Moviecut—Left in Darkness

Be forewarned - There may be spoilers in this review! I really liked this movie! I have to admit, I don't really like movies with a lot of gore, so I tend to avoid most, if not all, horror movies. This movie, however, seemed to rely more on mood and suspense instead of blood and guts. I feel as though the movie really upped the ante because instead of just having the heroine trying to flee for her life, she is trying to save her soul. Also, for all of you David Anders fans, you will not be disappointed. He did an excellent job and I really hope to see him in more movies. It was as if this role was written just for him. I couldn't imagine another person in the role. I highly recommend this film!

Well i think this movie is based on a great idea ... but damn' the acting is poor. And it wasn't such a hard to play role... isn't it?? For the good vs evil movies fan .. well you should see this movie once... bun never try it twice or more ;D! Such a shame... It could be a very good movie. For sure isn't a great movie, but i think you should find it interesting after all. The action.... the storyline... sometimes goes far beyond simple logic... why she keeps going outside? why the soul-eaters so fast sometimes.. in other situations trip on the stairs?... but... than again... isn't a great movie...:D

Just saw the movie, and it was pretty bad. Usually, when one watches a "horror" movie, you don't expect great dialouge. But this bordered on ridiculous! Monica Keena ("Celia") might have possibly given one of the worst performances I've seen. And the special effects certainly reflected the very low budget....come on guys, flashing lights as an effect for EVERY SINGLE PLOT POINT??? It kind of felt like when the a.v. kids in high school make a horror movie with their dad's camcorder. Okay, so with that slam out of the way, I do have to say that David Anders, who played the guardian angel Donovan, was actually quite good in the movie. He delivered the aforementioned awful dialouge with poise and interest, and I found myself rooting for him instead of the supposed heroine. I hope he starts getting larger roles because he is really an untapped talent (not counting Alias of course. he was amazing in it, but seeing as how that's over...).

i'm this guys bro,but i have to say, this is one of the most awesomely originally awesome horror flicks I've seen in a long,long time!! i was excited and scared through the whole thing! i loved the way it was written and filmed! the plot, the lack of gallons of blood, and the twists that prevented me from knowing what was coming next!!! absolutely amazing! please make more movies like this. u rule!!!your movie had hot chicks, ghouls, and insane parties! you cant argue with that. not to mention, you never left the same block that it happened on.easy to keep up with.other than that,i'm just filling space to get this notion to where u can eventually read it. loved your work,and really hope to see more in the future.

In agreement with the another commenter, this is an upper class B horror flick. I came across it randomly the other night, and sacrificed much needed sleep because I had to see how it ends. Heaven & Hell movies are intriguing. Anders is impressively precise and mature. His confidence in his lines make his character believable. He has good foreshadowing qualities - a bit of Loki in his eyes. Monica does the horror damsel thing well. She's good at crying, funny at running. Tim Thomerson steals the show with his Soul-Eating Grandpa. Good plot structure - shocking beginning into good filler and wrap it up. I will be adding this one to my archives.

I agree with the comments suggesting that this movie was reasonably well done, but the premise of the movie was so preposterous that it was impossible for me to view the whole thing in any kind of favorable way. The premise here is that there is a limbo that must be a stopover for a fairly large percentage of the population. At one extreme, a rapist who kills a girl with a date rape drug, followed by killing himself, winds up here. At the other extreme, a grandfather who did nothing worse than lead a sort of pointless life after his child was killed also winds up here. So what is the big test that determines where you go from here? It isn't good deeds -- the girl risks her soul to save her still living friend, and that isn't enough. She shows mercy towards her killer, and that isn't enough. Is it resisting temptation? Nope -- the best offer she gets is to jump into a shaft leading straight to a completely visible Hell. No, the God of this movie has created a limbo where your ticket to heaven is as follows: last for about two hours without believing anyone you see, whether they give you cause or not. Before the two hours are up, if you happen to notice some light coming out of a dumbwaiter shaft, you decide that is the way out that one person alluded to, and you climb up it to heaven. Good job of separating the worthy from the unworthy, big guy. Also, should you find yourself in limbo, be advised that the devil himself can be temporarily incapacitated by a blow from a fraternity Hell week paddle. Kind of appropriate, I guess, but I never expected him to have such a glass jaw.

Perhaps I would have liked this film better if I hadn't been so distracted by the incredible fakeness and plastic appearance of the lead actress, Monica Keena. I don't know which has more silicone: her lips or her bosom. For a while into the film I wondered why in every scene she was eating a bagel, then I realized it was simply her lips. Her augmentations made her appear more of a joke than a serious actress. No doubt those were her only qualifications for being cast in this role, since it obviously was not her acting ability. With a better actress in the lead role, or even one without exaggerated props, this could have been a good film. The premise was different enough to make it interesting and above the usual fray. Sadly, though, I cannot recommend it.

I really liked this movie, although I initially didn't expect it to be much good. Overall it was a really nice afterlife flick. If you're a Christian you might be disappointed, because how you led your life obviously doesn't matter all too much in this version of the "purgatory". Also, "hell" doesn't try to tempt you into going there, being shown blatantly for what it is. That left aside the film actually manages to provide some likable characters. The acting isn't the best of the best, but I've seen much much ... much worse. There is much talk in this film and close to no gore. Still it manages to not get boring. I found the plot easy to follow and the rules of the afterlife simple to understand. There aren't too many rules anyway, if you turn your brains on it comes down to two or three, although they get reiterated from time to time. If you've got a movie night coming up with some friends that don't like gore but still want to have something that would count as a horror movie, this one isn't a bad choice at all.

Left in Darkness starts on the 21st birthday of parentless Celia (Monica Keena) who goes along to a frat party with her best friend Justine (Jessica Stroup) as way of celebration. However a scumbag guy named Doug (Chris Engen) & his mates spike Celia's drink & when she's suitably unconscious Doug rapes her. Celia wakes up only to see her own body in the corner of the room, obviously shocked she runs downstairs where she meets her dead Grandfather (Tim Thomerson) who tells her that she is dead & stuck in a place somewhere between heaven & hell & that a load of soul eating zombies are trying to, well, eat her soul. Can she survive death, even though she's already dead if you know what I mean & get to heaven where good little girls like he go? Directed by Steven R. Monroe I personally hated Left in Darkness & it's as simple & straight forward as that. The script by Philip Daay & Jane Whitney tries to be different but ends up being a load of old tosh, it's slow, it's boring & it introduces so many obscure 'rules' it's hard to keep track of things & even harder to care. Firstly there's the sanctuary bit, the bit about where the zombies are & aren't allowed, the touching the mirror, being able to affect certain objects & situations, some nonsense about a dead persons light that gives protection, a guardian angel dude who becomes the focus of the most obvious 'twist' ending ever, Celia all of a sudden having to complete tasks, zombies not being able to touch her unless she touches them & more besides. Now don't get me wrong as I love something a bit different, something where you have to think & something totally original but I also hate bad films & ladies & gentlemen I suggest to you that Left in Darkness is a very bad film. All these silly elements are thrown together with one new rule being introduced every few minutes as the previous one is totally forgotten, I found it incredibly tedious to watch, I couldn't get into the story because of all the stupid shifts in the narrative, the film lacks any decent horror elements & as a whole I have no fondness for Left in Darkness at all. Director Monroe does OK although it's neither any better nor any worse than the dozens of low budget straight-to-video horror films that seem to be around at the moment. There's zero atmosphere, there's zero tension & zero gore. I couldn't get over he ridiculous sounding fact that zombies were trying to kill someone who was in principal already dead, the more I think about this film the more I want to lower my IMDb score for it. Technically the film is fine, it's reasonably well made with no obvious problems. Shame about the over-elaborate & confused script which tries to throw some new pointless 'rule' in every few minutes. The acting wasn't that great either, leading lady Keena was easy on the eyes but I doubt she'll get much work because of Left in Darkness. Left in Darkness is crap, I'll give it three stars out of ten because I will openly admit that it does at least try to do something a bit different, it's just a shame it all turned out so terrible. Definitely not recommend.