Horror in the decade of the 1990s, wasn’t looked at very fondly at the time. But as In Search of Darkness 1990 – 1994 showed us that there was still plenty of good stuff that came through, In Search of Darkness 1995-1999 is when 90s horror hit a golden age.
The documentary sets a familar run sheet with discussions on how the stage was set for what was to come in mid to late 90s, horror soundtracks featuring alternate music bands becoming the norm and a lot of other topics that are spliced into the normal format of the In Search of Darkness series.
The familiar style in the previous In Search Of Darkness documentaries is continued here and truthfully, is a really great way of going about it – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Obviously a lot of sequels are covered and for better or for worse these films are given their flowers (H20, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Next Generation to name just two) as well as the mid to late 90s rebirth of the slasher.
Of course the bigger films (Scream, The Blair Witch, Sixth Sense) are covered but also the effect these succesful films had on the films that came after them. Foreign horror films feature with the rise of J Horror and Asian horror films covered but there are also some deep cuts from Italy, Germany and a lot more countries, not too mention the smaller, lower budget films. Even the failures (Island of Dr Moreau, Hellraiser: Bloodlines) are discussed.
Mike Flanagan, Jamie Kennedy, Doug Bradley and a slew of writers, directors, actors, horror journalists and other horror luminaries too numerous too mention pop up through out either giving a personalised story about how much they liked certain films or giving the audience some background information of the films being discussed. There is also a section on unmade 90s horror films or films that lived in development hell including Alex Winter trying to remake The Gate, Roger Avary writing Phantasm 1999 off the back of the Oscar for Pulp Fiction and Don Mancini mentioning two films of his that didn’t end up getting made for various reasons.
Being such an exhaustive look at the films from this period prevents a deeper dive into some of the films, however some films from their ideas to screen and any controversies along the way would be a feature length documentary in its own right.
Skimming through a lot of the films does whet the appetite however, whether it’s revisiting a film you haven’t seen for twenty five plus years or making a list for those films that either slipped passed you at the time or even if you weren’t around for these films at the time, you will certainly find a number of films to add to your list and start your journey through the back half of the 90s horror.
Director David Weiner & Editor Alex Townley have put together an epic documentary and both must be commended on what would have been an unbelievable amount of footage to go through, (not too mention the researchers for the documentary) and then sort it into an entertaining package. They have made an exhaustive horror documentary on horror films of the latter half of the 90s but they manage to keep and hold interest throughout the mammoth five hour plus runtime.
In Search of Darkness 1995-1999 is a horror documentary created by fans of horror for fans of horror.
Ryan Morrissey-Smith
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