Alone In The Dark (1982) ***

Two years after Jack Palance and Martin Landau hammed it up together in Without Warning (review), which has a Halloween (1978) (review) rip-off (homage?) during its climax, they again paired up for a total Halloween rip-off (with some of 1980’s Friday The 13th thrown in for good measure), 1982's Alone In The Dark (which is a very misleading title, along with its theatrical poster). AITD also stars Donald Pleasence so there's that connection as well, but the riffing (*rimshot*) on the John Carpenter classic also extends to Renato Serio's score, which borrows liberally from its themes. 

Jack Sholder's—the man behind A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) (review) and The Hidden (1987) (review)—directorial debut is solid though. You have the power trio of the three unhinged heavies plus Dwight Schultz (a year before he starred as 'Howling Mad' Murdock in TV's The A-Team, which ran from 1983–1987). Erland van Lidth, who had a mere four screen credits, is also here (he played Dynamo, the LED-clad, opera-singing villain in the 1987 dystopian fun-fest The Running Man). 

The characters are inconsistent—one minute brash and brave, another hysterical. The kills aren't anything special and the plotting and pacing are so-so but the ending is fantastic. The punk band that perform in a couple scenes (playing such fine tunes as "Chop Up Your Mother" and "Rock Or Die"), The Sic F*cks, are a blast as well. All in all, AITD is an entertaining slasher, a genre I'm often not enamored with.