Dark Tower (1987)

So much average

good back-story, and good acting

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

So I saw this on NetFlix and was looking for a nice scary horror thriller. Hopefully one that wasn't gory and laced with strong profanity, just one that was scary.Watching this seemed like a very under rated film and was somewhat enjoyable. It was no 1408 or the Shining but it seemed to be only a few steps behind that.The main premise is that this lady has designed this tall office building. She's the architect. But strange deaths start occurring. The place is obviously haunted. But by what? One detective eventually sees the supposed ghost and tries doing some research. He soon realizes that he has psychic powers better than some shrink (or her patient through a psychic exercise of guessing colors and numbers) he hires to investigate the building.The film moves a bit slow but the suspense is quite interesting as the psychiatrist tries to communicate to the unrest-ed spirit to try and set things right. One main interesting thing is how they keep showing the inside of the elevator shaft as the elevator is going up/down.But the ending is disappointing and not pretty as more people die and not even clear to why the lady killed her ex-husband nor even why his spirit kills all those other people instead of just getting back at the wife. It's not the ending I wanted nor even expected.This film sort of reminded a bit of that 'Tower' movie I reviewed back in the summer, only this time instead of the security system going berserk its a ghost.

During the first 10 minutes or so, I thought this was going to be a movie about Jenny Agutter stroking her hair. Boy, does she stroke her hair a lot during those first ten minutes. But no, Ms. Agutter plays a successful architect who designed a skyscraper. Unfortunately, the building is haunted. So we have a supernatural horror-thriller that's far from horrific or thrilling. The only death scene worth mentioning, happens at the beginning of the movie: a window cleaner falls down 29 floors and crushes a pedestrian to death. What we get afterwards, is a messy script turned into a clumsily put together movie. The inimitable Michael Moriarty plays a clairvoyant detective who's trying to unravel the mystery. There's really not much going on in this movie. Some people die in freak accidents and Ms. Agutter seems to be the centre of things. In the end we find out why - pretty easy to guess - during a ridiculous ghostly climax. "Dark Tower" had some potential, but the film is just too uneventful and the plot too lazy. I imagine if you're a fan of Moriarty or Agutter, you might give this one a watch. And even then you might be disappointed, as both their performances are quite underwhelming. I also expected more from people like Freddie Francis (director, "The Creeping Flesh", 1973 & "The Doctor And The Devils", 1985) and Kevin Wiederhorn (writer/director, "Shock Waves", 1977 & "Return Of The Living Dead Part 2", 1988). Bizar that their combined efforts didn't turn "Dark Tower" into a better movie.

Like most the time. Cool poster artwork (striking enough to draw you in), but a so-so feature. Oh the disappointment. However it wasn't just the cover that caught my attention, but the cast was another draw-card featuring the likes of Jenny Agutter, Michael Moriarty and Kevin McCarthy. The trio managed to bring some dependable class to something of a predictably mundane and clinical ghost story of a haunted skyscraper. The classy Agutter elegantly glows and a laid-back Moriarty has that magnetic presence that I could be entertained by a film about him painting a fence. Character actor McCarthy is a delight as a washed-up physic, even though his role in quite small.Architect Carolyn Page heads to office for some quiet time, but instead witness the unusual death of a window cleaner being slammed against her window and then plummeting to his death. Security officer Dennis Randall looks into it thinking that it was an accident, but then the deaths continue within the building. He comes to the conclusion that there's something unnatural going on and it has somewhat to do with Carolyn. So he seeks the help from a professor of paranormal field to uncover the building's dark secret.It's low-grade handling shows and there's a real lack of imagination in its workman-like execution, despite the presence of director Freddie Francis (who would be replaced half-way through by co-writer/producer Ken Wiederhorn --- who was behind such films as "Shock Waves" and "Return of the Living Dead Part 2"). Nonetheless the Barcelona locations are beautifully projected, the high rise building does bestow some effectively moody moments and Stacy Widelitz's music score is alarmingly eerie. The opening death is quite well done and rather creepy, but the pacing from then onwards is too sluggish concentrating on its constant mystery / investigative elements before breaking loose in its dying stages with some haunting imagery. Nothing wrong with that, but being all build-up it's not all that hard to figure out how it's going to end. There's a lot of talk and too little shocks or atmospheric tension being sustained. It felt more like an extended episode out of "Tales from the Crypt", but it did have that old-fashion, guilt-ridden, slow-burn Gothic feel that could have been better implemented. There's limited FX on show, but commendably used. The rest of the performances; Theodore Bikel hams it up as the Doctor of the physic field and there's able support by Carol Lynley and Anne Lockhart."Dark Tower" is a grim, but blotchy little forgotten b-grade horror offering

It's a bit of a shame that the IMDb hasn't got a cover image of "Dark Tower" published yet. As usual, the VHS cover is much cooler than the movie actually is and it shows a crowd of people gathering around a skyscraper, shaped like an enormous coffin. The movie itself is painfully disappointing, especially if you take a closer look at the people who were involved in making it. The directors-duo Freddie Francis and Ken Wiedernhorn both have much better films on their repertoire. Francis made some great British horror classics in the 70's, like "The Creeping Flesh" and "Tales that Witness Madness", while Wiederhorn single-handedly was responsible for the only recommendable 'underwater-Nazi-zombie' flick ever made: the unique "Shock Waves". Some of the cast-members too have delivered better films. The male lead Michael Moriarty frequently works with Larry Cohen ("Q – the winged Serpent", "The Stuff") and Jenny Agutter will always be remembered for her starring in "American Werewolf in Londen". I avoid talking about the film's plot simply because there isn't much to say... It's pretty much a reworking of "Poltergeist" (which I didn't like, neither) in a skyscraper, with the restless spirit of a murdered person avenging himself on anyone who enters the building. Agutter plays the brilliant architect who seems to be the ghost's main target and Moriarty is the clairvoyant police officer who looks after her. The opening sequence is promising, with a guy falling 17 storeys down and crushing an extra pedestrian along the way! Unfortunately, the screenplay then turns into a boring mess without tension or surprises. Moriarty teams up with a couple of other paranormal investigators and they uncover some dark secrets. There's practically no gore, no humor and no feeling with the characters. Moriarty gives his lousiest performance ever and even Agutter's gorgeous eyes can't save this mediocre movie.