is DARKNESS the next EVIL DEAD? Probably not, but it’ll most definitely work as a pure, pedal-to-the-metal, ass-kicking horror flick. For the great presentation, and especially the smörgåsbord of fine special features, I give this the highest recommendation possible. It’s absolutely essential viewing for gorehounds.