Alone in the Dark (2005 film)

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Alone In The Dark
Directed by	Uwe Boll
Produced by	Shawn Williamson
Written by	Elan Mastai, Michael Roesch, Peter Scheerer
Starring	Christian Slater Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	January 28, 2005
Budget	$20,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Alone in the Dark is a 2005 Brightlight Pictures horror film based on the popular video game of the same name. It is directed by Uwe Boll, and stars Christian Slater as supernatural detective Edward Carnby. The German band Solution Coma contributed the title song. Nightwish featured as well with their hit song Wish I Had an Angel.

Upon its release, Alone in the Dark received poor reviews from critics and video game devotees alike.

Tagline: Evil Awakens.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Opening Text Crawl 3 Plot 4 Characters 5 Game References and Similarities 6 An Early Version of the Script 7 Original Movie and Game Tie-In Concept 8 Reception 9 Trivia 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] Cast

• Christian Slater — Edward Carnby
• Tara Reid — Aline Cedrac
• Stephen Dorff — Commander Burke
• Will Sanderson — Agent Miles
• Françoise Yip — Agent Cheung

[edit] Opening Text Crawl

In 1967, mine workers discovered the first remnants of a long lost Native American civilization - The Abkani.

The Abkani believed that there are two worlds on this planet, a world of light and a world of darkness. 10,000 years ago the Abkani opened a gate between these worlds. Before they could close it, something evil slipped through.

The Abkani mysteriously vanished from the Earth. Only a few artifacts remained, hidden in the world's most remote places. These artifacts speak of terrifying creatures that thrive in the darkness, waiting for the day when the gate can be opened again.

Bureau 713, the government's paranormal research agency, was established to uncover the dark secrets of this lost civilization. Under the direction of archaeologist Lionel Hudgens, Bureau 713 began collecting Abkani artifacts.

When the government shut down his controversial research, Hudgens built a laboratory hidden within an abandonded gold mine. There, he conducted savage experiments on orphaned children in an attempt to merge man with creature.

Hudgens victims survived as "sleepers" - lost souls awaiting the moment of their calling.

[edit] Plot

Edward Carnby (Christian Slater) is a private investigator specializing in unexplainable supernatural Phenomena. His cases delve into the dark corners of the world, searching for truth in the occult remnants of ancient civilizations. Now, the greatest mystery of his past is about to become the most dangerous case he has ever faced. With the help of his ex-girlfriend, archeologist Aline Cedrac (Tara Reid), and his bitter rival, government agent Richard Burke (Stephen Dorff), Edward is about to learn that just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it cannot kill you. Based upon the hit Atari video game series.

[edit] Characters

(Contains Spoilers)

• Edward Carnby - Raised at an orphanage under Sister Clara, Carnby lost his memory when he was tweleve years old. At twenty, he was recruited by Bureau 713, gaining knowledge on the paranormal soon after. His current assignment is investigating his past along with researching the disappearance of the Abkani. Due to the experiments conducted on him as a child, he has the ability to sense paranormal activity and has increased strength and speed, which in the film, allows him to perform acrobatic moves that would not be possible with a normal human.

• Aline Cedrac - She is an archaeologist, and works as a museum curator. She is the ex-girlfriend of Edward Carnby and knowledgeable about the Abkani & it's culture.

• Richard Burke - The Commander of Bureau 713, formelly worked under the direction of Carnby.

• Professor Hudgens - Conducted top-secret experiments in Bureau 713, which were shut down after one of the orphaned children escaped, that child being Edward Carnby. Hudgens still works for 713 but now as science officer. Hudgens is deeply interested in the history of the Abnaki, and has gained insight into the "Xenos", nightmare creatures linked to the Abnaki's mythos.

• Fischer - Fischer leads the medical unit of Bureau 713. He is one of Carnby's few trusted allies and friends.

• James Pinkerton - Former Agent of Bureau 713 who went missing in action in the 1980s. He and Hudgens were in charge of the investigation of the disappearance of goldminers at Brutan Goldmine. Pinkerton became an experiment for Hudgens, who attached a Xenos creature to his spine. His abilities included increased awareness, strength, speed and willpower.

• Sister Clara - Sister Clara runs an orphanage; one of the orphans that was under her care is Edward Carnby. In the eighties, she was persuaded by Professor Hudgens to allow the experiments of the orpans. She holds this secret to everyone but is very guilty on the inside for her immoral actions.

[edit] Game References and Similarities

(Contains Spoilers)

• Alone in the Dark features an ending that ends in the morning and is open-ended with the mysterious cab driver who picks up Edward Carnby \ Emily Hartwood whose whereabouts of the driver are unknown. The film version also offers an ending which takes place in the morning and something mysteriously startles Edward Carnby and Aline Cedrac.

• Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare mentions Edward Carnby part of a paranormal agency known as Bureau 713. The film version goes into greater detail and is part of the focus of the film.

• Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare features creatures that thrive in the darkness, have invisibility and can harmed by light and electrcity. The film version features creatures known as Xenos that can be invisible and can be harmed by light and electrcity.

• The film version features storylines similar to the games. The kidnapping of the orphaned children in the film is similar to the kidnapping of Grace Saunders from Alone in the Dark II. The disappearance of the orphans is similar to the disappearance of Detective Ted Striker from Alone in the Dark II. The closing of the gateway of darkness storyline from the film is similar to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare which requires the protagonists to close a gateway of darkness. The film version also features a scientist doing experiments of people which is similar to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.

[edit] An Early Version of the Script

Film writer Blair Erikson came up with a script for Alone in the Dark. According to Blair Erikson, Uwe Boll changed the script to be more action packed rather than a thriller. Blair Erikson stated his disgust and his working relationship towards Uwe Boll on Somethingawful.com.

• The original script took the "Alone In the Dark" premise and depicted it as if it was a actually based on a true story of a private investigator in the northeastern U.S. whose missing persons cases begin to uncover a disturbing paranormal secret. It was told through the eyes of a writer following Edward Carnby and his co-worker for a novel, and depicted them as real-life blue-collar folks who never expected to find hideous beings waiting for them in the dark. We tried to stick close to the H.P. Lovecraft style and the low-tech nature of the original game, always keeping the horror in the shadows so you never saw what was coming for them. Thankfully Dr.Boll was able to hire his loyal team of hacks to crank out something much better than our crappy story and add in all sorts of terrifying horror movie essentials like opening gateways to alternate dimensions, bimbo blonde archaeologists, sex scenes, mad scientists, slimy dog monsters, special army forces designed to battle slimy CG dog monsters, Tara Reid, "Matrix" slow-motion gun battles, and car chases. Oh yeah, and a ten-minute opening back story scroll read aloud to the illiterate audience, the only people able to successfully miss all the negative reviews. I mean hell, Boll knows that's where the real scares lie."

[edit] Original Movie and Game Tie-In Concept

Originally, the film version of Alone in the Dark was to be released with Alone in the Dark Part Five. However, the creators of Alone in the Dark, Atari, delayed the game and reworked the entire game from scratch. This appears to be one of the causes of the public backlash from gamers on how the film version of Alone in the Dark appeared to not fit into the Alone in the Dark game franchise save for the fact that the film was in someways a sequel to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. Uwe Boll stated his disappointment on the region one DVD commentary but also said that Atari had face shots of Christian Slater for the newest game - Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation, which comes out during 2007.

[edit] Reception

A box office bomb, Alone in the Dark was panned by nearly every film critic. Internet Movie Database's score is 2.2/10 (10,825 votes) as of January 2007. Rottentomatoes.com ranked a score of 1% as of June 2006 and at Metacritic, it was a score of 9%.

As one of the worst films of 2005, and in the opinon of many viewers, one of the worst films of all time, Alone in the Dark was given several accolades highlighting this point:

Alone in the Dark won three 2005 Stinkers Awards:

• Worst Picture
• Worst Director (Uwe Boll)
• Worst Special Effects

"Alone in the Dark" won one Calvin Award.

• Worst Picture

Alone in the Dark received two 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards nominations:

• Worst Director (Dr. Uwe Boll)
• Worst Actress (Tara Reid)

Despite all criticism plans have already been made for a sequel in which Christian Slater will return.

[edit] Trivia

• The film is credited as being based upon the Alone in the Dark video games.
• The record label Nuclear Blast spent $30,000 to promote their bands.
• Film budget was $20 million. It only earned $2,834,421 on its opening weekend January 30, 2005, which means, around 15%.
• As of January 2007, the film is ranked #37 on IMDb's bottom 100 worst movies of all time.
• At the very end of the film the creatures, which are supposed to be afraid of light, attack the two main protagonists in broad daylight. Boll has referred to the ending of the film as Lynchian.
• Due to an editing error, in one scene, a "dead" soldier on the ground is clearly seen preparing to get up.

[edit] See also

• Films considered the worst ever

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Alone in the Dark at the Internet Movie Database (score 2.2/10 (10,825 votes) as of January 2007)
• Alone in the Dark at Rotten Tomatoes (where it has a score of 1% as of June 2006)
• Alone in the Dark at Metacritic (which gave it a score of 9%)