Darkness was originally shot in 1992, and has been kicking around in various incarnations – including the classic “9^th generation bootleg” – ever since. This re-release trumps ‘em all, though. The “Vampire Version” is a digitally remastered print that lifts the gloom off the original super 8 film and provides a miraculously clear, detail-filled image. Of course, it also reveals the meager budget and dated clothes, but what the hell. The plot of Darkness has been written about enough times already over the past 14 years, so let’s just say it’s a teenage vampire-splatter party hosted by a neo-goth cowboy named Liven, whose particular form of vampirism acts like a Romero-esque zombie plague, infecting everyone in the tiny town of (mostly) young loudmouths, starting at the local 7-11 ten or so minutes before dawn. It all ends up in a spectacularly bloody showdown between the vampire hordes and the local teenage heavy metal dirtbags. Along the way, there is a literal truckload of gore-gags, from throat slashings to machete mayhem and plenty raw, ragged bullet holes. It’s a classic of its kind, relentlessly downbeat and as bloody as they get. And now, you can actually see what’s going on!

Barrel’s fully-loaded double disc version is amazingly thorough. Disc one has the cleaned-up print in widescreen with a newly mixed Dolby stereo soundtrack. It also contains 2 Darkness trailers, a half-hour of SFX footage, a cast and crew doc called “Vampire Boot Camp”, audio commentaries, and the inevitable “more”. Disc two has film festival footage, trailers for Darkness 2, Demon Machine, and Skull Full plus making-of pieces on the trailers (!), deleted scenes, a giant photo archive, etc. There’s enough stuff here to keep you up all night, anxiously waiting for the break of dawn. Great fun. _____________________________________________________

- Sleazegrinder