Left in Darkness

Left in Darkness wasn't actually all that bad of a film. The description on the back left me very wary of what I was about to watch. The beginning was rather odd with the star as a little girl whose deafness to her grandfathers recommendations didn't bode well for a long life. The dreaded rape scene wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be, considering what some twisted directors have done with the subject. The story is about a woman who is raised by her grandparents after her mother dies giving birth and father disappears. She is killed at an animal house type of party by the typical drunken sociopath frat boys. She wakes up dead between heaven and hell and must fight for her soul using vague clues given to her by dead relatives and a guardian angel of sorts. It moves relatively quickly and has some good horror scenes. The editing was good and the camera work was good. The dialog was a little flat. The acting wasn't too bad and there were some seasoned actors in bit parts.

I was drawn to this film by it's interesting premise. Of course, as a straight to video film I wasn't really expecting much even though I hoped for the best. The film sat somewhere in the middle for me. It was enjoyable and somewhat interesting, but I couldn't help but feel it had much more potential than it displayed. Perhaps on a higher budget with a better script, we could have seen something really special. When the movie was over, I shrugged... I wasn't overly satisfied, yet not disappointed. But as far as straight to video films go, this one is definitely in the upper class.

And what was up with Monica Keena's lips?

Pretty 21-year-old Celia (Monica Keena, who is very good at appearing traumatized, confused and panicked) goes to a frat party where a creep uses a date-rape drug on her. She dies from an overdose and awakens in a ghostly parallel world which, in spite of a lot of exposition, never gets as much of an explanation as it needs. She can see what's happening in the "real" world in mirrors and other reflective surfaces, but she can't figure out the complicated rules for getting into heaven, especially with all the demon-zombie types chasing her around. She is advised by a smug, inscrutable guy named Donovan (David Anders, who is perfect in the role) who claims to be the ghost who has been invisibly protecting her since childhood, formerly a child himself. Which begs the question: how and why would a person who died at age 8 grow into an adult after death? Celia's grandpa (the great Tim Thomerson) keeps popping in and out, sometimes as his kindly old self and sometimes as a snarling gray-faced corpse. In a real creative lowpoint, the ghoulies are called "soul eaters". This movie has a great professional look but is too complicated for its own good and violates its own internal logic on several occasions. If the dead "can't affect the living", as we're told, then how was the Donovan character able to pick Celia up and lift her out of the way of a speeding car when she was alive? And how is Donovan able to physically touch Celia right after he explains that nobody in the ghost dimension can touch her without her touching them first? Why didn't Donovan od something to prevent her being raped and murdered in the first place? These and other inconsistencies will probably distract you from the confused plot, but at least there's plenty of action and danger to propel things along. Swear words are used awkwardly in places that might cause unwanted laughter. The ending seems to imply that the story's most evil character has adopted a new identity in preparation for a future attempt on the soul of Celia's bimbo roommate, but this point isn't made clear. In fact, a lot of points aren't made clear. What was the bit about Celia's father thrown in there for? Why did he leave her, what was the nature of his briefly mentioned "sickness", and why did the writers think it was worth bothering with to have him make a quick appearance in the afterlife? Even with the "caught between life and death" theme, the movie doesn't have the intentional dreamlike feel of a story left deliberately illogical and surreal in the manner of CARNIVAL OF SOULS or JACOB'S LADDER; instead, it plays out like a script full of loose ends, cluttered with unhelpful details. Maybe viewers were meant to see it as the heroine's dream or delusion, rather than anything really happening in an actual place. The afterlife depicted in the BEETLEJUICE movies is more coherent than the one seen here. Though sloppy and admittedly no classic, LEFT IN DARKNESS is entertaining enough to watch and is certainly not among the worst horror efforts you've seen. Or maybe I should say it's not among the worst I've seen.

On the twentieth-first birthday of Celia (Monica Keena), her friend Justine (Jessica Stroup) invites her to go to a party in a fraternity. Celia is still grieving the death of her beloved grandfather Joe (Tim Thomerson), who has recently died, and blames herself for the death of her mother in her delivery. In the party, she is drugged and gang raped; then she has an OD and dies alone in a bathroom. Out of the blue, she finds alone in the fraternity house and she is lured and attacked by Joe. However, her guardian angel Donovan (David Anders), who saved her life when she was a girl, explains the rules to keep the protection of her sanctuary and survive the massive attack of soul eaters. Sooner Celia finds that she is in a sort of purgatory and distrusts Donovan; further, she does not know who is telling the truth and how to reach Heaven.

"Left in the Darkness" has an interesting and original premise but there are to many rules to be followed in the purgatory where the lead actress spends two hours trying to discover who is really helping her and finding the way to the paradise. Monica Keena and David Anders have good performances in the lead roles. I have recently seen a movie with Jessica Stroup, but unfortunately her character has a minor but important participation. This film was released in Brazil directly on DVD by Flashstar Distributor and deserves to be watched at least once. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Terror na Escuridão" ("Terror in the Darkness")

I really liked this movie, although I initially didn't expect it to be much good. Overall it was a really nice afterlife flick.

If you're a Christian you might be disappointed, because how you led your life obviously doesn't matter all too much in this version of the "purgatory". Also, "hell" doesn't try to tempt you into going there, being shown blatantly for what it is. That left aside the film actually manages to provide some likable characters. The acting isn't the best of the best, but I've seen much much ... much worse. There is much talk in this film and close to no gore. Still it manages to not get boring. I found the plot easy to follow and the rules of the afterlife simple to understand. There aren't too many rules anyway, if you turn your brains on it comes down to two or three, although they get reiterated from time to time.

If you've got a movie night coming up with some friends that don't like gore but still want to have something that would count as a horror movie, this one isn't a bad choice at all.