Alone in the Dark (2005 film)

Alone in the Dark is a 2005 horror film, loosely based on Infogrames' popular video game series of the same name. It is directed by Uwe Boll, and stars Christian Slater as supernatural detective Edward Carnby. The film was universally panned by critics and is considered one of the worst video game adaptations, and worst altogether, of all time. The film's tagline is Evil Awakens.

Cast

 * Christian Slater (Dustyn Arthurs, young) as Edward Carnby: Raised at an orphanage under Sister Clara, Carnby lost his memory when he was ten 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 allow him to perform acrobatic moves that a normal human could not do.
 * Tara Reid as Aline Cedrac, an archaeologist and museum curator. She is the ex-girlfriend of Edward Carnby and knowledgeable about the Abkani and their culture.
 * Stephen Dorff as Commander Richard Burke, the Commander of Bureau 713, formerly worked under the direction of Carnby.
 * Karin Konoval as Sister Clara, an orphanage owner and one of the orphans under her care was Edward Carnby. In the '80s, she was persuaded by Professor Hudgens to allow experiments on the orphans. She keeps this secret from everyone but is inwardly guilty for her immoral actions.
 * Ed Anders as James Pinkerton, a 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.
 * Frank C. Turner as Agent Fischer, the head of the medical unit of Bureau 713. He is one of Carnby's few trusted allies and friends.
 * Darren Shahlavi as John Dillon
 * Matthew Walker as Professor Lionel Hudgens
 * Mark Atcheson as Captain Chernick
 * Will Sanderson as Agent Miles
 * Françoise Yip as Agent Cheung
 * Mike Dopud as Agent Turner

Game references and similarities

 * The game version of Alone in the Dark features an ending that takes place on the morning after and is open-ended, showing a mysterious cab driver pick up Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood and whose destination is unknown. The film version also offers an ending which takes place in the morning when something mysteriously startles Edward Carnby and Aline Cedrac.
 * Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare mentions Edward Carnby as part of a paranormal agency known as Bureau 713. The film version goes into greater detail as this 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 be harmed by light and electricity. The film version features creatures known as Xenos that can be invisible and can be harmed by light and electricity.
 * The film version features a storyline with elements found in 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 on people which is similar to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.

An early script
Blair Erickson came up with the first drafts of the script for Alone in the Dark. According to Erickson, Uwe Boll changed the script to be more action packed than a thriller. Erickson stated his disgust and his working relationship towards Boll on Somethingawful.com.

The original script took the Alone In the Dark premise and depicted it as if it were 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.

Unrated Director's Cut version
An Unrated Director's Cut was released in Germany, France, and Australia and was #1 on the German DVD market for three weeks. It was released on DVD in North America on 25 September 2007. In the newest version of the film, virtually all of the scenes with Tara Reid in them have been removed by Boll himself.

Original film and game tie-in concept
Originally, the film version of Alone in the Dark was to be released with Alone in the Dark 5, the fifth title in the series; however, the creators of Alone in the Dark, Eden Games, delayed the game and reworked it entirely from scratch. This appears to be one of the causes for the public backlash from gamers on how the film version of Alone in the Dark appeared to deviate from the Alone in the Dark game franchise save for the fact that the film was in some ways a sequel to Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. Uwe Boll stated his disappointment on the region 1 DVD commentary but also said that Atari had face shots of Christian Slater for the newest game - Alone in the Dark 5, which was released on June 26, 2008.

Reception
Alone in the Dark was panned by nearly every film critic. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 15th of the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s with a rating of 1% based on 116 reviews. At Metacritic, it was a score of 9/100. It's widely considered one of the worst films ever made. Reviews frequently singled out the film's easy to spot plotholes, bad acting, poor visual effects and has nothing to do with the video game series.

Alone in the Dark was given several accolades highlighting this poor reception:

Alone in the Dark won three 2005 Stinkers Awards:
 * Worst Picture
 * Worst Director (Uwe Boll)
 * Worst Special Effects

It also won one Calvin Award:
 * Worst Picture

Alone in the Dark received two 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards nominations:
 * Worst Director (Uwe Boll)
 * Worst Actress (Tara Reid)

Game Trailers ranked the film as the third worst video game movie of all time; among other things, it was emphasized that "the inadvertently hilarious action-horror flick had little to do with the series and even less to do with common decency!"

Box office
Alone in the Dark grossed $2,834,421 in its opening weekend, ranking at #12; by the end of its run, the film had grossed $10,442,808 and was a box office flop, considering its $20 million budget, but was significantly more successful on DVD.

Sequel
Despite criticism associated with the first film, Event Films released a sequel in 2008, with Rick Yune in the role originally played by Slater and co-starring Rachel Specter, Bill Moseley, Ralf Möller, Zack Ward, Natassia Malthe, Jason Connery, Danny Trejo, and Lance Henriksen. Like the previous film, Alone in the Dark 2 was universally panned, being one of the lowest rated movies in history.

Soundtrack
The 2-disc soundtrack was released by Nuclear Blast, with Wolfgang Herold as executive producer. The German band Solution Coma's contribution was the title song. Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had a music video of "Wish I Had an Angel" directed by Uwe Boll, with clips from the film.


 * Disc 1
 * 1) "Vredesbyrd" – Dimmu Borgir
 * 2) "What Drives the Weak" – Shadows Fall
 * 3) "Cyberwaste" – Fear Factory
 * 4) "Touch of Red" – In Flames
 * 5) "Devour" – Strapping Young Lad
 * 6) "Peace" – Agnostic Front
 * 7) "Landing" – Moby
 * 8) "Gone Forever" – God Forbid
 * 9) "Down Again" – Chimaira
 * 10) "Lost to Apathy" – Dark Tranquillity
 * 11) "Blacklist" - Exodus
 * 12) "Imperium" - Machine Head
 * 13) "Stabbing the Drama" - Soilwork
 * 14) "Daylight Dancer" - Lacuna Coil
 * 15) "Panasonic Youth" - Dillinger Escape Plan
 * 16) "Rational Gaze" - Meshuggah
 * 17) "Wish I Had an Angel" - Nightwish
 * 18) "Mother of Abominations" - Cradle of Filth


 * Disc 2
 * 1) "Dead Eyes See No Future" – Arch Enemy
 * 2) "The Devil Incarnate" – Death Angel
 * 3) "Medieval" – Diecast
 * 4) "Daughter of the Damned" – Fireball Ministry
 * 5) "The Weapon They Fear" – Heaven Shall Burn
 * 6) "Eraser" – Hypocrisy
 * 7) "Blood and Thunder" – Mastodon
 * 8) "The Great Depression" – Misery Index
 * 9) "Ghost" - Mnemic
 * 10) "Slaughtervain" – Dew-Scented
 * 11) "Souls to Deny" – Suffocation
 * 12) "Watch Out" – Raunchy
 * 13) "As I Slither" – Kataklysm
 * 14) "Outnumbering the Day" – Bloodbath
 * 15) "Deconstruction" – All Shall Perish
 * 16) "Minion" – Bleed the Sky
 * 17) "On Earth" – Samael
 * 18) "One Shot, One Kill" – Dying Fetus
 * 19) "99" – The Haunted