The People Who Own the Dark

The People Who Own the Dark (1976)

** (out of 4)

A group of people gather at a home where they enter an underground bunker to do a De Sade worship. After hearing a loud explosion they return to the surface and notice that something strange has happened. They don't realize how strange until they go to town for supplies and notice the title monsters, a group of people who have turned blind due to a nuclear holocaust. THE PEOPLE WHO OWNS THE DARK has a pretty good reputation among Spanish horror fans but I'll be the outsider and say that I was pretty disappointed in the film. People have compared it to a cross between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, which is certainly true but I'd also add THE OMEGA MAN in there as another influence. I watched the American cut of the movie, which features twelve fewer minutes than the Spanish cut but apparently only some more detailed character development is missing. With that said, I thought there were some major issues with the screenplay including the fact that none of the characters are all that interesting. When you think about it, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD features a lot of dialogue scenes and more often than not the zombies aren't on the screen. That's the same here but the only problem with this film is that nothing being said is all that interesting and unlike the Romero film you really don't care about any of the characters here either. None of the characters really stood out from one another and outside of the familiar faces (Alberto DeMendoza and Paul Naschy) there's really no one to root for or care about. For the most part the performances seemed fine, although this is always a hard thing to judge when you're watching something with an English dubbing. I will say that the look of the film was quite nice but director Leon Klimovsky just doesn't add any flare to the subject and even at 82-minutes the film drags in spots. Again, I know I'm in the minority on this one but the film just didn't work nearly as well as it should have.

This easily makes for the best film from Leon Klimovsky I have watched, since he had otherwise come across as a strictly pedestrian director. Given the apocalyptic sci-fi premise, this plays like a variation on 1962's THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (revolving around a town-folk blinded by nuclear fall-out) and 1968's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (having a besieged unaffected community as its protagonists). The former are led by a vicious real-life case who instigates his 'followers' to gouge out the eyes of one girl and shoot another in the mouth!; the latter, predictably, would just as soon fall out {sic} amongst themselves – best of all in this regard is Maria Perschy's put-down of the Paul Naschy character as "the biggest faggot of all time"! The film, therefore, is an ensemble piece – apart from Perschy's hostess (eventually revealed as a lesbian) and Naschy's rugged but volatile man of action (constantly imbibing drinks and smoking), we get Alberto De Mendoza as a Physicist (who probably knows more than he lets on about their current state of affairs) and Antonio Mayans (later elevated to leading-man status in several Jess Franco pictures).

Interestingly, the opening sequence has all of these (and others besides, notably a fat man who gradually regresses to an animalistic level!) convening for an underground Sadean 'experience' – donning masks so as to conceal their high-profile identities and with several willing girls at their disposal! – which, ironically, saves their hide. Other films which can be seen to have inspired this one to some degree are two popular Charlton Heston sci-fi vehicles, namely THE OMEGA MAN (1971; the look of the 'monsters'), SOYLENT GREEN (1973; the downbeat 'mass of human flesh' finale), and even Luis Bunuel's THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962; the party-turned-survival-game premise). Incidentally, one of the co-writers here was himself a notable director i.e. Vicente Aranda, who had previously helmed the popular "Carmilla" update THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE (1972). In the end, while the English title of the film under review is undeniably memorable, I admit to being partial to the subtlety displayed by the Spanish original – which translates to "Last Wish"; as for the copy I acquired, it was only let down by the first three minutes which had jerky movement coupled with audio that was both distorted and out-of-synch!

Strong suspense with considerable violence by that time : the early and middle Seventies . The plot is plain and simple : a bunch of wealthy businessmen , doctors and military officers who are partying at an old house , then occurs a nuclear accident and subsequently they venture out into the nearest little town to search for supplies as well as food and meet most of the residents blinded by the outbursting . As a catastrophe turns all of humanity into blindness , a group of bourgeois people and prostitutes stay suffering on earth in a post-apocalypse , while becoming themselves into reluctant victims and cruel assassins , then several surprises to take place . Meanwhile , lots of infected people are crawling , shambling , through empty streets , whimpering , pleading , begging for his loves ..Now ... there is nothing between you and ... "the people who own the dark".

Creepy , scary and violent movie in which a bunch of rich businessmen are spared when a nuclear war ravages the earth , and they discover the existence of a sinister and brutal group called ¨The People Who Own The Dark¨ . This is an original as well as effective cross-fertilization of doomsday fantasy and Gothic myth . It suggests compellingly the darkest and sinister themes of Richard Matheson 1954 novel , frequently adapted as ¨The last man on Earth¨ . As the story takes parts here and there of ¨The Last man on Earth¨ by Sidney Salkow , ¨The Omega man¨ by Boris Sagal , and ¨The night of living dead¨ by George A Romero . Main cast is pretty good , such as : the veteran Argentine actor Alberto De Mendoza , the extremely gorgeous Nadiuska , the terror legend Jacinto Molina and Maria Perschy who time ago worked for Howard Hawks . And support cast is full of familar faces such as : Teresa Gimpera , Emiliano Redondo , Julia Saly , Ricardo Palacios , Tomás Picó , Diana Polakov , Antonio Mayans , among others . Colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Miguel Milá , shot on location in Torrelodones ,Alcalá de Henares, Miraflores de la Sierra ,Talamanca del Jarama, Madrid . And frightening and suspenseful musical score by by Asins Arbó .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This Argentinean filmmaker Leon Klimovsky was a good and prolific craftsman . Klimovsky was born on October 16, 1906 in Buenos Aires, Argentina as León Klimovsky Dulfano . Founded Argentina's first film club in 1929 . Began his film career making short movies . Settled in Spain in the 1950s and became a Spanish citizen . He was a director and writer , known for his terror films as La Noche De Walpurgis (1971), La Orgía Nocturna De Los Vampiros (1973) , La Saga De los Drácula , La Rebelión De Las Muertas , Doctor Jekyll Y Hombre Lobo , but he also directed other genres as Wartime : Operación Rommel , A Ghentar Si Muore Facile , The Legion of No Return ; thriller : Mean Mother ; Western : Reverendo Colt , 2000 dollars for Coyote , Few Dollars for Django, Death Knows No Time , Rattler Kid , A dollar for Sartana ; and Drama : La Casa De Las Chivas , Salto a La Gloria . Rating . 6.5/7 . Decent , almost notable terror and thriller movie .

Well, don't get me wrong, this has a nice plot, the acting is better than most films of its type and the direction is nice. But that can't disguise the fact while the movie was good, the ending was just atrocious. I definetely would have given this movie three and a half stars, but due to the lame ending, gave this one only two.

Argentinian-born filmmaker León Klimovsky made eight films with Paul Naschy for which he is probably best known. "The Werewolf's Shadow" (1971),pretty good giallo with Erika Blanc "A Dragonfly for Each Corpse" (1974) and the surreal "The People Who Own the Dark"(1979) are just a few of the highlights of these two's collaboration.In "Ultimo Deseo" a group of nuclear explosion survivors are trying to survive attacks of the zombified blind villagers.The survivors board up in the villa and prepare for an attack at night.It all leads to surprisingly downbeat and tragic ending in the vein of Romero's "Night of the Living Dead".The cast shall be pretty familiar to fans of Spanish cult cinema as it includes Paul Naschy,Nadiuska,Alberto DeMendoza,Teresa Gimpera,Tony Kendall and Maria Perschy.8 out of 10.Very enjoyable and pretty dark horror movie!