THE DARK DEALER

Whacked Movies debuted on these pages a few weeks back with their presentation of a zany slice of Sci-Fi schlock called REPLIGATOR. They return this month after reviving another obscure VHS offering from the 1990’s in the shape of a joint effort from Texan writers and directors Wynn Winberg and Tom Alexander. The movie is titled THE DARK DEALER and is basically an anthology style picture that started out life as two short films from the duo before being developed into a main feature.

The concept for the title is revealed in a high octane opening sequence. A man is fleeing for his life after being pursued by a monstrous colourful orb of rampant energy. However, his desperation to escape mysteriously puts him in a darkened room, the scene of a heinous game of cards.

The sinister dealer informs him and the two other unfortunate participants that Blackjack is the game before enlightening them that their "Souls" are the stakes! As each player reveals their hands, the viewer is treated to the background stories as to how they arrived at this devilish game of cards.

First up we have Pete (Rocky Patterson) who along with his partner in crime Fred (Charles Carroll) take their debt collecting to the extreme when they murder one of their non-paying customers. The fugitives take refuge in a murky residence owned by a very eccentric old man called Nickademous. While the old guy has some quirky ways, he does at least cook a mean soup! But as the criminal double act tuck in, they soon get embroiled in their hosts’ cannibalistic world of alchemy and black magic…

Then we have Samson Burke (Vincent Gaskins) a deceased blues musician who excessive drinking when alive reduced him to playing squalid nightclubs for boozy tips. His story (by far the longest of the three) tells how an unscrupulous music mogul, Phillip Barton (Kevin Walker), plagiarizes Burkes’ soulful tunes in order to fulfill his own stifled ambitions of being a recording artist. What Barton does NOT bargain for is the presence of Burke’s spirit within the magnetic reels of his rhythmical demos…

Finally we come full circle when the perplexing story behind the chasing ball of energy is revealed. We learn that the young man from the opening pursuit is Ray (Richard Hull Jr.) and he has been trying to help his girlfriend Denise (Kim Frazier) pay off $8000 worth of debts to some local drug dealers. It just so happens that Ray’s father is a scientist at a pharmaceutical research company and, so eager to wipe out his beloved’s unpaid dues, agrees to use his father’s security pass to gain entry to the laboratory. Once there, the most irritating of drug dealers in cinematic history, Cracker (Jeff English), decides in his infinite wisdom to get high on some experimental pills called K55-X. But they soon find out it’s not simply mind bending qualities that these tablets contain…

The concept of TDD certainly harks back to the plethora of straight to video efforts that adorned video rental shelves in the early 1990’s. Anyone who enjoyed the likes of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE or FREDDY’s NIGHTMARES may well have fun with this resurrected movie featuring a trio of short tales.

The link between the card game and the protagonist’s fates is a tenuous one at best, but this is offset by the diverse mixture of occult, Sci-Fi and ghostly revenge stories depicted. The opening story presented some abiding gore effects from the era with bisected bodies and resulting entrails promising a blood thirsty hour and a half. But from then on in, the effects arrived courtesy of some goofy camera tricks that shrunk and enlarged heads along with some fun beastly prosthetics.

The most telling sign, though, that TDD was a uniquely assembled anthology though was in the lengths of the stories within. After the 5 minute intro, CELLAR SPACE clocked in at around 25 minutes whereas at the core of the picture, BLUES IN THE NIGHT, accounted for a hearty 33 minutes of the 85 minute runtime. The climatic K55-X yarn that tied the whole thing together took 20 minutes before the end credits rolled.

Whereas the first and third tales were fast paced yarns with peculiar characters and a fitting twist, the extra few minutes and sobering style of BITN seemed to slow the pace and dilute the otherwise intoxicating atmosphere of this frivolous joint venture.

The movie is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio but the print is top notch and has not simply been sourced from a pre-owned cassette. The audio did actually surprise me in places especially when ghostly whisperings flitted from left to right speakers in the middle segment. The chapter selection on the disc is divided into 5 segments with the intro, three stories and the end credits being

By way of EXTRAS we get the original trailer for the main feature plus the trailer for the previously covered REPLIGATOR. A third trailer from Whacked Movies looked a real hoot! BLOOD SUCKERS FROM OUTER SPACE will hopefully find its way to SGM towers in the near future!

There is also a 7 minute segment entitled "Shooting Blues in the Night". It starts by explaining the histories behind the short movies before transporting the viewer back in time the diminutive movies film set showcasing some great camaraderie between the all Texan crew.

All in all, THE DARK DEALER has a quite interesting concept that may appeal to a few even if it is simply to fondly reminisce about the VHS boom from a couple of decades back.

Review by Marc Lissenburg