Shocking Dark

There are filmmakers who simply copy other people’s ideas, but can still put together a good movie out of those ideas. Then there are the filmmakers who rip-off ideas and produce slapdash bullshit. And then we have Bruno Mattei. His Shocking Dark is a phenomenon, an example of the absolutely worst example of blatantly ripping off a movie audiences will ever have the chance to see. However, it still does not steal as much from The Terminator as it does from Cameron's Aliens - there is literally scene after scene, character after character, and at times even some of their speeches blatantly ripped-off. The blame not only rests upon the shoulders of Mattei, it is important not to forget his faithful collaborator Claudio Fragasso, who made Troll 2 the following year, which many consider to be the worst movie ever made. I award one star for the fact that you can really be entertained by this unscrupulous example of recycling a movie, and that I was able to "enjoy" it on the big screen. [Sitges 2019] (07/10/2019)

The only thing that took the fifth star off this, believe it or not, was that Mattei managed to secure that real power plant for filming, so the individual locations don't look as cretinous as I might have been looking forward to, given the rest. The best sequences are definitely the ones whenever that stoned 25-year-old girl shows up wearing ponytails and leggings like she's actually 10. That's cool. (this joke brought to you by the spring/summer 2020 season) (14/08/2021)