Dark Creation

Dark Creation is a 2024 American adult animated monster horror film directed by Noah Congedo and is based on the comic CREATION by Damien Endy. While some of the characters (excluding JT talley) are portrayed through AI, 2 of the characters, Fagin and Professor Ratigan, are voiced by Paul Dobson and Vincent Price. Haljin, on the other hand, was voiced by John Hurt.
In the film, a tragic prodigy, Jake Foster, born to brilliance, has a mind that flashes and sparks scientific fireworks. Desperately isolated, he lives in a world of theories and formulae few can understand. Until he meets shy, loving Anna - the love he has ever dreamed of. He loved her so much, he could barely let her go at all when tragically, Anna is lost, he unleashed a monster to go on a killing spree everywhere so he can make Anna understand the consequences of abandoning friends.
One of the most tragic and horrifying films of the century, it features bloody, graphic violence and gore seen in those of Wes Craven movies, as other movies provided inspiration as well. These included Deadly Friend, The Relic, Godzilla Singular Point, Godzilla Minus One, Shin Godzilla, Dinocroc, The Black Cauldron, and The Great Mouse Detective. What's more, the characters, Fagin and Professor Ratigan, who appeared in War of the Birds and The Great Mouse Detective, appears in both the comic and movie respectively.
== Plot ==
Prologue - The Beginning
In 1947, a young autistic teen named Jake Foster, had been gifted with extraordinary intelligence, he had always had an isolated existence, finding solace in his experiments and creations despite being having brutal infections and disabilities. Desperately needing support, he lives in a world full of bad memories few can understand. But everything changed when he entered 9th grade and met Anna, a smart and beautiful girl who captured his heart. They quickly became inseparable, spending every moment they could together. Jake found himself enamored by Anna's presence and couldn't bear the thought of being without her. They laughed together, cried together, and shared the magical moments of life together. One enchanted night at a school prom, they shared a dance outside together as the swayed throughout the midnight.
However, tragedy struck during 10th grade when Anna left for college, leaving Jake alone once again. Tortured by the loneliness and longing for his beloved, Jake's mind began to unravel. Consumed by his desperation, he is about to embark on the most odious, the most evil, the most diabolical plan that would exact vengeance on humanity for making him suffer. A monster of all monsters, a monster so cruel in its evil, a monster that lacks fear of mankind, a monster that will live in infamy.
After months of relentless experimentation, Jake successfully brought his creation, a lizard-like beast to life. Fueled by his anger and sorrow, he unleashed the monster upon the world, intending to cause bloody and graphic killings everywhere.
Chapter I - New World
It was a dark and stormy night. 2 thieves begin to go on a robbery, While one thief enters the store, the other thief tries to steal from a Volkswagen van but an unseen creature violently attacks and kills him. The beast lets go of the 2nd thief, who is dazed.
In 1954, Anna and her new boyfriend Jackson return from shopping and drive away in the van. They arrive at their new house in the town of Crestwood the next day, where they are greeted by Anna’s new but abusive-smoking doctor, Professor Ratigan. Anna soon becomes friends with Mia, a young journalist who documents the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world and tries to expose the truth behind a monster attack.
Chapter II - Harsh Life
Anna and Jackson meet Ratigan at the streets, where Anna fails to pay the money back and begs for more time. Ratigan tells her that he has three days to find the money, threatening Anna, her home, and boyfriend if they do not. Then he honks his horn and drives away, causing Anna to lose her balance and fall into the river.
While Jackson teaches Anna to deliver newspapers, they stop at the house of reclusive harridan Leo, a hacker and inventor who uses his gadgets and skills to hack into the remnants of the government and military networks and find useful information and resources, such as a recent monster attack that just occurred a few hours later. He threatens the 2 with a shotgun and express hate toward Anna.
Chapter III - Neighborhood Havoc
Several neighbors claimed to have seen a beast in the woods and claim it was the killer in the first place. The police are informed by Shiragami about the creature, and are sent to evacuate the neighborhoods and enforce a blackout in the neighborhoods to prevent the beast from attacking. But the unseen monster kills 3 of the cops out of nowhere, mauls a baby, and devours a dog on a tree. The monster has killed a teenage couple from above. Several hunters are sent to kill it, but all get eaten alive by the beast. The monster brutally kills an entire SWAT team at a laboratory that night. It kills a small boy in a swimming pool literally on the same boy’s birthday, where he sought rest.
Chapter IV - Tragedy
Anna and Jackson decided to visit Jake's desolate home, unaware of the horror that awaited them. The unseen creature attacked, quickly dispatching her friend and driving Anna to flee in terror. In her haste, she stumbled upon a letter Jake had penned, revealing his anguish and regret. It showed her why it is hard losing friends and how it became Jake’s worst nightmare, as he told her she abandoned him to too long. Grief was not fun for Jake and is hard work, as she was the one to was close and dear to him.
She broke down in a state of heavy sorrow, haunted by remorse and terror. Refusing to let her beloved and tragic friend succumb to darkness, she leaves calling for Jake’s name but to no avail, though her screaming did wake up everyone in the neighborhood, including Ratigan, who was very angry after being woken up by Anna's constant screaming.
Chapter V - Determination
Anna files a petition surrounding a group of her friends, including JT Talley and his assistant, Max, a timid and nerdy boy who is fascinated by monsters. He has a vast knowledge of creature lore and biology. The group also enlisted the aid of Jake's dear friend Zoe, a rebellious teenager who lost her parents in a creature attack and now seeks revenge against the monster, in their mission to find him and put an end to the terror, once and for all.
Fagin, a sadistic black vulture-like bird of prey, sees them start their mission and warns his unknown boss at his cave. He tells Fagin that his creature will take care of them, but Fagin left anyway to attack them himself at any chance.
Chapter VI - The Attack
Pets started to disappear without a trace, and some of the more courageous residents who ventured out at night never returned. The once peaceful streets were now tinged with fear and suspicion. As the beast's violent and deadly rampage continued, panic began to spread throughout the tight-knit community. No one felt safe, and the local authorities were at a loss for how to handle the situation. Rumors of government experiments gone wrong and alien invasions circulated, fueling the hysteria.
It tore through houses, leaving a trail of destruction and death in its wake. The once pristine streets were now stained with blood, and the eerie silence was broken by the sound of bones crunching and flesh tearing. Panic and fear spread like wildfire as the residents realized they were being hunted by a merciless and unstoppable force. The local authorities were powerless against the creature, and the once tight-knit community quickly descended into chaos and despair. As the days passed, the monster continued its rampage, leaving a trail of devastation and despair wherever it went. Families barricaded themselves in their homes, living in constant fear of the next attack. Some attempted to flee, but a few failed to escape the wrath of the monster.
Chapter VII - Fagin attacks
On the way to a laboratory, one of the supplies shatter revealing Fagin’s lower body before he broke free. JT sees that he possibly works for Jake and, much to Fagin’s anger, attacks them out of pure rage. His beak proved powerful enough to deliver brutal damage onto Anna’s eye, nearly blinding her. However, he finds his wing on fire but survives after the group escapes and falls into water.
When they stop for the night, JT helps Anna by adding an eye patch on her blind eye. But in the moment of impact, Fagin attacks again, this time in a gruesome manner as he viciously claws Anna nearly to death. After that, surprisingly, Fagin leaves and goes home to his owner, and tells him that Anna is near death. The unseen human was initially mad at Fagin, who was also getting angry at him.
Chapter VIII - The monster VS Rat
The monster fights an extremely aggressive homicidal rat named Herman, who after attacking Zoe, hisses at the beast, prompting the creature to get into a violent fight in the room. Herman initially gained the upper hand, clawing and biting while also jumping on his back. The beast manages to throw it of and even briefly bite it, but Herman keeps fighting.
Herman jumps on the furniture, causing the beast to chase it again, knocking over housewares and causing a mess. It leads him back under the furniture, getting the beast temporarily stuck. As the monster frees himself, Herman runs over to the cradle and sneers at the beast, showing his extreme aggressiveness. The monster frees himself, and Herman prepares to jump into the cradle and escape, but the monster jumps up just before Herman makes it inside and grabs it out of the air. Herman runs from the beast, who catches up to it and traps it behind a chair. The two then engage in a violent fight of clawing and biting, knocking over more items and tearing down the curtains. Though the battle is vicious, the monster mauls Herman alive off-screen, killing him.
Chapter IX - HERE’S JOHNNY
In the laboratory during a thunderstorm at night, Anna stumbled upon a clue that hinted at the true nature of Jake's secret creation with her friends Emily, Evelyn, and Omari, and with several cops. They stumble on several research notes about Jake and his soon-to-be-revealed creation.
Overwhelmed by grief, she broke into tears just as the monstrous Haljin, a monstrous beast, was illuminated by a flash of lightning and ambushed the group, as Haljin savagely mutilated and killed the cops as the others managed to escape, but the monster kept chasing Anna. It suddenly disappears, and the cops are on the lockout for the creature. Out of nowhere, it crushes one’s fist, kicks another cop, then punches another cop, and slices another cop to shreds.
Chapter X - Such cruelty!
Fagin joins Haljin on his conquest to kill and get revenge for their master. They hide in a wicked and dark forest. As Haljin prepares to get back on schedule, Fagin suggests they incubate for a while as they are a few in numbers, as their master only recruited Fagin. Very angered and fed up with Fagin, Haljin angerliy refuses and fights Fagin, resulting in ensuing battle after Haljin accidently causes a fire in the forest. Fagin manages to slash Haljin’s left eye, but Haljin won by inadvertently causing Fagin’s wing to catch on fire and cause him to fall into the flames, with Haljin heading off to finish things as a lone wolf.
Back at Crestwood, the police arrive at Mia’s home and inform Shiragami that the beast has disappeared. The beast is at the house, planning an attack on Mia’s father. When Shiragami finds the cellar door open and goes downstairs, the monster yanks him off his feet and drags him to the furnace. he kills him by ripping his head off with his tusks. Leo calls the police after seeing the beast, but they hang up on him. A basketball bounces ominously in his living room indicating that it has broken in. Haljin corners Leo and throws him at the wall of his living room. As Leo screams at the top of his lungs, Haljin cruelly kills him with his extendable tail spikes, his body spreading blood everywhere. Leo's decapitated body then walks in circles, spurting blood and gore until it finally lays dead on the floor as Haljin laughs evilly.
Chapter XI - Battle
When Ratigan learns about the deaths of Shiragami and Leo, he angrily kidnaps Anna and takes her back to his base, where Anna tries to convince him that it will all change once she finds her beloved, but Ratigan refuses to budge one bit and tells her to consider their account closed. When Anna accidently hits Ratigan’s nose and attempts to apologize, Ratigan (out of sheer bad temper) completely loses his mind, tearing his clothes (including his gloves and shoes) in the process and somehow transforming from a very formal, composed rat into a highly savage demonic beast rat, which results in Ratigan extracting his long, sharp claws and begins scratching, punching, and strangling Anna continuously. The attack leaves a weary Anna severely wounded with her clothes torn violently.
Haljin jumps out a window and attacks Ratigan, who, with his bravery, puts up a fight to the death. Haljin threatens Ratigan but is stopped by Anna, angering them both. Ratigan threatens Anna as Haljin escapes to continue his kill spree. Anna kicks Ratigan in the balls and chases after Haljin as he goes to a homecoming dance so he can ruin it.
Chapter XII - School’s worst nightmare
On the Homecoming Dance at a High School, JT orders a lockdown in the school except the Gym. 2 of the cops, trapped in the laboratory wing, continue working and discover the killer is genetically engineered. The monster attacks some of the cops in the tunnel, prompting JT to order the Principle to evacuate the Gym and the school. However, the headless body of a murdered policeman falls into the crowd, causing a panic as the monster attacks.
During the hysteria, the school's alarms are tripped and their security system goes haywire, trapping a small group of people inside. Two security guards try to restore the power, but are killed by the creature, who later brutally kills an incoming SWAT team, and proved to be very resistant to conventional weaponry.
Chapter XIII - The Attack II
The next day, a very bossy woman was fussing and wrestling with her 3 daughters outside. Once the harsh struggle ended, the beast brutally grabs onto her from behind and sucks her under the quagmire pit, killing her. The 3 try to run away, but the beast catches up and kills them.
Despite the deaths, a group of activists handcuff themselves to excavation equipment in a form of protest. They are encountered by Haljin, leading to everyone getting slaughtered, as well as the watchman himself. On the outskirts of the lake, a father, his wife, and their only child are ambushed by the beast. With their fence unable to hold it off, the entire family and their puppies get murdered. At a party thrown by friends, a teenage boy and girl share a kiss, much to Haljin’s rage, who penetrates a teenage drunk boy, much to everyone's shock. It then raids the party, causing a power outage upon throwing someone into a power box outside.
Chapter XIV - The new plan
Although the monster shows no fear, Anna and the rest of the group plan an operation stop Haljin and get Jake back, despite Ratigan refusing to help. They plan to lure it into the Empire State Building, where they aim to trap Haljin between 2 gears and crush him flat. If that fails, the chains inside with tangle his neck, and will drag him downwards until it breaks his neck.
Eventually, Haljin overhears their plan and is called back by his owner. The owner claims something is bothering Haljin, but he rejects it. The owner, revealed to be Jake, claims that Haljin is experiencing visions and hallucinations like Jake did. Haljin, already fed up, leaves his base to be left alone for a while. Enraged, Jake decides to kill them himself.
Chapter XV - Reunion
When Haljin knocks Anna unconscious out of nowhere in her room, she begins experiencing frightening visions and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt her the times she had with Jake. Ratigan finds and attacks Jake, but the 2 fall out of the tower’s clock face, where ratigan continues assaulting Jack with all of his rage. But when the clock strikes 10:00, the vibrations causes Ratigan to fall to his death.
Amidst a raging thunderstorm in the city, Anna was chased by the Haljin inside the tallest tower, but the monster found himself lost. Anna tearfully and eventually located Jake, filled with remorse and seeking reconciliation. Jake was albeit with the virus he made for the monster. Anna gave Jake the chance to kiss her hand for the very first time and, showing empathy, shared a kiss with Jake, and the two attempted to leave together, hoping to bridge the huge gap that had driven them apart, with Anna refusing to leave Jake’s side again.
Chapter XVI - Jake’s death
Realizing that Jake’s on the verge on a change of heart, the enraged monster attacked its creator, leaving Anna desperate to save him. Anna tried to plead with the beast, promising not to abandon Jake again if it would spare her beloved friend. But the monster angrily refused, violently killing Jake before her very eyes, leaving her horrified and devastated. The monster then chases her down, but found himself to be lost again and caught by gears, only to see Anna’s shadow when lightning flashes outside.
This, in turn, finally send Haljin over the edge, fueled by an insatiable rage as he breaks free, showing his mental breakdown and beginning to lose the last of his mind and sanity as it chased Anna with great speed on a bridge in an abandoned area, where he accidently causes a fire in the area after destroying a power box.
Chapter XVII - Shadows fade
Declaring to be the last straw as she won't escape from the monster this time and prevent her from reaching his dirigible where her friends are, Haljin furiously extends his long and strong claws and physically assaults Anna with all of his rage. Managing to knock Anna unconscious, the monster then turned its attention to Anna's terrified companions, snarling and then roaring at them, sending huge chills down their spines.
When Anna awakens, the 2 start a final battle of the tragedies that occured. JT and the rest watch from the air as the 2 fight violently in the rain, with JT providing support for Anna by firing his gun multiple times at it. In a brief struggle, Mia jumps off to save Anna from falling into the fire, while Haljin’s tail gets trapped in several wires. However, he breaks free and, finally sent over the edge, finds Anna holding on to Mia for dear life. He leaps onto her, and the 2 fall while fighting, with Anna trying to pull him into the fire. Haljin, now completely insane, tries to get her off him by crippling her arm.
A moment later however, Haljin sees Anna pointing to his upper body. Turning to see that his arm and wing-like protrusion are caught on fire, a terrified Haljin realizes what is really going on. During their fight, Anna and Haljin’s weight has carried them downwards to the fire below, which the flames catch Haljin’s arm and protrusion on fire.
Mia and the others watched the last moments of Anna and the monster as if they were watching a religious painting when their fight sent them falling to their fiery demise. They can only watch in horror as the terrified Anna and Haljin scream in great terror and plummet into the fiery flames below, killing them both and ending Haljin’s reign of terror for good.
Epilogue - Shadows of the Tragedy
A moment later however, Mia comes to realize that Haljin was not only trying to kill Anna, but that he is trying to give Anna a reason why it’s bad to abandon your beloved friends when he should have jumped anyway, because, "...he did not want her to just think about the consequences of the abandonment of your friends. He wanted her with Jake." They may have accomplished something that humans should not have done. Gradually, Mia began saluting Anna, no matter who they were to them.
Mia lays on Anna’s bed, staring up at the ceiling. Anna was dead. She felt a terrible sense of loss, but also a sense of relief that it was finally over. Relief that She wouldn't have to live with the guilt of what she had tried to save Anna from the monster. She had learned a terrible lesson about the consequences of Haljin’s cruelty and evil. And she knew that she would have to live with the consequences for the rest of her life. But for now, she just stood there, looking down at Anna’s lifeless body, and tried to make sense of it all. When she could hear the sirens in the distance, Mia tearfully says: “So this is what love comes to...... Determination drives you onward, and friendship, is what you really needed in your life...... but when your beloved is tragically lost, you don’t feel sad...... the only thing that drives you now...... is rage.”
== Cast ==
NOTE: While some of the characters (excluding JT talley) are portrayed through AI, 2 of the characters, Fagin and Professor Ratigan, are voiced by real people.
* Noah Schnapp as JAKE FOSTER, a tragic and isolated teenager and the overarching antagonist. he was great friends to Anna until she left for collage. When he was found by Anna in the climax, she let him kiss her hand, but their reunion was ruined by the monster who kills Jake.
* Kristy Swanson as ANNA, the main protagonist and Jake's former love interest. When she came back in 1954, she regretted abandoning her tragic friend. In the climax, she defeats Ratigan and reunites with Jake, but the monster kills Jake after Haljin refuses to spare him. Seeing that Haljin is too dangerous to let alive, she finally stands up to the monster and grabs him, pulling him down with her into the fire, killing them both.
* JT TALLEY as himself, a famous detective and christian who was Jake's former friend. He has a nerdy assistant named Max.
* Paul Dobson as FAGIN, a sadistic and cruel vulture-like bird of prey who is Jake's best friend and Haljin's former assistant and ally. Their relationship is incredibly toxic, as Haljin and Fagin had a clash that lead to Fagin being killed in a wildfire Haljin caused.
* Vincent Price as PROFESSOR RATIGAN, Anna's incredibly selfish, sadistic, and violent boss and loan shark. Ratigan nearly kills Anna, but was ambushed by Haljin outside at night in the streets, and falls to his death from a clock.
* John Hurt as HALJIN (voice), the main antagonist and Anna's arch-nemesis. he is a genetically-engineered but one of the most heartless, cruellest, and merciless monsters to ever exist. Because he is Anna's arch-nemesis, he was incredibly feared by all humanity and animals, as he brings Anna to tears after refusing her pleas to spare Jake. He did get what he deserved, however, as his arm and wing-like protrusion gets caught on fire, as Anna was to heavy for him to carry. As a result, he gets killed in the fire along with Anna.
== Production ==
After finishing the plan for the comic, Tremolandi made a film version for the story with several differences, such as his fight with Fagin, his attack on Ratigan, his final battle on a bridge and, perhaps the most scariest thing in the film, Haljin's well-deserved but brutal death while burning with the fire. He even redesigned the creature, aiming to make it more sadistic and evil. 
Haljin's death had a troubled history when coming up with his death. One story had Haljin have a similar death as in the comic where, like the film, shares his demise with Anna, but the 2 fall into the water instead of fire. A 2nd story is like Ratigan's defeat in his 1986 film debut, Where Haljin falls from a clock to his death after losing his footing when the clock struck 10:00.
=== Story revision ===
Because it's going to be a film adaptation, Tremolandi had to put in some revisions, such as his fight with Fagin, his attack on Ratigan, his final battle on a bridge and, perhaps the most scariest thing in the film, Haljin's well-deserved but brutal death while burning with the fire. He wants it even gorier than the comic, aiming to make Haljin all more evil.
=== Design ===
For the titular monster, Tremolandi used the Kothoga as a base model for the creature. He used Godzilla incarnations, Dinocroc, and other creatures for the creature, as if it's a replacement of Frankenstein's monster. He aims to make it the most deadliest monster in cinematic history, so he used Freddy Krueger as an example of how gory Haljin would be. His dorsal fins are now spiky and resemble needles, as if his regeneration had become disorderly.
=== Music ===
For the movie's soundtrack, the film was composed by John Debney, while the end credits are from the song Lifeline from Thousand Foot Krutch. For the final battle including Anna and Haljin's demise, the song Anguirus' theme was remade from Godzilla Unleashed.
== Release ==
Dark Creation is scheduled for a full release on November 19, 2024.
== Future Franchise ==
Tremolandi has plans for a shared universe featuring Haljin along with other monsters which, according to his mother, are supposed to be parodies of the universal monsters. he even had plans for a crossover movie and an adult animated TV series featuring all of the monsters. Fagin is known to appear in the 4th adult animated film Ritual, in which, after surviving his apparent demise in the first movie, becomes curious about the legend of the monster Slaydle and, out of sheer bad temper, bravely fights of the monster, by himself. 
== Trivia ==
* Professor Ratigan, unlike his Disney counterpart, is not a criminal mastermind, but rather an incredibly abusive loan shark to Anna. But he retains his design similar to his Disney counterpart and death.
* Fagin, the vulture-like bird of prey, is Jake's friend in the comic the movie was based. But in the movie, he was Haljin's assistant, who was fed up with Fagin and inadvertently caused Fagin to burn to death in the wildfire.
* One of the most horrible things about the beast is that his presence was incredibly menacing he is a monster to be feared by all. Unlike Samantha Pringle, who is Paul's friend that had to be saved but she kills him in the end, Haljin is more sinister as he never cared for Jake Foster at all and shows no remorse for killing him in front of Anna. He laughs evilly and, because of his menacing presence, Anna and Mia scream when the monster leaps right at Anna.
* Haljin had one of the most violent deaths in movie history, shown when he realizes in great terror that the fire has caught onto his arm with his wing-like protrusion, and dies along with Anna when they fall into the fire where they both burn to death. Despite that being incredibly graphic, there's NO doubt that he completely deserved such fate as punishment for his sinister and violent crimes. 
** Despite the fact that his death is not as graphic in the sequel when he falls down the stairs to his death, it made him the second villain to fall down the stairs to his demise after Samantha Pringle. But unlike the former villain, Haljin's death is more mortal as he screams in horror while falling to his defeat. Unlike Samantha, however, he immediately perishes after his fall. However, at the end of the sequel, it's revealed that he never died, but rather knocked unconscious, and he mauls Sykes to death off-screen.
* Let's go over a comparison with Haljin and Samantha Pringle:
** Samantha has been Paul's love he has ever dreamed of, and their friendship became nothing but kind and loving. But in Dark Creation however, the relationship between Haljin and Jake Foster is incredibly toxic, as the fact that Haljin treats Jake like trash makes him more of a monster than he already is.
** Both characters fell to their presumed deaths and survived. Samantha's heartless father, Harry, pushed her down the stairs when he finds that she was with Paul, and Paul uses BB to keep his beloved. Haljin, however, was kicked in the face so hard by Evelyn that he lost his footing and fell down the stairs, knocking him unconscious, as he later kills Sykes in the end.
** Both fell to their true deaths in the climaxes. Samantha was kicked in the face by Paul so hard that she went over the railing and crashed into the icy water below. Haljin meet the same fate, but in his film debut he instead falls into a large fire where he burns to death with Anna, which is a similar case with the deaths of both The Dove and Fagin (who appears in both the film and comic).
** Both have different behaviors. Samantha was initially killing people including Tom, but began to regain some of her humanity before dying. Haljin on the other hand is incredibly sinister and intelligent and is never redeemable at all. When Samantha calls out Paul's name, she began to be filled with rage and started to run towards Paul to save him, but Haljin had a similar rage as Professor Ratigan, and he violently attacks Anna before the 2 share a death in the fiery flames.
== Gallery ==
Category:R-Rated Films
Category:2024 films
Category:Adult Animation
Category:Horror films
Category:Slasher film
Category:Tragedy
Category:Films scored by John Debney
Category:Films based on comics
Category:2024 animated films
Category:Films about revenge
Category:Animated films about revenge
Category:Animated films