Darkman **** (1990, Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake) – Classic Movie Review 4589

Co-writer/ director Sam Raimi’s dynamic, visually stylish and thrilling Grand Guignol 1990 horror comic movie has its centre in an admirably grave performance from  Liam Neeson as Darkman.

Bringing class and gravity, Neeson plays a synthetic skin scientist called Peyton Westlake who re-creates himself as the shadowy avenger Darkman after he has been beaten, hideously mutilated, horrifically burnt, and all but killed by Robert Durant (Larry Drake)’s gruesome thugs who are searching for his cloning formula.

Accessing The Phantom of the Opera, the operatic Darkman overflows with the confidence of its own darkly humorous and playfully unpleasant convictions. It sweeps deliriously along in its heady brew of thrills, black humour, imaginative cartoon-style visuals and twisted emotions. Raimi adopts a cynical tongue-in-cheek approach to horror and mixes it with the mood of extreme darkness suggested by the title. Raimi created Darkman when he was passed over as director of Batman (1989) and then unable to obtain the rights to The Shadow, later filmed in 1994 with Alec Baldwin.

Also in the cast are Frances McDormand as Julie Hastings, Colin Friels as Louis Strack Jr, Nelson Mashita, Jesse Lawrence Ferguson, Rafael H Robledo, Danny Hicks, Theodore [Ted] Raimi and Jenny Agutter, replacing Kathy Bates as the burn doctor/ neurologist in the hospital. Bruce Campbell, Raimi’s preferred, studio vetoed choice for Darkman, has a cameo in the last scene.

It is written by Chuck Pfarrer, Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin and Joshua Goldin, shot by Bill Pope, produced by Robert G Tapert, scored by Danny Elfman and designed by Randy Ser.

Raimi recalls: ‘I decided to explore a man’s soul: first a sympathetic, sincere man, then a vengeful man committing heinous acts against his enemies, and in the end a man full of self-hatred for what he’s become, who must drift off into the night, into a world apart from everyone he knows and all the things he loves.’

There are two sequels so far: Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1994) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), both with Arnold Vosloo as Darkman. Larry Drake returned for Darkman II: The Return of Durant and also as Dr Giggles (1994).

Larry Drake died on 17 March 2016, aged 67.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4589

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