Out Of The Dark

NYTimes

LEAD: Michael Schroeder's misogynistic thriller ''Out of the Dark'' is a movie so desperate for attention that it will stop at nothing to titillate. Opening with extreme closeups of a psychopathic killer tearing at his own flesh with a knife while growling sadistic warnings to a telephone sex partner, it sinks to a nadir of repellent kinkiness during a motel scene in which turbulent lovemaking is photographed to suggest murder.

Michael Schroeder's misogynistic thriller ''Out of the Dark'' is a movie so desperate for attention that it will stop at nothing to titillate. Opening with extreme closeups of a psychopathic killer tearing at his own flesh with a knife while growling sadistic warnings to a telephone sex partner, it sinks to a nadir of repellent kinkiness during a motel scene in which turbulent lovemaking is photographed to suggest murder.

The movie, which opens today at the Criterion and Cine 42 theaters, centers around the goings-on at a Los Angeles telephone sex service whose female employees gleefully peddle simulated ecstasy to unseen male clients. The excitement proves too much for one regular caller who dons a clown mask and sets about killing and cutting up the women one by one. The chief suspects are a handsome, young freelance photographer (Cameron Dye) whose girlfriend works for the service, and the creepy young accountant (Bud Cort) who occupies the office next door.

The tone of ''Out of the Dark'' lurches from mundane whodunit to inept genre parody without rhyme or reason. The movie finally goes haywire during an extended motel sequence in which Paul Bartel plays a voyeuristic clerk, Lainie Kazan a prostitute, and Divine, in his last movie role, a detective. As Ruth, the telephone service's hard-boiled proprietor, Karen Black gives a typically disoriented performance. The only semi-coherent performance belongs to Mr. Dye.

Underneath its hip little flourishes, ''Out of the Dark'' purveys a vicious misogyny. Women who are sexually forthright, it suggests, are just asking to be sliced and diced. SEX BY PHONE, MURDER IN PERSON - OUT OF THE DARK, directed by Michael Schroeder; screenplay by J. Greg De Felice and Zane W. Levitt; director of photography, Julio Macat; edited by Mark Manos; music by Paul F. Antonelli and David Wheatley; production designer, Robert Schulenberg; produced by Zane W. Levitt; released by Cinetel Films. At the Criterion, Broadway at 45th Street, and Cine 42, 216 West 42d Street. Running time: 90 minutes. This film is rated R. Kevin...Cameron Dye Ruth...Karen Black Stringer...Bud Cort Kristi...Lynn Danielson Detective Langell...Divine Hooker Nancy...Lainie Kazan Clerk...Paul Bartel Dennis...Geoffrey Lewis

Javiscity

Review: Julia Stiles Meets The Creepiest Kids Ever In ‘Out Of The Dark’

TOPICS:Julia StilesMovie Reviews

POSTED BY: JESSE GUMBARGE JANUARY 19, 2015

The world of horror cinema has given us its fair share of memorable kid characters over the years. From little Damien Thorn in The Omen to Gage Creed in Pet Sematary; kid characters have a way ofextracting nearly every type of emotion out of us. They can raise the stakes of an already tense situation. They can show how silly and oftentimes corrupt the world is when shown through the eyes of a child. Or, as is the case with the film at hand today, sometimes they can just creep us out. Nothing amps up the scary quite like containing it in a tiny unsuspecting package.

Directed by Lluís Quílez, Out Of The Dark tells the story of a young family who moves to South America as the wife takes over her father’s manufacturing plant in the area. They soon find themselves haunted by the ghosts of young children, leading them to a dark history and sinister behavior on the part of an American company.

The film opens with Sarah (Julia Stiles), Paul (Scott Speedman) and their adorable little daughter Hannah (Pixie Davies) as they’re getting off of a plane. They’re greeted by Sarah’s father Jordan (Stephen Rea) who is there to take them to their new home. The house in question is quite beautiful, or a “castle” as young Hannah puts it. However, in typical haunted house movie fashion we were already shown that the home’s previous owner wasn’t exactly treated too well by the supernatural entities who share the dwelling.

As the new family settles in, we start to see strange children popping up. They’re masked up, they’re creepy and they initially seem to have a problem with the home’s new residence. However, we quickly learn that these kids are really victims themselves (vis-à-vis The Ring) and they’re out for revenge. After Hannah becomes ill, the parents must learn about what happened to these kids (who all died after showing similar symptoms as their daughter).

There really isn’t much to say about this film. It probably could have been decent given that that they seemed to have a reasonable budget and some good actors, but they chose to go a very mediocre cliched route with it instead. Aside from a few jump scares, the entire thing is fairly dull and boring.

Out Of The Dark is a mercilessly slow, plodding and derivative drama; not a horror/thriller as advertised. There is little to no action to speak of until the last few minutes and nothing to break up the laborious crawl towards the finale. There is actually a half decent twist towards the end of the film but the chances are you will have lost interest long before it’s revealed.

Overall, this is a pointless regurgitation of scenes and cliches filmed a million times before, in the form of a 20-minute story dragged out for what feels like three hours. Do yourself a favor, watch Michael Schroeder’s so-bad-it’s-great ’80s slasher classic, Out Of The Dark, instead.

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