Another stellar retrospective from the series that keeps on giving
I’m at that age where I usually have to push myself to sit through a new 90-minute horror movie — but I don’t have a problem binge-watching a six-and-a-half-hour documentary about obscure, straight to video genre movies from 1995.
Hence the innate appeal of the “In Search of Darkness” series. After several volumes exploring every nook and cranny of eighties horror, the franchise turned its attention to the 1990s in a duology spanning a mere 13 hours or so. The most recent addendum to the ISOD anthology covers 1995 through 1999, which on a very superficial level seems like it would be an obvious “down point” in horror history.
But that’s the secret beauty of “In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999.” It dives DEEP into the VHS-era cultural abyss and trudges up hidden gem after hidden gem — to the point we’re already analyzing the Troma-acquisition shlock-a-thon “Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo” like it was a historically-significant piece of American history just 15 minutes into the documentary.
When it comes to talking heads, it’s probably easier to just list all of the people who AREN’T featured in this documentary. Pretty much every major horror director of the ’90s who is still alive is prominently featured here, along with a plethora of character actors, niche interest website gurus and the occasional 1980s hair metal lead singer. It’s pretty much the horror equivalent of those old VH1 “I Love The ’80s” marathons and if that doesn’t immediately appeal to you, you might as well give up on EVER having fun in your life again.
Of course, when you’re waxing nostalgic on stuff like “Leprechaun 4: In space” and “Night of the Demons 3” you have to assume you’re preaching to the most hardcore of the hardcore, the kind of people who seemingly know EVERY sliver of trivia about every horror movie ever made. And that’s the charm of the entire “ISOD” series and this installment in particular: it’s just a treasure trove of weird asides and anecdotes that’ll have you saying “get out of here!” time and time again. For example, did you know that Doug Bradley hand-delivered a baboon to Clive Barker on the set of “Lord of the Illusions” … while in full Pinhead makeup? Or that Ernest Dickerson accidentally saved “Seven” from being a no-budget B-slasher? Just hearing the dude from Slipknot talk about how much he loves “Vampire in Brookyln” is pretty much worth checking this thing out all by itself.
It’s kind of an ironic situation at times: some of this movies are SO obscure and unadorned by genre fans that you’re kind of surprised the producers could find ANYBODY to talk about stuff like “Jack-O” and “Xtro 3.” In case you needed clearer evidence of how down in the dumps the horror genre was between “Silence of the Lambs” and “Scream,” there are exhibits A-Z.
The winds of change came a-blowing in ’96, though, with “Scream” once again making horror movies (slashers, specifically) not only profitable but borderline chic for a few years. While it’s fun to watch interviewees dig deep into the whole meta-satire aspects of stuff like “New Nightmare” and “Bride of Chucky,” it’s also kind of interesting to see how so many highly praised modern horror films had their groundwork laid out for them in any number of critically ravaged and financially underperforming genre flicks from the mid to late ’90s. What is “Sinners,” ultimately, but a mild redressing of “From Dusk Til Dawn” (complete with the abrupt mid-picture genre shift!) And if you think horror movies didn’t get “deep” and “elevated” and “socially conscious” until “Get Out,” just keep in mind that “Tales From The Hood” and “Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight” were covering the same thematic material TWENTY years earlier. If absolutely nothing else, you’ll walk away from this marathon documentary with the notion that there is WAY more influential stuff from the ’95-’99 “dead zone” than reputed — with perhaps an even deeper and more palpable footprint on contemporary genre movies than even the canonized classics of the eighties.
Probably my favorite aspect of the doc was hearing guys on the inside track talk about all of the big-budget, troubled productions of the era. Making movies like “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and “Tales From The Crypt: Bordello of Blood” must’ve been sheer misery and the recollections herein are everything you’d hope they’d be and then some. I also had a blast hearing about just HOW low budget some of these straight to video staples actually were — perhaps best personified by the revelation that the producers of “The Dentist” only had enough money to build half of a giant prop mouth for the picture and simply reversed the footage to create the illusion that they had the whole effect.
Naturally you have to ask yourself at what point does too much become, well, too much. I certainly appreciate the acknowledgement of fare like “Killer Tongue” and “Premutos: The Fallen Angel,” but they probably could’ve shaved the runtime by about an hour or so and made a slightly brisker and smoother-flowing documentary. But hey, sometimes you have to let the non-sequiturs take as much time as they need, especially when you have interviewees like Jamie Kennedy sounding VERY stoned when reflecting on their own movies.
But die-hard horror fans should definitely give this one a gander. There’s just so MUCH content on deck that you’re bound to learn a ton about a cavalcade of movies that remain underrated and underappreciated to this day. I mean, where else are you going to find out how jelly beans shaped the trajectory of “Wishmaster,” or the crucial role Tommy Hilfiger played in “The Faculty” coming to fruition?
WICKED RATING: 8/10
Director: David A. Weiner
Writer: David A. Weiner
Stars: Literally everybody
Release Date: Dec. 2025
Language: English
Run time: 383 minutes
