Written by Max Franklin (aka Richard Deming). Based on the 1979 film written by Stanford Whitmore and directed by John 'Bud' Cardos. It starred William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel and Keenan Wynn.
This is an odd one. The behind-the-scenes story of this film is definitely more interesting than the film itself. The film was begun with Tobe Hooper directing. However, Hooper was fired after only a few days with journeyman director John 'Bud' Cardos taking over. Cardos is not a stylist and did was he was hired to do, which was finish the film on time whatever it took.
Where it becomes interesting is that the filmmakers decided to alter the story after filming was completed to inject a science fiction aspect to the story. Namely, they made the monster an alien that can shoot lasers from his eyes. Exactly what the original story was is...complicated.
There are reports that the story at that point the story was about an autistic person who had been locked away for most of their life going on a murder spree when they are freed by a house fire. This info seems to originate with an interview with Cardos that was in the May 1984 issue of Cinefantasique. This was later repeated in the commentary that Cardos participated in for the 2017 Code Red Blu-Ray released.
Which brings us to this novelization. The only screenwriter ever credited on The Dark was Stanford Whitmore. The novelization claims to be based on his screenplay, but it is NOT about an autistic person killing people. It tells the story of a 100-year-old Zombie that cuts off the heads of his victims with a scimitar and then eats them. The father of the first victim and a newscaster band together to investigate what is going on. In all ways the novelization reads like an episode of the Night Stalker TV series, without Carl Kolchak. This is not a bad thing. A still in the photo section includes a scene of a death BEFORE the alien was added strengthening the case that the alien was a very late addition.
Let's try to unpack this. The final film matches the zombie plot mentioned above save for the lasers. The characters all talk about the monster being a zombie, and never reference that the victims have been "blown up" by lasers. The monster when finally shown is wearing contemporary clothes and does not really match the description of the zombie in the book. The autistic angle of the plot bears some similarity to Hooper's later THE FUNHOUSE, so perhaps he made that film to get the idea out of his head.
The changes were talked about in issue 12 of Starburst Magazine:
"Okay, so it was a gamble," admits Larry [Fredericks], the Cinema Shares president. "But after doing our market research...we decided to shift the emphasis from conventional horror to a sci-fi image, which the plot allowed us to do. We re-thought the publicity campaign completely and really put some hours into getting the new art just right. With our experience of selling across the whole range of world markets, we figured we could make the film really work."
Note, nowhere in the above is the idea of making the film better mentioned. I think the changes were done because the filmmakers had a film that wasn't very good. According to producer Igo Kantor in the above-mentioned 2017 Blu-Ray commentary, the switch to the alien happened after filming was complete. So switching to an alien was a last-ditch effort to salvage the investment when it became clear the film wasn't very good.
Watching the film objectively, I think about a minute of alterations were done to support the alien plot-change:
- A prologue that explains that the alien came from the stars was added.
- The scenes of carnage stop before the zombie does anything, with lasers and explosions being overlaid on top of the original footage.
- Some insert shots showing the monster's hands as claw-like and decidedly non-human.
- The climax, which involves the alien battling a slew of police officers, appears to have some new footage to better support the laser angle. Some full face shots of the alien shooting lasers, some pyrotechnic effects showing the effects of the laser hits.
That's it. I don't see anything else that was added. Of course, based on the novelization we can see that things were removed or changed. But it is clear, at least to me, that the book used the same screenplay for the film that was shot, at least in part. Most of the names are the same, and the basic plot follows the same beats. The fact that the monster is wearing regular clothes in the film makes me lean toward the autistic person as explaining the monster (in as much as that really explains how he could take so many gunshots and still be alive.) I think the film had a rushed filming schedule that resulted in something that has a couple good scare scenes but not much coherence. The producers tried to jazz it up with lasers to try and get their money back.
So where did the story in the novelization come from? Given that the filmmakers have repeatedly stated that the monster was an autistic person, I have to conclude that either the author worked from an earlier script that was ultimately changed to what Cardos described, or he took it upon himself to improve things with a story of his own. Cardos came on board about a week into filming, so perhaps there was an earlier script without the autistic person. This could have been what was provided to the author of the book. I am not sure we will ever know for sure.
Which is all too bad because this is a good novelization! The author really spends time with things and makes it a satisfying read. Considering that the basic plot does not make complete sense (what is the significance of the blind guy anyway?), the author does a very good job trying to make it make sense. If nothing else, the book describes a movie I'd much rather watch than the actual film made.
Excerpt:
At five-thirty in the afternoon Randy Morse had just finished making love to his latest conquest for the sixth time that day. She was a lovely Eurasian girl of eighteen named Camille Quam, whom he had met at an actors' workshop a week before. Since then they had been out of each other's sight for only brief periods, even making the rounds of TV studios to read the call-boards together. A good deal of the time, both day and night, they spent in bed together, always at his apartment, because she still lived with her parents.
Sitting up in bed, naked, Camille leaned over the side of the bed to reach into her purse on the floor. She drew out a marijuana cigarette, a marijuana clip, and a packet of matches. Lighting the joint, she took a deep drag, held it, and passed the joint over to Randy, using the clip.
Exhaling, she said, "Get it on, lover."
Randy took a drag and handed back the clip. The phone on a bedside stand rang. Exhaling, he lifted the phone.
"Hello," he said.
"Randy?" a mature female voice said.
"Oh, hi, Marge."
"Busy tonight?" Marge Madison asked seductively.
He glanced at Camille. "Why?" he asked.
"His nibs flew to New York this morning. He's flying back again late tonight, but meantime, I thought perhaps we could discuss that part."
"Sure," he said instantly. "I'm free."
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