The Darkroom (DVD)

From the team who brought us House of the Dead II (read the review here) and Room Six (read the review here), here comes The Darkroom. What develops is not, as one might hope, scary things from snapshots, but instead a story that follows the stepson of a murderer who just happens to be a hobby-photographer. In spite of the misleading title and tagline, The Darkroom is a passable psychological horror film about tricks of the mind and the core of identity.

The movie starts off by introducing us to a man (Reed Diamond) who's lost his memory and has been locked up in a mental institution for so long that nobody can quite remember how he came to be there. He has a vague recollection of watching game shows on TV, so mostly he goes by the name of Richard Dawson and passes the time just wondering how he came to such a strange destination. Since Richard is one of those forgotten people anyway, he's the perfect guinea pig for some cockamamie medical experiments being shopped around by a no-nonsense she-doc (Ellie Cornell) — so Dawson downs the drug and it's off on the magic carpet ride of horror!

Cut to Dawson wandering around the streets in his hospital gown, totally lost. Fortunately it's finders keepers when he spies a coat and trousers lying in a Dumpster, and more fortunately still he makes a new friend who takes him out to lunch and helps him find a nice patch of ground to sleep on for the night. After that, Dawson and Stanley (Shawn Pyfrom) are inseparable. Stanley's a lonely teen whose mom (Lucy Lawless) recently married a smarmy jerk (Greg Grunberg), and Dawson's a lonely escaped inmate who has visions of mean mud-monsters — it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

The story is kind of loopy and aspires to be a bit much more than the budget could possibly allow (think: Jacob's Step-Ladder), but thanks to excellent casting and some very good acting, The Darkroom is a bit brighter than you might expect.

As usual, the team of Mark A. Altman (writer-producer) and Michael Hurst (writer-director) do a very decent job on their commentary. They fill in all the info you could possibly be wondering about on everything from personal anecdotes about the actors to the technical, budgetary, and marketing aspects of making a low-budget horror film. The two obviously like each other, and know each other well, so it's fun to listen to them joke around as they fill in the blanks.

Other special features include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

= = =

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson