Alone in the Dark
Tags: comedy, suspenseful, grindhouse film, murder, cult, horror, violence, insanity, revenge, sadist

Plot synopsis:
A man named Preacher (Martin Landau) walks into Mom's Diner on a snowy evening, sits at the counter, and orders "the usual". An unattractive fish on a platter is brought to him and Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence) the chef, comes out from the back and begins talking to him. It starts to rain right inside the diner. Preacher is hoisted up on chains and Bain swings a cane knife as Preacher sits up in his bed and screams. It was all a nightmare he is having while residing in a insane asylum.The next day, Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz) arrives at the hospital to see the clinic director Dr. Leo Bain, and Bain hugs him even though they have never met. Bain is apparently just as crazy as most of the patients at the hospital. At home later, Dan is moving things into his new house with his wife Nell (Deborah Hedwall) and their 11-year-old daughter Lyla (Elizabeth Ward). That night at the hospital, one of the patients, Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance) gets out up of bed, places his hands near a window, causing a gate to shut and an alarm to go off.The next day, Dan arrives back at the hospital to meet with Bain again where Bain introduces Dan to his patients kept on the maximum security third floor, whom Bain calls "voyagers". They include Hawkes, a former World War II P.O.W. who went insane and was committed for fighting and nearly killing a few recent Vietnam War P.O.W.s out of anger and frustration. The other is Byron Sutcliff, "Preacher", a former priest who was committed for setting fire to and burning down three churches believing himself to be a messenger from God. Ronald "Fatty" Elster (Erland Van Lidth) is a 370-pound child molester and pedophile. John Skagg, "the Bleeder" (Phillip Clark) is a murderer who was committed for strangling two women and who gets nosebleeds whenever he kills. Skagg refuses to show his face before Dan. Dan tells the group that the previous doctor, Harry Merton, had to leave, but Hawkes expresses suspicion and hostility towards Dan. That night, Hawkes tells the others that he thinks Dan has killed Merton and believes that Dan intends to kill them. Hawkes tells them that they must break out somehow and kill Dan.The next day, Ray Curtis (Brent Jennings) the lead orderly on the third floor, tells Dan that the four voyagers want to kill him for his stern rules and says that they are "intense". Ray pushes a button that shuts a steel door to his office and he tells the doctor that electricity is the only thing that separates him and the voyagers.Outside in the gated courtyard where the patients intermingle, Preacher asks Bain for a match and he uses it to set his suit coat on fire and swings it at people. Dan tries to stop him, but Preacher only pushes him aside in anger. Bain walks up to Preacher and whispers something in his ear which calms him down. Bain tells Dan that he told Preacher that he threatened to hoist him up and "cut him in half" every time his misbehaves. In Dan's office, Ronald sneaks in and finds a letter address to Dan and a framed picture of Nell and Lyla. Meanwhile, Dan goes to speak with Hawkes about Merton, and Hawkes says he knows the doctor is somewhere in nearby Philadelphia.Dan arrives home that afternoon and he meets his visiting younger sister Toni (Lee Taylor-Allan) who arrives for a visit. Toni invites them all to a rock concert in town and during the drive, Nell lets Toni in about the patients Dan is treating and also lets Toni know why John Skagg is called the Bleeder. At a nightclub, Dan, Nell, and Toni arrive and watch a punk rock band named the Sick Fucks perform. Dan certainly does not enjoy the music. Suddenly, the electricity for the place goes out. The crowd heads outside and sees that there is a blackout.In the hospital, Preacher sits up in his bed claiming "I made the lights go out!" Hawkes puts his hands near the window, and neither the gate nor alarm are active, so the four voyagers walk out of the room. Preacher and Ronald find Ray hiding in a closet in his office, and after Preacher punches and kicks him a number of times for his abuse, Ronald picks up Ray and breaks his back. The group walks outside where the hulking Ronald punches through a car window to get at a doctor attempting to drive away and throws him out. The four psychopaths drive away in the doctor's car.At a nearby shopping center, the four voyagers arrive where a mob of looters have broken into several stores. Entering a sporting goods store packed with more looters, the four escaped maniacs don new clothes for themselves and arm themselves with a variety of weapons. Hawkes takes a crossbow with several arrows, plus a few handguns. Preacher takes a large Bowie knife and a double-bladed axe. Ronald takes only a baseball bat, and Skagg dons a hockey mask with a gardening fork. Outside, Skagg "The Bleeder" swipes a man with the gardening fork, killing him, and apparently disturbing the other voyagers so much that they get into the dead guy's van and drive off, leaving the Bleeder behind.The next day, Dan arrives at the hospital to learn from Bain about the four escaped patients and of the people they killed. With the power still off from an apparent statewide power outage, Dan has to report to the police about the four maniacs on the loose. In a nearby neighborhood, Hawkes, Preacher, and Ronald are driving around and torment a bicycle messenger and when the man mouths off to them, calling Hawkes an "asshole" the enraged Hawkes throws the van in reverse and plows into the bicycle messenger.At Dan's house, Preacher arrives wearing the bicycle messenger's hat and uniform and tells Nell claiming that he has a telegram for the doctor. Nell offers to take it, but Preacher says that he will come back later. Nell is slightly spooked by Preacher's strange behavior. After Preacher leaves, Toni tells Nell to accompany her to an anti-nuclear protest that is going on in town.A little later, after Toni and Nell leave, Lyla comes home to a vacant house, and Ronald is there, claiming to be her babysitter. Ronald is friendly towards Lyla, but she is a little unsettled by his strange behavior. Ronald suggests going to Lyla's room to show her what he can do with cut-out paper.Meanwhile, Toni and Nell are in jail having been arrested with dozens of other protesters. Toni meets a certain Tom Smith, one of those arrested with them during the demonstration. When it is time to make their phone calls, Tom lets Toni use his turn at the phone where she calls Dan at the hospital to tell them where they are and to bail them out. Dan then calls Bunky (Carol Levy), Lyla's real babysitter, to go over to his house to make sure that Lyla is okay. Bunky arrives at Dan's house and after looking around, finds Lyla asleep on her bed. Bunky then calls her boyfriend, Billy, and invites him to come on over.Billy arrives a short while later and Bunky invites him up to the master bedroom so they can have sex. While making out on the bed, Bunky hears a noise coming from the closet and asks Billy to check it out. He is pulled under the bed and the bowie knife is jabbed through the bed several times at Bunky who is able to dodge it. Bunky jumps off the bed and runs to the bedroom door. Just when Preacher comes out from under the bed, Bunky runs out of the bedroom only to be grabbed by Ronald who strangles her to death.Later, Dan arrives home with Nell, Toni and Tom when they see cops all over the house. Lyla is fine as she told them about Ronald who was there, but the police apparently do not know about the murdered Bunky and Billy. Tom asks to stay for dinner and Dan also invites Detective Barnett to stay as well in case any more of Dan's escaped patients pay a visit.That evening, Dr. Bain is trying to get a hold of Dan on the phone, but he is getting no response. At nightfall, the Potter family is having dinner when Detective Barnett goes outside after hearing a noise. As the family and Tom watch from a window, a crossbow is fired and Barnett is hit and pinned to a tree. The group reacts quickly and begins making sure all the doors and windows of the house are locked, but they also learn that the phone is dead. Toni is too scared to go upstairs alone for she tells Dan that she once had a breakdown and spent time in a mental hospital as well. Tom goes upstairs instead and secures all the windows. When Dan looks back outside, he sees that Barnett's body is gone.After an arrow is shot through a window, Tom and Dan barricade the front door with furniture as well as some of the windows as another few arrows are shot through the windows as well.Meanwhile, Bain is told by the telephone operator that the phone line to the Potter residence is out of order. He sets out to the Potter residence. At the house, the group hears a car approaching and it is Bain who gets out and tells them that their phones are out of order. Dan and the others yell at Bain to get back in his car and drive away. After Dan yells at Bain that the voyagers are there, Bain decides that it would be best to try to talk with them and calls them out. Preacher comes out of hiding from the nearby bushes and Bain (who is just as insane as all of the other psychos) tries to talk with him to come back to the hospital. Preacher angrily responds by slashing off Bain's left year with his Bowie knife and then tries to get inside the front door when Dan opens it to try to help. Bain runs back to his car and Preacher turns back towards him and runs over beside the vehicle and yells "Romans 12.19: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord!" Preacher pulls out his axe and swings it. A minute later, Tom looks out of a window and no one is inside Bain's car.Dan tries to scream to the men outside and tells them that he did not murder Dr. Merton, but he gets no reply. Suddenly, Barnett's dead body is thrown by Ronald through a window, and the group stacks furniture against it as Hawkes shoots another arrow through the broken window. Toni think she sees another window open and when she goes to close it, a bloody body jumps through the window at her. But she only imagined it. When Dan asks her what is wrong, Toni says "I'm getting sick again."Minutes later, when the group smells smoke, Dan realizes that Preacher must have broken into the basement and is planning to set fire to the house. When Nell goes to look for the fire extinguisher, she finds the dead Bunky and Billy in a closet. Dan runs down to the basement, and struggles with Preacher and knocks him out with the fire extinguisher, and puts out the fire. Upstairs, Ronald bursts into the house from the kitchen back door and runs for the group with his baseball bat. Lyla ducks under a table and cuts his leg with a knife, and Tom swings a large cleaver into his back. Tom then picks up Ronald's baseball bat and beats the cleaver in further, and Ronald falls over dead.Dan decides to make run for it and he runs outside to get to Bain's car to try to hotwire it to drive away and get help. Inside, Tom embraces a shaken Toni.... and blood begins to pour from his nose. Nell sees this and immediately realizes who Tom really is. Tom/Skagg wraps his hands around Toni's neck and begins to strangle her. Dan runs back inside when he hears the screaming and grabs Tom away from his sister. Lyla hands her mother the knife and Nell uses to stab Tom in the stomach, killing him. Suddenly, Preacher comes out of the basement and Dan struggles with him. Dan manages to twist the large bowie knife out of Preacher's hand, and stabs him the chest with it and throws the fatally wounded Preacher back into the basement. As Dan, Nell, Lyla and Toni gather together for comfort, Hawkes appears standing in the kitchen doorway with his crossbow aimed right at time. "It's not just us crazy ones who kill", says Hawkes. Suddenly, the electricity comes back on and Hawkes sees Dr. Merton interviewed in a news report on television. Evidently upset, Hawkes breaks the TV and leaves the house and runs off into the night.Hawkes walks through the town and passes the nightclub where the Sick Fucks are playing. He enters the club and beats up the doorman outside who insults him. In the club, Hawkes watches the punk rock band perform, when a girl whacked out on drugs walks up to Hawkes and says something to him. He pulls out his .45 caliber gun and points it at her neck. She looks at it and laughs, and so does Hawkes.

Review: "Alone in the Dark" centers on a small New Jersey community, where Dr. Dan Potter is assigned to work as a new doctor at "The Haven", a mental institution outside of town, run by Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasance).
The murderous men escape from the Haven, and head towards town, where they begin a murderous rampage before reaching Dr. Potter's new home.Not to be confused with the 2005 creature horror flick of the same name, "Alone in the Dark" boasts a fairly unique premise that hasn't been used (town crazies let loose to wreak havoc on the city after an electrical shortage).
A city wide blackout gives the four men a perfect escape as they trap the Potter family inside of their new house in this early eighties chiller.I thoroughly enjoyed 'Alone in the Dark'.
Overall, 'Alone in the Dark' is a creepy little eighties horror flick with some good scares and interesting twists/turns.
Inmates Hawkes (Jack Palance), Preacher (Martin Landau), Fatty ( the late Erland van Lidth), and the Bleeder (Phil Clark) believe Potter killed their old doctor and vow revenge.
As the Potter family prepare for a quiet candle lit dinner with friends, the psychopaths move in for the kill.In Alone In The Dark the director Jack Sholder creates a great deal of suspense, tension and action in this slightly odd slasher, All of the characters are either oddballs, lunatics, or both.
Dwight Schultz, who later became famous as a member of the A-Team, is good as the young doctor who learns violence is the only way to deal with some threats.All in all Alone In The Dark is a definite must see for any Slasher fans with an interesting storyline great actors such as horror veteran Donald Pleasence and Jack Palance and gripping scenes that will keep you hooked all the way through..
The debut film of B movie director Jack Sholder, and one of the first films from New Line Cinema, is this highly entertaining and strikingly intelligent little thriller.When the power fails in a New Jersey community, four murderously insane men walk out of a mental facility and head for the home of their new doctor!Although it was lost among the numerous slasher films of the early 80's, Alone in the Dark is one of the smartest killer thrillers of the genre.
Nonetheless, she is quite an interesting character, and joins the Potter family as the innocents in the attack towards the end of the movie.The movie has a good setup, and some very creepy moments, especially when the child victimizer shows up at the home and pretends to be the daughter, Layla's, babysitter.
That high concept title tells you a lot of what you need to know about this film.Alone in the Dark has a great cast that's strangely underused, and its derivativeness and slight lack of spark make it an eternal underling to much better films, but it's still worth seeing for many reasons.Donald Pleasance--the one of three stellar cast members who is almost not underused--turns in a typically, wonderfully goofy performance as a famed psychiatrist.
The two very underused actors are Martin Landau and especially Jack Palance, who are both members of the aforementioned ward.Problems begin when the New Jersey town that houses the asylum experiences a blackout, allowing the patients to escape--if Donald Pleasance as a psychiatrist isn't strong enough to suggest a Halloween film, this scene of escaping loonies certainly is.
There's a high camp factor throughout, including the scenes of going to a club to see a band called The Sick F*cks.In some ways, it almost feels like producer Robert Shaye and director Jack Sholder--the same team that brought us A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 a couple years later--got a hold of this cast, some money and some time and just started making things up on the spot, seeing how much fun they could have and how crazy they could get while still producing a marketable horror/thriller film.
Where else can you find the great character actors Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau and Jack Palance in one movie?
Hey, in this movie The A-Team's "Howlin' Mad" Murdock is the SANE one, being terrorized by crazy Oscar winners Martin Landau and Jack Palance while a trippy Donald Pleasance wanders around in an opium haze in this acceptable horror movie that features a few poorly-directed "suspence" sequences, a terrible stage show by "The Sic F*cks" complete with big cardboard axes, a hot sex scene featuring a character called "Bunky", some bad eighties fashions, a brief appearance by a Tom Savini-designed ghoul, a mailman getting run down by a stoner van, the "tongue excersizes" woman from "Kingpin", a killer in a hockey mask, a cool rioting scene, a guy broken over another guy's knee, crossbow-killings, and a lovable big fat child moleser.So why not?.
Four dangerous psychopaths (two played by Jack Palance and Martin Landau) easily escape from an asylum run by a VERY liberal doctor (Donald Pleasance) during a blackout.
Seeing it over 20 years later, it's not as scary but still is an above average horror film.The film moves quickly, there are nice directorial touches from Jack Sholder (who went on to direct "Nightmare on Elm Street 2") and it has an above average cast--Pleasance seems a little embarrassed but Palance is good and Landau is clearly enjoying himself.
With Jack Palance and Martin Landau hamming it up as two of four escaped mental patients, and Donald Pleasence as their batty psychiatrist, "Alone in the Dark" remains one of few low budget horror films with a genuine sense of humor.
Four mentally deranged psychopaths / deviants (Jack Palance and Martin Landau among them) bust out of a progressive mental health facility run by a equally nutty doctor (Donald Pleasance) during a blackout.
The dangerous Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance) convinces the also very dangerous Byron 'Preacher' Sutcliff (Martin Landau) and Ronald 'Fatty' Elster (Erland Van Lidth) that Dr. Dan killed their doctor to occupy his position in the asylum, and the trio promises to kill him.
From here, the film only gets more surreal.A new doctor has come to work at the institution where Martin and his buddies are housed, and the occupants of the very disturbed violent ward on the Third Floor don't like him.
Duh.The most dangerous patients, sorry "voyagers," are kept on the 3rd floor and once the said electricity goes out, they go to terrorize the new doctor for "killing their last doctor," or so they believe he did.Unbelievably, in an era (late 1970s to mid-1980s) of slasher movies, this movie had so many layers and surprises, good acting, interesting ideas, inventive gore and twists that I DID NOT SEE COMING even almost four decades later.
There's an amazing cast here, comprised of horror vet Donald Pleasance and general freak show actors Jack Palance and Martin Landau.
These actors include the likes of Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Donald Pleasence and Dwight Schultz.
Actors were also limited as a typecast only to their known strengths, example Donald Pleasence plays an eccentric psychologist, no way, we have never seen that before Tying up some of these loose ends would have established Alone in the Dark as one of the most prominent slasher movies of the 1980's.
Don't be put off by the title {it has nothing in common with Uwe Boll's craptastic masterpiece}, Alone in the Dark is a clever, yet non overly ambiguous entry in the 80's slasher scene, one of the few with a veteran cast of proved actors.Dr. Dan Potter {Schultz} has landed a new job at a mental health clinic, as a special patient supervisor and counselor.
When Hawkes {Palance}, gets the idea that Dr. Potter is out to kill them, he strikes up a plan to get Potter and put an end to the madness.As the title insinuates, a power outage provides for an inconvenience when the men, separated from the outside world by only electricity, escape.The film has enough gore and usual slasher hijinks {T&A, babysitter and her boyfriend} to keep the average horror film fan satisfied, but Director Jack Sholder {The Hidden} includes enough twists and turns, and attempts to set up a good enough cast for suspense and atmosphere, that the film's rough edges are smoothed out a bit.
Who wouldn't love to see Martin Landau, Donald Pleasence, and Jack Palance all in one horror film?
Even the good acting of Donald Pleasance and Jack Palance are hopeless in saving this movie..
He meets the most dangerous men in the place - former P.o.W. Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance), former preacher & arsonist Byron Sutcliff (Martin Landau), overweight child molester Ronald Elster (Erland Van Lidth), and a fourth psycho named The Bleeder because he gets nosebleeds while killing people.
The man in charge of the place is Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence), who in an amusing turn of events is revealed to be even less connected to reality than these patients!It's great fun to watch this able cast of veterans at work, even if this period could have been considered a low point in their careers.
Or the four absolute raving lunatics who escape from a high security asylum to avenge a murder that never even happened?Clearly, it's the latter, but with Alone In The Dark director Jack Sholder does entertain some interesting ideas about society in general, and whether there is a little craziness in even the seemingly most sane of us.
This unexpected level of intelligence, along with excellent performances from a superb cast (which includes Martin Landau, Jack Palance, Donald Pleasance, Dwight Schultz, and Lin Shaye), some gratuitous nudity and violence, and a pretty cool surprise towards the end, all go to make Alone in the Dark one of the more enjoyable horrors of the early 80s.N.B. Ironically, Schultz, who plays one of the sanest characters in the film, would later find fame as insane Vietnam vet Murdock in The A-Team..
"Alone in the Dark" is one of the better horror movies of the 80's.Some homicidal maniacs break out of an asylum and terrorize a psychiatrist's family.The cast is good,especially Martin Landau and Jack Palance are really memorable.There is a fair amount of blood and gore as well.The film is really enjoyable,so if you like slasher movies you can't miss it!My other recommendations from early 80's:"Just Before Dawn","Maniac","The Prowler","The Mutilator","The Final Terror","The Burning" etc..
Alone in the Dark (1982) ** (out of 4) Four mental patients (two played by Martin Landau and Jack Palance) escape from the asylum planning to kill their new doctor during a citywide blackout.
Palance, Landau and co-star Donald Pleasence all chew up their scenes like they're going out of style, which is pretty fun since two would go onto win Oscars.
Donald Pleasance clearly got his role as head doctor at the hospital through Halloween, but Academy Award winners Jack Palance and Martin Landau do well in their roles, and the fact that much of the cast is made up of older actors instantly gives this film more credibility than it's mostly teen-starring counterparts.
Here we have Jack Palance, Martin Landau and big guy Erland van Lidth as a bunch of crazy guys but what does the movie ever use them for?
The creators must have thought they were working on something unique, especially when they singed on big name actors like Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau and Dwight Schultz.
We also know and see the killers, so this also already takes away a lot of the tension and mystery of the movie.It was still fun to see Jack Palance, Martin Landau and also Donald Pleasence all act crazy in this movie but like I said earlier, the movie doesn't take this far enough.
Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz) is the new psychiatrist at a mental hospital run by Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence).
Striking visuals, excellent character actors allowed to chew large chunks of scenery, good music & atmospheric, finally a nice 80's time capsule of cultural references make this one a keeper.Donald Pleasance, Martin Landau, Jack Palance all present wonderful characterizations.
Very quotable lines, amazing performances, these guys (Pleasance, Palance & Landau)could act the socks of any of todays thespians on their worst day & in this film one gets the feeling they R really enjoying themselves with these characters & it shows.
It ends a touch too conveniently outside of the reveal and the bizarre gem that is the nightclub encounter, Lyla for my tastes is an annoying character nonchalantly played by Elizabeth Ward and while they all did a fine job the big names could have done with a little more screen time, Jack Palance especially is underused.However, once the psychopaths escape Alone in the Dark really gets going and boasts some great offbeat dialogue, Donald Pleasance's speech in his last scene is deliciously nuts and Palance has two of the film's most memorable lines(one being "There are no crazy people, doctor, we're all just on vacation" and "So...
Dwight Schultz's role is very atypical and he does a good job playing it straight, even if a couple of Dr. Potter's decisions are a little dumb, and Donald Pleasance is great fun as Bain.
Erland van Lidt intimidates from his appearance alone and Jack Palance is both very funny and menacing, but especially good is Martin Landau, who has seldom been creepier and he looked as though he was having a lot of fun with his role.Overall, very effective and well done film and one of the 80s' most under-appreciated films.
Great acting by all (especially the late great Donald Pleasence as Dr. Leo Bain, played in a way 180 degrees from his more famous Dr. Sam Loomis of the "Halloween" films) Some great lines, and a few solid laughs towards the beginning.Eye Candy: Carol Levy shows her mosquito bites My grade: A- DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Jack Sholder; 16 & a half minute Interview with punk band 'The Sic F*cks' (WOW, they haven't aged well); 16 & a half minute Carol Levy Interview (I'd STILL do her); Poster art & lobby card Gallery; and the red-band Theatrical trailer.
They terrorized their psychiatrist (Dwight Schultz) and his family (Deborah Hedwell, Lee Taylor-Allan and Elizabeth Ward) during one dark night.This shocking thriller and sometimes darkly amusing movie is Written and Directed by Jack Sholder (A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2:Freddy's Revenge, Wishmaster 2:Evil Never Dies, The Hidden) made a well made horror film with a few surprises.
This horror film becomes a Cult Classic, thanks to Oscar-Winners Actors like Palance and Landau.
(*** out of *****) This fun horror/comedy features a quartet of mental patients who escape from the asylum and terrorize their new psychiatrist and his family at his house.
Great, oddball casting with Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasance each delivering loony, over-the-top performances.
Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Erland Van Lindth (God bless his soul!) make a memorable trio of murderers in this fine horror movie.
One of greatest moments of the film is when Dr. Leo Bain (excellent Donald Pleasence's performance) says to Byron (Martin Landau), in reference to the Bible: "Thou shall not kill".
Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Dwight Schultz, Erland Van Lidth and Phillip Clark star in this 1982 horror film.
Schultz plays Dan Potter, a doctor who comes to work at a mental hospital with Dr. Leo Bain (Pleasence) and gets to know his unbalanced patients, Frank Hawkes (Palance), Byron 'Preacher' Sutcliff (Landau) and Ronald 'Fatty' Elster (Van Lidth).
The patients of the 3rd floor (Martin Landau in a hilarious performance as Boyd The Preacher, who set fire to churches, Jack Palance as a paranoid schizophrenic ex-colonel, and Erland van Lidth as an obese child molester), believe that Potter murdered his predecessor, and after a full-scale power-outage ensues, the wackos take advantage of their opportunity to escape and launch an assault on Potter's family.
They make the film as does the familiar face of horror legend Donald Pleasance.Jack Palance and Martin Landau as our crazed psychos,I feel as I have to reiterate that.
Thanks to a major power cut, a gang of psychopaths break out of the Haven maximum security mental institute.Their plan is to lay siege the psychiatrists who have tormented them over the years with their bizarre theories...Speaking of Bizarre, this has to be one of the most random things I've seen in a very, very long time.We have a group of escaped psychopaths played by Jack Palance, Martin Landau, and Dynamo from The Running Man...Their new doctor?
With a trash movie fan's dream cast - including Donald Pleasence, Jack Palance, and Martin Landau - it's a little odd that "Alone In The Dark" has remained still fairly unknown more than thirty years after it was first released.
It is also another movie which shows how good actors can really elevate a standard horror movie into a quality horror.Jack Palance and Martin Landau have both given excellent performances.
Everyone in this film acts very well, with little bad acting, Donald Pleasence (Halloween) gives a pretty funny performance as an insane doctor.
Some people might complain that guys like Martin Landau and Jack Palance didn't have much to do in the movie, but they were brilliant.
Jack Palance and Martin Landau steal the show in every scene they're in, just like the other film they starred together in, 'Without Warning' (1980).
Jack Palance, Donald Pleasance, and Martin Landau head a nice thriller about insanity and revenge, or misjustified revenge, but it's still revenge just the same, whatever kind it is.
Martin Landau (A pyromaniac/preacher), Jack Palance (The leader of the group), Erland van Lidth (A pedophile, murderer)and a 4th member whose face is not seen and is a bleeder (He bleeds a lot when he kills)are the occupants of a maximum security asylum, being treated by Dr. Bain (Donald Pleasence), who seems as crazy as they are.