Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Many would have you believe that the slasher genre is dead, they'll tell you that if it weren't for Scream (1996) that it would have died a lot earlier.I partially agree, it has been struggling for many years but occasionally something comes along that renews your faith in it. To an extent this is such a film.With a real retro feel this is a paint by numbers slasher but written by someone who decided to colour blind it's viewers. What I mean by that is the film is outstandingly unpredictable and rarely goes the way you expect.8 youngsters steal a school bus and drive to a secluded area to party but when it breaks down they find themselves under attack from a psychotic cannibal who proceeds to pick them off one by one.The lack of originality damages it but the surprise writing, competent cast and delivery makes up for it.A good enough watch for slasher fans.The Good: Couple of genuine surprises Some decent writing Real old school feel Robert Patrick Truly unpredictable The Bad: Wesley's afro can't have been real? Right? Tad too dark Reel missing thing was dumbThings I Learnt From This Movie: I don't want to get eaten by a cannonball either! When the *sshole of the group has the right idea and nobody listens to him does that make the viewer an *sshole to for siding with him?

The director is competent, the actors are mostly doing a fair enough job and the gore effects are probably what you would expect from a low-budget slasher referencing the 80s. But the script is bad enough to outweigh the good, significantly. It seems that people are nowadays so used to movies being constructed by formula, retelling the same old crap, over and over, that they immediately consider a movie "smart" when it does something a little different from the others. Yes, the movie does have a few minor surprises. But other than that, most of the tiring clichés and overused tropes are still there. None of the "victims" do anything intelligent or reasonable. The killer could be no more generic, the story no less interesting. There are a few well shot and creepy visuals, but those were, unfortunately, not the focus of the movie and thus were neglected in favor of uninspired slasher action.

I thought that the film The Final Girls, which is an homage to 80's slasher flicks, embraced the genre almost perfectly, but played it too safe resulting in a mixed bag. Lost After Dark fares even worse, having zero comedy, zero fun and drags the viewer through complete boredom before the final credits rolls. The film is a chore to get through and rewards the viewer with absolutely nothing. At their high school dance a group of friends decide to steal a school bus and go up to a family cabin for some fun. Their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the kids find themselves being picked off one by one from a crazed cannibal killer. Who will survive? What will be left of them? And every other 80's horror tagline you can think of. This film desperately needed to be played for laughs and the biggest mistake it makes is that it chooses to play everything seriously. It wants us to believe that this film could have actually been from the 80's. Yet it has none of the charm that those slasher films had, as bad as some of those movies were, they had a sense of charm. This film has zero, nada, nothing really going for it. Being intentionally retro does not equal a good film. It purposely inserts the classic "film grain" to make it feel authentic. It never works. It even lamely incorporates the "missing reel" gag that worked to hilarious results in Grindhouse. Here it's a pathetic attempt to try and feel more genuine. It fails, miserably. Aesthetic failures aside, the script fares even worse.It seems the only thing the writers know about are the clichéd horror stereotypes. We are given the jock, the token black guy, the nerd, slut, good-girl, etc. We are forced to listen to them spew inane dialogue back and forth in a sad attempt at building character. It never works and makes the film feel longer than it actually is. The entire first half of the film drags at a wickedly slow pace and the so-called pay off of kills doesn't ever reach its potential. I will give the film some credit though, it surprised me with the initial death. That one moment where they manage to fool the audience and pull the rug out from under our feet is the only interesting moment in the entire film.

"Lost After Dark" is a nice little throw-back to 1980s slasher films complete with bimbos, crimped hair, heavily moussed hair, ankle warmers, and (of course) that "Flashdance" look. The story is about as simple as you can get--natch, it's an homage to 80s slasher films--eight teenagers (who really don't have much in common) decide to ditch a prom and go to one girl's uncle's cabin waaay out in the middle of nowhere. They steal a bus and away they go. Trouble is, the bus runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere (but not too far from an abandoned looking house) and there the fun begins. Teenagers are offed in some pretty gruesome ways, but you've seen it before.I will give the actors and the director props on giving/keeping this film in the 80s. They even had cassette tapes and a boom box! The film also had a nice look to it, and although I do not see any forthcoming nominations for an Oscar, the acting was better than most movies set in the 1980s. Robert Patrick (of "Terminator 2" fame) gives your typical 1980s vice-principal bad ass a boost.Rated "R" for gore and language try "Lost After Dark" if you want to take a trip down the 1980s slasher memory lane.