In Search of Darkness: Part III

The final part of David A. Weiner's trilogy on eighties horror turns this time to films that never reached cinemas and went straight to video. The low-shelf titles of the rental store: no budget, often clumsy, and often bold. The form used across the series stays the same here: sections advancing year by year, with interviews between them featuring directors, actors and effects artists. John Carpenter, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau and Doug Bradley are among those speaking. The documentary is extraordinarily long; it is not built for a single sitting and works more like an archive to be visited in pieces. Its best stretches are on make-up and practical effects. The scenes explaining technically what the period achieved with limited means outlast the nostalgia. Who it's for: people who already know eighties horror and video-era culture. Who it's not for: newcomers to the genre; the documentary references hundreds of films and assumes you have seen most of them.