Verdict
Summary
A tried and true supernatural-styled slasher with some very uneven tonal issues, The Dark Power is endearing to a point because it’s tough to go wrong with scantily clad and sometimes naked sorority girls (in 1985!) running around afraid of a squad of goopy looking undead native killers, but the problem with the movie is that the supernatural / horror elements don’t kick in until halfway through and when the killers show up they’re almost comedy relief with the way they behave.
Plot:
A sorority is built on a sacred Indian burial ground … big mistake.
Review:
An old Indian shaman passes away, and just before he checks out, he utters one word to a select few people who are there to hear it: Toltec. Nobody knows what he meant, and the local press tries to figure it out. The Toltecs were a tribe of Natives from Mexico before the era of the Aztecs, and apparently they migrated to this particular area in North Carolina where a college has just built a sorority house on a piece of land, which used to be an ancient Indian burial ground. An aging local lothario who is known for being an animal lover and a real whiz with a whip named Ranger Girard (old time Western star Lash La Rue whose signature weapon is a bullwhip) warns against the building of the sorority, but no one listens, and the girls pile in and get comfy. Big mistake. The spirits of a handful of disgruntled Native Toltec assassins are revived and show up, beginning a night of slaughter. Ranger Girard shows up and saves the day with his whip.
A tried and true supernatural-styled slasher with some very uneven tonal issues, The Dark Power is endearing to a point because it’s tough to go wrong with scantily clad and sometimes naked sorority girls (in 1985!) running around afraid of a squad of goopy looking undead native killers, but the problem with the movie is that the supernatural / horror elements don’t kick in until halfway through and when the killers show up they’re almost comedy relief with the way they behave. The killers act like the Three Stooges sometimes, grunting and bumping into each other (their faces look like the killers in Neon Maniacs), but then they also get down to business by ripping the faces off of their victims with outlandishly shocking gore. The movie is surprisingly racist, with one of the sorority girls and her brother taking issue with the fact that the sorority sisters welcome a black girl into the fold, and some of this stuff feels weirdly unnecessary even for 1985 standards. Despite its uneven tone and lack of commitment to the genre, the movie has a funky charm to it, and fans of regional horror flicks from the ’80s should have a pretty good time with it. From first-time director Phil Smoot.
Kino Lorber has just released three titles to Blu-ray as part of their inaugural “Kino Cult” series, and The Dark Power is #3 on the spine. It’s been restored in a 4K restoration from the 16mm camera negative, and comes with two audio commentaries, a featurette featuring the director and cast, plus an interview with the editor, and an image gallery. It’s time to retire that VCI DVD and add this one to the collection.
