Jack Sholder

  • Alone in the Dark (1982)

    Alone in the Dark (1982)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, September 2020) Coming at the tail end of the 1979–1982 slasher craze, Alone in the Dark definitely knew what it was doing in revolving around a handful of psycho killers escaping from an insane asylum during a power outage and targeting their psychiatrist. Quickly shifting to home-invasion thriller, the film clearly upholds the tropes of the subgenre, and doesn’t care much about narrative cohesion. The biggest draw of the film, even today, is a cast that throws in Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence and Martin Landau together as psychiatrists and psychopaths. (Elsewhere in the film, Lin Shaye has an early brief role.) Better executed than average by writer-director Jack Sholder, Alone in the Dark does, however, remain a first-wave slasher—interesting if you’re into the whole psychopaths-with-knives thing; otherwise not very much.

    (Second Viewing, On Cable TV, January 2021) Not remembering my first viewing, it took me a few false starts before I was able to make it (again) through Alone in the Dark. Either I stopped midway through, or I left it running while I was doing something else and realized by the end of it that I was never compelled to follow what was happening. When I finally sat down to watch with (mostly) undivided attention, I’m not sure I got much more out of it. The first half-hour does have something worth paying attention to: As a psychologist takes residence at an insane asylum, he has trouble connecting to a close-knit foursome of violent criminals, who blame him for the death of their previous psychiatrist. When a power outage strikes, they soon escape and head for his residence. The rest of the film, alas, is more or less a home-invasion thriller, albeit with a twist that can unfortunately be seen (or rather not seen) from the very introduction of the antagonists. If there’s any reason to watch the film, it’s probably for the casting of a few familiar actors: Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasence all have substantial roles here, with none other than Lin Shaye (who finally achieved horror stardom three decades later!) making a short appearance early in the movie. Alone is the Dark does work well in its execution, but it does boil down to a very average early-1980s horror film. That may not sound like much (it partially explains why I didn’t even remember seeing the film a few months ago), but it’s slightly more interesting than the omnipresent slashers of that time.

  • The Hidden (1987)

    The Hidden (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On VHS, November 2000) Say what you want about “great movies” and “cinematographic art”, but what you want, often, is simply a good old B-movie. The Hidden brings to mind The Terminator as another low-budget, technically-competent, no-fat science-fiction B-movie. It’s not art, but it’s damn good entertainment from the gripping opening sequence to the satisfying end. The plot’s been done elsewhere (a parasitic alien goes from body to body as cops try to chase it down) but this time is done with the proper amount of action and cleverness. The film also has some heart, which is more than you can say for the rest of the contenders to the B-movie crown. An underrated gem, well worth another viewing.

    (Second Viewing, In French, On Cable TV, February 2021) I hadn’t seen The Hidden in twenty years, but enough of it stuck that I knew I was going to have a good time. The terrific opening sequence sets the tone, what with the fast pacing, rock music, comfortable use of genre elements and a much-faster-than-expected slide from action thriller to horror/science fiction. The story, with its shape-shifting alien wreaking an unexplainable rampage through Los Angeles, is an excuse for a series of action scenes and an unusual buddy-cop relationship. Kyle MacLachlan is quite good as this otherworldly cop having trouble fitting in but sharing traits with the creature he’s pursuing. (Meanwhile, as a forever Babylon-5 fan, this will remain for me the movie where Claudia Christian plays a stripper.)   Future superstars Danny Trejo and Lin Shaye even have small roles. Director Jack Sholder keeps things hopping, although the film never does match its go-for-broke opening sequence and first-act revelations. The Hidden doesn’t qualify as a great movie — it’s a bit disconnected, loses steam along the way and doesn’t make as much sense as it thinks it should (while it makes a huge deal of a malevolent alien becoming a presidential candidate, it also portrays the alien as being fundamentally unable to control their impulses — who bets that it wouldn’t have been able to keep it together for the next eighteen hours, let alone the following eighteen months?)  But it’s a solid, energetic B-grade genre film that understands what it tries to be. It’s really worth a look if you have any interest in underappreciated 1980s genre pictures — the period feel is top-notch, and the use of genre elements holds up even today.

    (Third Viewing, Streaming, May 2025) Wow, this thing cooks. The Hidden is what most B-movies aspire to be — wall-to-wall entertainment, from a compelling first scene to an ingenious climax. It’s not original, but it’s very competently made thanks to director Jack Sholder — it’s lean filmmaking and it just rewards viewers all the way through. This is one of the best B-movies of the 1980s, and that decade had some significant competition.