The Dark Power (1985)

A group of unsuspecting college coeds move into the house on Totem Hill, a cursed place where four Toltec Sorcerers buried themselves hundreds of years ago - Alive! On the coming of the Evil Days, the ancient demons arise to feed on the living. Now only one old Ranger with a whip -- fashioned out of materials from the four quarters of the world -- stands between the girls and the mystical zombies from the past. In the first of his two films for Writer/Director Phil Smoot, legendary B-Western film star Lash La Rue (The "King of the Bullwhip" and the role model for Indiana Jones) returned to the screen after nearly 30 years to portray the whip wielding Ranger Girard. Perfectly cast for the role, La Rue once again proved that no one could best him with his trademark weapon. Bonus Features: New Widescreen (1.66:1 Anamorphic Enhanced for 16x9) film transfer taken from an interpositive that was made from the original camera negative| Soundtrack mastered from the original three stripe master| Commentary track with Writer/Director (Phil Smoot) and Editor (Sherwood Jones)| Remembering Lash La Rue: A narrated video collection of stills, art and press from the Producer's personal library featuring The Dark Power and Alien Outlaw, both starring "B" Western legend Lash La Rue. Specs: DVD9; Dolby Digital Mono; 81 minutes; Color; 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1987; SRP - $5.99.

ZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!MOVIE SNORE FEST

There have been low budget movies in the past that I've enjoyed,this is not one.The scenes with Lash LaRue and his whip made for some laughs,espiecally considering he had to been about 80 years old at least,but that was it for me.The makeup and effects(Except Lashs whip, heeheee)consisted of some cheap masks and makeup bought at a halloween store.Boring and stupid in a really awful and lame kinda way.I couldn't bring myself to watch past the first 25 minutes,so I fast fowarded to the last 5 minutes to get it over with.Stay away from this Z grade boring mess.I,m not going to bore you any longer with details of this piece of poops storyline and plot,not worth wasting the toilet paper. November 12, 2008

The Dark Flower

Greetings. This is the official review for The Dark Power, which may just as well have been titled The Dark Flower, seeing as how ridiculous it is, it should warrant a more ridiculous title.

I should warn you, reader, that this is not exactly a B movie. Rather, more like C, or D, if those classifications exist.

The movie has to do with a hill somewhere in the southeastern US, near a college, apparently, that was once a ritual site for ancient Toltec Native American priests. An old Indian acquires the property for the purpose of guarding the local residents in sealing off the dark power that lurks beneath the ground. However, his death leads to the breaking of the protective seals placed around the hill. A group of college girls decide to turn the late Native's residence into a sorority house, but some guys decide it should be a fraternity as well. The ancient priests rise and set out to create havoc.

And it would have been pretty good, too, if the inane Director had been more consistent in his approach as to how the undead Priests should behave and look.

The bottom line is, whoever made this movie sucks!
I can picture their film/video instructor seeing this and shaking his head going, "I have failed!" and probably shooting himself in the head. The word 'campy' is too generous here. You will never, ever, be scared of these zombies, or believe for one second that they are Toltec Priests. They look nothing like the part, and what's worse, they never for one second act the part. The entire movie, up to the point of the undead rising, was actually not too bad, but once the mayhem starts, you might as well consider the movie finished, because there's really no reward in watching the last half hour, and the wrap-up is extremely brief before the credits roll.

Is it fun? Kinda. Is it worth 5 dollars? No. Is it worth 3 dollars? Maybe. Is it worth watching? Not really... There are just much better movies out there for this kind of thing. The most I can say is that it was an experience. I'll give it that. March 19, 2008

Killing a Legacy... "B" Movie star makes an "Z" Flick.

I went online and learned that Lash LaRue regreted his involvement in this horribly unwatchable movie. Its obvious the years of drinking had taken their toll on Lash. His speech was slurred and his face shows the years of neglect. I really loved watching him as a child, in those old B movie westerns, but truly felt sorry that he had to stoop so low to being involved in this sad joke. There are better home productions than this one on U-Tube. The writing and directing are almost nonexistent and the acting is even worse. The staged highlight of this film is a girl running around half dressed and another one naked in the tub. These cheesy scenes serve no purpose in telling the story or improving the movie. While the whole idea for the story is not the worst I've ever seen, most of the scenes are clunky and awkward. A good writer could have helped but this director would not have messed any story. The camera work is bush league.

At the begining of the show Lash saves a young boy from some dogs chasing him and doesn't even say a word to him when he goes over to help him up. Your expecting him to say, how are you or are you hurt but the scene just falls flat and moves to the next one. By the time the monsters arrive you may get more chuckles watching your kids in a home movie. The fear factor is a minus 10 if you can bear to keep watching the bad acting. It appears that the director just gather up everyone in this small town and put them in the show. I couldn't even give this movie one star but would give it a few negative stars if it were possible. If you buy this you might as well put a match to your money and throw it out the window. It would be more entertaining than realizing you had just wasted an hour and half of your life that you will never get back. It may even reduce your life span!!! January 3, 2008

Worth seeing once, but pretty bad

The cheese factor on this is pretty high. It looks like something a film major could have made with a group of friends over a long weekend. It's sort of embarrassing when Lash Larue, a former "star" of the silver screen, comes to the rescue of this group of pathetic 'tards towards the end of the film. Without him, it probably wouldn't be worth seeing though. He's got some mighty fine whippin' skillz! I believe there's only one scene of nudity, and it's nothing to write home about, so don't buy it for that. There's a pretty surprising racist overtone throughout the film too, so just be prepared for a little bit of that if you check it out. December 16, 2007

Lesson 1 : An old guy and his whip=Death to Zombies

I bought this movie for 3 dollars and I was more than satified. You have a big fat guy with a gastrointestinal problem, a fat kid who steals trucks, an old guy using a whip to kill zombies, and a couple of inadvertant crotch shots of a hot chick. What more do you want? Oh yeah, and the zombies look pretty damn funny. If you looked up B movie in the dictionary you would see: The Dark Power. September 11, 2007

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