Customer Reviews

Left in Darkness

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The story is really not that complicated and convoluted. A young girl meets an imaginary friend who would be there with her as she grows up. When she goes to a party at the age of 21 she is drugged, raped, and killed. But she doesn't go to heaven or hell, more like a world in between (something akin to the movie Jacob's Ladder) where there are angels and demons waiting to either help her or destroy her. What she goes through is a spirited battled with creatures that would possess the soul, ravage the soul, and enslave the soul. At first you want to tell the main character to stop running around like a chicken with a head cut off. But I digress, by the midpoint of the story, you are really drawn into the characters and the mystical and horrific world the young woman's soul is in. While this is not a Christian film, I would have to say that there are some overtones that could be considered "Christian" in some sense...such as the idea of spiritual warfare, the idea of there being demons and devils that want to tempt you, torture you, and bring you down to the ground; while there is a LIGHT that draws you toward it ("God" in a sense) that wants to bring you into salvation. Again, let me reiterate, this is not a Christian movie but it does have a lot of interesting overtones that really need to be examined and considered. I really enjoyed this movie (the movie isn't perfect, but I feel sure that it should be given five stars). I think that if you enjoy horror and if you enjoy intelligent horror even more so, then you'd get a real pleasure out of watching this movie.

I saw this film on the Zone Horror channel a few nights back and was pleasantly surprised at how good it actually was.
Basically the plot sees a young girl - Celia(played by Monica Keenan) going to a party. There she gets slipped a date rape drug, gets raped, and dies as a result of overdosing on this drug. Coming too on another plane which is somewhere between Heaven and Hell, she is horrified to learn that she is dead. Worse this plane is full of zombie like 'Soul Eaters' who like nothing more than to snack out on the souls of the recently deceased if they can catch them... Among these soul eaters is the spirit of her deceased grandfather (Tim Thomerson - Near Dark, Trancers) who attempts to devour her soul by at first trying to trick her. Luckily for the deceased girl, there is a sanctuary of light created around the deceased which lasts for a few hours, and this light keeps these creatures at bay. However, the deceased can step out of it, and this light has the disconcerting habit of moving around every so often too.
Also on this strange plane of existence, Celia encounters a young man (played by David Anders) who appears to be a Guardian Angel of sorts and offers her help and advice in how to deal with the immediate danger and what she should do on a more long term basis. She also meets the souls of her mother and grandmother, and both also give her advice as to what she should do.

Having to make difficult and potentially damning choices, often in the heat of the moment, makes for a very difficult and dangerous experience, indeed. Just whose advice should Celia trust and are the beings that she encounters actually what they seem?
This is a tense and atmospheric little film with a very unusual setting and storyline which make it quite original in fact.
I actually quite enjoyed it and would recommend it to other viewers, wanting a horror film that is a little different.

I had never heard of this movie before I picked it up at the video store. It definately is not the greatest movie ever made, but not a waste of time. The acting was sincere, if not great. The plot deals with a coed who goes to a frat party, gets drugged, raped and killed. It then becomes a story about where she is going to spend eternity and how she is going to get there. There are a couple predictable plot twists. Meeting her parents in the after life and her guardian angel and the soul eaters were all kind of hokey if given too much thought, but if you don't go too deeply into the flaws, you can enjoy it. All in all, I am okay with having watched it. Die hard fans of hard core horror will not like this one.

Left in Darkness (Steven R. Monroe, 2006)

Cameraman-turned-director Steven R. Monroe has turned out a number of bad movies over the years, from House of 9 to Ice Twisters, and is currently working on one called Mongolian Death Worms. I kid you not. But every once in a while, there's a glimmer of something in one of his movies that makes me think there's a really good director under there just waiting to get out. It surfaced a few times, briefly, in House of 9, and once again there are glimmers in Left in Darkness. But Monroe, as he does, turns away from them and leads the film back into hackville. But you can still taste the glimmer on the back of your tongue occasionally.

Celia (Freddy vs. Jason's Monica Keena) is out to celebrate her twenty-first birthday with her best friend, Rachel (Zombie Prom's Tarah Paige). They go to a frat party, where Celia is befriended by Doug (Sasquatch Mountain's Chris Engen). The two of them have the sorts of conversations that seem deep and meaningful in frat houses, until Celia realizes that Doug isn't quite what he seems. In any case, Celia finds herself in purgatory, and purgatory is a very nasty place. She has two old friends to help her out, though--her grandfather Joe (B-movie stalwart Tim Thomerson) and Donovan (David Anders, recently of the Children of the Corn remake), a kind of guardian angel who's been with her since early in her life (in the opening scene, we see Donovan saving her from being hit by a car when she's nine or ten). She has to endure a series of trials to ensure she's worthy of heaven. You know, that sort of thing.

It's an interesting idea, but it never quite seems to work out when put on a screen. And such is the case here; while Monroe plays with a few interesting quirks in the formula, you can see the big plot twist coming from a mile off, the intended comedy aspects of the film fall flat while opening up all sorts of holes for unintentional comedy, and of course we all know how this is going to turn out, don't we? (Hint: Celia and Joe are the only two people in the movie who conform to any sort of standard that modern Americans would consider "virtuous".) Yes, the whole thing's a morality play of the medieval sort, and those have certainly been done well over the years; one only has to look at Ingmar Bergman's body of work for endless examples. But Monroe is no Bergman by any means, and the direction here is best characterized as uninspired. It doesn't help that the acting is uniformly flat. But a morality play in a frat house? That's got limitless potential. **

Which is why the main character, played by pillowed lipped Monica Keena ends up in some sort of purgatory. I guess only good smart people move directly to heaven. For the rest of us, there's a little more work to be done. Perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself on this one. I really need to break it down (that's just what I do).

THEY USED TO BE CALLED "MICKEY-FINS" (I'll try not to go beyond what's said on the DVD case)
Now they're called "date rape drugs". I think the only real difference is that sickoes weren't as creative back in the "good ol' days". But this really is how things get started in "Left in Darkness". You see, it's Celia's (Keena) birthday and her friend wants to Partay. So, what better place than a frat house full of horny, drunk losers. Celia reluctantly obliges her friend and ends up getting hammered. Unfortunately for the frat-boy losers, she holds her liquor well. One guy has been working her all night and is getting nowhere, so he hands her his special brew. You can imagine what happens next. Of course the special brew kills Celia who is left alone in a dingy shower stall. She wakes up only to find herself still lying in the shower. That's right; she bit the big one but is now stuck here as a ghost until she can find a way out. This would all sound really stupid except that it happens all too often in real life (not the ghost part) and is all executed fairly realistically here. This all takes about 20 minutes and could serve well as a cautionary tale for young women today. I recommend they show this in High Schools. For horror fans, it's a bit of a drag but could be worse.

GOOD NIGHTMARE GONE BAD
Did you ever have a nightmare where you start in a bad place, escape, then find yourself wishing you had stayed in the bad place? That's how the film "Left in Darkness" feels; claustrophobic, lonely and desperate. . This is a great way to run a horror movie when done right. However, problems occur quickly when the writers fail to follow their own rules for this purgatory and then start to make them up add-hock just to keep things moving. All I ask of a film is if you're going to have rules, then stick to them and by all means, think them out to a logical conclusion before proceeding. This film fails to do that. It wasn't intolerable, but it was definitely a problem.

BITS AND PIECES (mild spoilers)
No, I'm not going to talk about dismemberment, unfortunately. I just thought I should briefly cover some points for horror movie fans since this is not typical horror fare. You should understand that there is little gore, virtually no nudity and not too many big scares. What you'll get is more of that nightmarish, uneasy feeling I talked about earlier. The acting is good enough, particularly Keena, but the story is inconsistent and gradually grows sillier as things progress. And just to really screw things up; there is a sappy ending.

SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
I'd have to say this is a rental for horror fans. Though the concept and execution are fairly original, the story establishes rules that it refuses to follow and cheats on a whim. The film makers did a good job creating a nightmarish experience but it's more uneasy than scary. Though it might sound silly, the first 20 minutes of this film hold great value as a cautionary tale for young women out there who might think the party life is for them. If you're going to party, at least be armed with an educated and cautious mind; it could be the difference between life and death.

Quality.....3.5 stars
Acting......3.5 stars
Frights......2.5 stars
Ed value....4 stars

Average....3.38 stars

While this isn't a masterpiece, I had to speak up for this scrappy little flick. Real effort was put into a thought-provoking philosophical premise, and while there is unsubtle, talky exposition, there is also a lot of action. Plus if you liked watching Monica run around that Freddy film, you will be very happy. A few hard twists keep this from the cliche zone too. The loyal horror fan who is punch drunk from a thousand and one cauliflower eared cinematic palookas will shed grateful tears over this one.

A sprightly convincing performance from talented Monica Keena (THE SIMIAN LINE) is the saving grace of this rather distraught and disconnected thriller. Producer Stephen J. Cannell (WISE GUY, A-TEAM, IT WAITS, THE GARDEN) obviously was hoping the film's mystical undertones would elevate it above the usual genre flicks, but it's contrived script and lack of a central focus ultimately drags it down.
The story focuses on Keena, a young girl celebrating her 21st birthday;she has felt guilt all her life because her mother died in childbirth. At a wild frat party, she is drugged, raped and killed; she returns in a sort of middleworld awaiting her ultimate fate to heaven or hell. Her lifelong "secret friend" Donovan (David Anders) shows up to help guide her and she even runs into her deceased grandfather (the ubiquitous Tim Thomerson) and her mother and grandmother as well. Not to mention the "soul eaters" who are after her.
It's all convoluted and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, with an ending that comes out of nowhere without a satisfying resolution.
Not the worst of the recent spate of horror flicks, but not one of the best either.

Not your typical horror flick, and that's a good thing.
I enjoyed the actors and really cared about them.
The story had be hooked from the beginning and there were some creepy and scary moments. This movie also makes you think about life and death and is not one of those brainless blockbuster teen horror movies that make it to every movie screen. Instead, do some research and support independent horror movies. You'd do yourself a favor locating this gem.

Excellent movie. If you like horror (the old-fashion type, vs. today's drivel of mindless blood, guts and gore) and suspense, you'll love it. Well worth a viewing.

Celia (Monica Keena) goes to a frat party on her 21st birthday. She has a great time right up until being drugged (which leads to a lethal O.D.), raped, and left dead in a shower stall. Upon waking up, Celia soon realizes that nothing can / will ever be the same. LEFT IN DARKNESS is a cool little supernatural chiller w/ plenty of thrills and surprises. I especially enjoyed the ghoulish "soul eaters" and Tim Thomerson's (NEAR DARK, SHOCKWAVE) transformations. Lots of ghostly, ethereal stuff for all! Watch for Patty Macormack (THE BAD SEED, MOMMY 1 and 2, SHALLOW GROUND) as grandma!...