Dark Dungeons

I do not understand these reviews. Dark Dungeons is a fully accurate portrayal of the famous Jack Chick track. To claim this is bad is blasphemy. This is the highest art and shouldn't be missed. The acting is insanely good and it's all played so straight which is the best part. I also love the lesbian subtext.

The only bad thing about this movie is it wasn't a full 90 minutes.

Praise to the unholy dark one for all his gifts.

"Dark Dungeons" is based on the Chick Tract of the same name, which tells of the dangers of Dungeons & Dragons. When college students Debbie and Marcie enrolls into the world of tabletop roleplaying games, they enter a world of darkness, madness and an evil cult set on awakening an ancient evil. Will Jesus Christ be able to save them?

As a tabletop gamer and D&D player myself, I have of course known about the Satan panic in the 80's, of which Jack Chick's work is highly prolific of; with anti-roleplaying groups, movies like "Mazes & Monsters" and obvious the Chick Tract, upon which this movie is based on, I often just laugh off the lunacy of the fearmongering against D&D. I just can't take those claims about it leading to Devil worship, murder and violence serious, when not only am I a member of that community and know it very well, but also that thanks to internet shows like "Critical Roll", D&D has become more mainstream these days.

I actually liked this movie for a number of reasons; if you know anything about the producers of this movie, Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, you'll know that they mainly focus on popular movie and web content aimed for the geek community that are into sci-fi, fantasy, and tabletop gaming, such as "The Gamers" and "JourneyQuest". They have also produced games themselves. So it would be no stretch to believe, that the reason why the script may be a bit lacking and the acting is not all that convincing is because they were mainly not taking it all that serious and were just poking fun at the sourcematerial. On the other hand, this is actually an official film adaptation with Jack Chick himself signing his approval of the movie.

The best way to watch this movie, in my opinion, is to do so ironically - like with any "so-bad-it's-good" movie like "The Room", "Birdemic", and "Troll 2". Then you will get a ton of entertainment out of it.

7 out of 10

Demonising fear mongering and hate spreading. Suicide over an RPG game? That's disgusting. It's one thing for a man out of time to spout that nonsense. Back in the masogonistic prehistoric era of racism and homophobia. But now?.. is no one safe. Can't even leave gamers alone?

I enjoyed this. It was very instructive. When I get to college, I will be just like Debby and Marci. I will begin RPGing and immediately outplay everyone who has been doing it for years. My character will be chaotic neutral, and I will not hesitate to vanquish my foes. I will have the true power.

In the 1980s, Jack Chick Publications produced an extremely fundamentalist Christian tract denouncing the dangers of playing RPGs. This film is hilarious precisely because it is so self-aware in following the fantastical tract, even one-upping it at times(LARP and Cthulhu, anyone?) The story follows two Christian girls, Marcie and Debbie, as they go off to college and become ensnared by the glamorous, underground bacchanal that is Dark Dungeons gaming. But things are even darker than the bags under the girls' eyes after playing all night -- Mistress Frost seeks to use the girls to call forth demons into our world. Watch who lives, who dies, and who falls to their knees to accept Jesus as their personal lord and savior.

Above all, watch for the references to gaming, to other Zombie Orpheum productions, and to Maven of the Eventide from the That Guy With The Glasses website.