Hello fellow horror fans here on Youtube!
My name is Torstein and today I have another obscurity from the 80's to talk about, this
being a supernational film from 1989 set in a high-rise office building and it is called
Dark Tower.
And no, this has nothing to do with the recent big budget film called The Dark Tower or the
Stephen King book it that one was based upon.
In this Dark Tower we follow the investigator Dennis Randall, who are brought to the scene
of a mysterious death where an experienced window cleaner has suddenly fallen to the
ground and died.
While some of the local cops believe this has to be a suicide, Randall isn't all that
convinced that there isn't something else going on, especially after he has interviewed
the architect of the building, Carolyn Page.
She tells him that she is certain that someone or something threw the window washer into
the air, more than suggesting that something evil and supernatural might be involved.
This lead brings Randall down a path where he has to open his mind for the unknown to
figure it all out to avoid any more deaths occurring in this huge, dark tower.
Dark Tower has a very simple story about a spirit coming back from the dead to disturb
the living.
There's not much unique about the plot and the initial interest I had in it started to
wander away at the midway mark when I gave up on it giving me anything engaging.
The script lacks a bit of an imagination and creativity, making it feel like you have already
seen this done better before.
The pacing is also slow, which doesn't exactly help the formulaic story either.
The scares leaves a lot to be desired.
There are so many creepy things you can do with ghosts and they fail here at giving us
anything new and frightening.
And the final climax they had to give us in this... worst part of the film and not worth
sitting through the first eighty minutes for.
What saved Dark Tower from being a total waste for me was its cast, especially with Michael
Moriarty in the lead as Dennis Randall.
He gets the majority of the screen time and although his character doesn't have all that
much depth to him, Moriarty makes him work and is fun to watch on the screen.
His co-star is Jenny Agutter who plays Carolyn Page.
I'm kind of indifferent to her performance in Dark Towers and much more prefer her in
other films like An American Werewolf in Londo and Child's Play 2.
The movie also offers the paranormal investigator called Max Gold, played by Theodore Bikel.
He is not bad and I did like his scenes together with Moriarty, but they for some reason also
gave him some cringeworthy scenes where he is walking around in the big building, trying
to communicate with the evil spirit.
There are also some bad dubbing done over some of the other supporting characters that
does not help the film either.
Dark Tower was shot during 1987 in Barcelona on what can only be described as a troubled
production.
Midways through filming, legendary director Freddie Francis was replaced by Ken Wiederhorn,
who himself was experienced in the genre after delivering stuff like Shock Waves and Return
of the Living Dead 2.
Why this change happened is unknown to me, but I guess it does explain some of the inconsistencies
that the movie has.
They could also have included some more nice shots of Barcelona to give the movie some
much needed flair and style if they are first going to film there.
Instead, most of the filming is done in-doors and the movie has as much appealing visuals
as a made for TV movie.
Dark Tower disappointed me.
I might not have expected all that much in the first place considering this is a film
that is still awaiting an official DVD or BluRay release, but considering the talent
that is to be found in both the cast and crew, I would expect more entertainment than what
I ended up with.
This is a film that will only be of some interest for those of us who enjoy collecting VHS tapes
of movies that have still not gotten a release on a digital format.
If you happen to find it for a few bucks, then I wouldn't scream at you for buying it,
but honestly, Dark Tower is an uneventful and forgettable film.
If you want ghosts or demons running amok in a big building, then check out Poltergeist
3 or Demons 2 instead.
Oh, and believe it or not, but this film was actually released under the title Demons 7:
Inferno in Japan, which is perhaps the most noteworthy thing about this film except of
Michael Moriarty.
Dark Tower gets the low score of 2 out of 5.
Has anyone else in the world seen this film?
If so, what did you think of it?
And do you know about any other horror films that take place in a large building that are
worth checking out?
Inform me and others about it in the comment section below.
If you want a recommendation of a much more fun late 80's film, then check out my review
for Frank Henenlotters awesome film Brain Damage.
Leave a like, subscribe and all of that good stuff if you enjoyed this video and until
next time, thank you for watching Cinema Terror.
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