In Search of Darkness sets out to be the definitive 1980s horror doc and mostly succeeds

In Search of Darkness: The Definitive 80s Horror Documentary is being billed as a film, but it feels more like a miniseries. Over a run time of nearly four and a half hours, it crams in discussions of dozens of films and a jaw-dropping range of interviews with top flight-directors (John Carpenter, Joe Dante), iconic actors (Barbara Crampton, Doug Bradley), effects artists, composers, pop culture commenters, and more. The overstuffed kitchen sink approach nicely captures a decade of gruesome excess in horror cinema. But in evaluating and analyzing his decade of choice, first-time writer-director David A. Weiner would have benefited from a bit less enthusiastic love and a bit more of a critical scythe and / or chainsaw.

For fans of 1980s...

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