In Search of Darkness Part II: The Journey Into '80s Horror Continues

This is a documentary that I watched in parts while working. It was something that I didn't necessarily need to pay full attention to. There are greats from the film industry that are interviewed and voices in the horror community that are well respected as well. This one also does more of a deeper dive into the lesser mainstream horror as we get into what the 1980s had to offer.

For the talent that is featured, we have the likes of Nancy Allen, Tom Atkins, Doug Bradley, Clancy Brown, Lori Cardille, John Carpenter, Nick Castle, Larry Cohen, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Sean S. Cunningham, Keith David, Joe Dante, Robert Englund, Mick Garris and Stuart Gordon. I'm still leaving people out there. They are paired up with Joe Bob Briggs aka John Bloom, Ryan Turek, Darcy the Mail Girl aka Diana Prince, Ben Scrivens, Brandon Tenold and Cecil Trachenburg. The knowledge and insight that we get is great. There was even movies covered that I hadn't heard of or seen, so they went on my list.

I'd highly recommend this if you are into horror, especially from the 1980s. I think this is fun for experts on the genre or for those that want to dig a bit deeper under the surface. I enjoyed my time here for sure. It is also well-made, that is something else I'm leaving out. The editing of clips and getting different perspectives helps.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

I am a really big horror fan... Like REALLY big. I life the first ISoD because it covered so many movies I loved and have behind the scenes facts I didn't know... It's not as effective if I've only seen 4 or 5 of the movies in a 4 hour+ documentary. I can't imagine how a moderate horror movie fan could sit through this.

That said, I did like the documentary and do recommend it. It's kinda cool to see horror movies you haven't seen before reviewed and say "Hey, I should watch that."

This is the follow up to In Search of Darkness and it adds more great horror flick clips and interviews. It was awesome to see Nancy Allen from Dressed to Kill and Robert Englund and Robert Rusler from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise being added to the mix of interviews. There's also excellent coverage of many great horror films that you've probably never heard of. This time around, the interviews seem more sincere and toned down which is a good thing. Definitely worth the watch. Catch it on Shudder as of July 2021.

In Search of Darkness: Part II might not offer much to the more seasoned horror fan, but it's entertaining nevertheless. It offers a nice array of talking heads to discuss a select group of popular (and not-so-popular) horror films from the 80's. The films included seem to have been selected randomly and some are discussed for a good chunk of time and some seem to only be talked about for 30 seconds. It can get a little frustrating at times, but this is a film made with a lot of enthusiasm and love and you can't fault them for something like that.

This isn't interesting enough to watch in one sitting. The info has already been put out there and it's a bore to watch former horror actors and directors inject modern politics into the genre. I don't mind pointing out how modern groups take a series and identify with it, but we all know that these guys didn't consider this stuff while making the movies at the time.

It's a lot of back slapping and self aggrandizement in an overlong clip show.