Reviews: One Dark Night (1982) Movie Review
- Related: [ Movie Details for One Dark Night ]
Subgenres: Slasher, Cursed, Drama
HellHorror’s review of One Dark Night (1982) breaks down the plot, scares, cast performances, and its lasting impact on the horror genre.
One Dark Night (1982) is an American horror movie that gives me chills when I watch it alone at night. Director and writer Tom McLoughlin (Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986), Date with an Angel (1987), One Dark Night (1982), FairyTale: A True Story (1997)) did a terrific job executing this 80’s horror movie. I have enjoyed watching it many times on TV.
One Dark Night revolves around a corpse being set free and some innocent high school girls. Russian occultist, Karl Raymarseivich Raymar is famous. Police found six girls that were murdered in his apartment. Karl is not our normal average guy, he had bolts of electricity coming out of his fingers while being lifted on his stretcher. Karl’s daughter Olivia (Melissa Newman - The Undefeated (1969), River of Gold (1971), Revenge of the Stepford Wives (1980)) and husband Allan (Adam West - Batman (1966), Batman: The Movie (1966), Family Guy (1999)) has no clue as to what Karl is capable of. Karl’s friend Samuel Dockstader (Donald Hotton - Dances with Wolves (1990), The Bodyguard (1992), The China Syndrome (1979), Brainstorm (1983)) is a feature writer for "The World of the Occult". Samuel informs the couple that Karl was a psychic vampire who gained his powers of telekinesis by kidnapping young girls. Karl would then terrorize them and feed off of the bioenergy they give off.
Skip forward and we see Julie Wells (Meg Tilly - The Big Chill (1983), Body Snatchers (1993), Psycho II (1983), Valmont (1989)) willing to do anything to be in a club, "The Sisters". Julie is dating one of the club members, Carol (Robin Evans - Rage of Honor (1987), High School U.S.A. (1983), Fire in the Night (1986)) ex-boyfriend Steve (David Mason Daniels) and Carol is not happy. Carol tells Julie that she has to spend a night alone in a mausoleum. The movie escalates here; Julie is spending the night at the mausoleum, and that is the very same one that Karl’s body resides. Bizarre things start happening, and the dead rises. What will happen to Julie? Carol and the other club members visit the mausoleum with masks and costumes, all prepared to scare Julie, but they are in for an unexpected shocker. Who will survive Karl?
The movie is awesome, and all horror fans should give it a try, but it is not for everyone because it is an oldie. I love the storyline, and the characters did an incredible job with their roles. Their acting was believable and gave me chills. The sets were pretty scary, and the music makes you have this eerie feeling as though someone is watching you. As I said above, it is a movie that you want to keep in your collection to show guest.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- One Dark Night Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 5.74/10
- IMDB: 5.6/10
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