Alone in the Dark is a 2005 action horror film directed by Uwe Boll and written by Elan Mastai, Michael Roesch, and Peter Scheerer. It stars Christian Slater, Tara Reid, and Stephen Dorff as paranormal investigators who combat a supernatural threat. Although the plan was to release alongside the reboot by Eden Games, the film's story is a loose adaptation of the game Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
Upon release, the film received overwhelmingly negative reviews for the story, dialogue, special effects, and the cast's performance. Holding a 1% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Alone in the Dark is considered one of the worst films, and also one of the worst video game adaptations, ever made. It was also a commercial failure, grossing $12.7 million on a $20 million budget, although the home media releases were more successful. A sequel with a different cast and story was released to home media in 2008; Boll served as a producer.
Plot[]
Paranormal investigator Edward Carnby wakes up from a nightmare in which he hides from alien-like creatures as a child. Currently en route to a museum where his partner, Aline Cedric works as an assistant curator, Edward holds in his hands an artifact-puzzle piece of the Abkani, an extinct Native American tribe. He notices a strange man following him, who chases Edward and the cab driver until they reach a dead-end in a street market. He fights Edward with supernatural strength, taking bullet hits without even flinching, trying to steal the artifact, but eventually dies after getting impaled.
At the same time, Prof. Hudgens, the curator of the museum, recovers a coffin made of gold from the ocean floor. The captain of the ship, in a greedy attempt to recover what is inside, locks up Prof. Hudgens while his crew opens the gold coffin against better judgment. Hudgens escapes his imprisonment to find everyone killed by a mysterious creature and the coffin empty. Hudgens finds a secret compartment and collects an artifact from the coffin, and he slips away. Upon the opening the gold coffin, several people across the western USA and Canada walk off into the night after hearing an ear-splitting screech. During which, Edward passes out while studying his artifact. At the same time, Bureau 713 (B-713) is also made aware by a surveillance team of evidence of electromagnetic waves.
Edward thinks it's related to the Abkani as everyone who disappeared that same night was from the same location. Edward arrives that evening at the Museum where he is reunited with Aline with the artifact, and she shows him another Abkani artifact that recently arrived that she has been working on since Prof. Hudgens was away. The mysterious creature from the ship attacks them inside the museum, killing a security guard, but Edward and Aline hide in a storage closet long enough for troopers from Bureau 713 to arrive, and the creature retreats into the night.
Commander Burke, team leader of the B-713 strike force, arrives where Edward tries to relay information to him, but Burke rebukes him, saying that since he no longer works to stay out of it. Edward tries to get information from his former co-workers at B-713, like staff surgeon and pathologist Sam Fischer, to learn more about the creature encountered and the Abnaki's history.
Prof. Hudgens arrives back at the museum to his office, where he has a captured creature. Hudgens uses a syringe to draw fluid from the captive creature to study it as part of his further research to combine the DNA of man and beast. Edward continues investigating his past by going to his former orphanage to learn more about Hudgens' research, and back to his apartment where he and Aline have sex.
While the Bureau 713 soldiers are patrolling the museum, they are attacked by several creatures, who are the missing people that wandered off upon the opening of the gold coffin. During the firefight, several soldiers and most of the human-creatures are killed. Edward arrives on the scene and talks more with Burke, who again tells him to stay away. However, during a scuffle, Edward picks Burke's pocket containing his Bureau 713 security badge.
Edward goes to Bureau 713 where he talks with Fischer in the morgue looking at one of the dead bodies, and Fischer shows Edward a small, centipede-like creature in the dorsal spine of his old friend. Fischer also discovers that Edward has one of his own in his body, but it is dead, presumably because of the electroshock Edward had as a child. Burke and his men arrive and escort Edward out of the building. That evening, Professor Hudgens ambushes Fischer at his home and inserts a baby creature into Fischer's mouth.
Edward discovers that the Abkani had fought those creatures which can get killed by light. They also disrupt electrical light, creating blackouts. The Abkani artifacts found all over the world actually open the gate to another dimension, where millions of those creatures are sleeping, waiting to be freed. Hudgens makes further experiments, injecting himself with the blood of one of the creatures, granting him the ability to control the monsters.
Edward, Aline, Burke, and Burke's military squad go to Edward's orphanage, where there are strong electromagnetic disruptions. They are attacked by dozens of the creatures and of the humans except Edward, Aline, and Burke are killed. They reach the old surgery room underground where the baby creature was transplanted into Edward. There, Hudgens takes Edward's artifact and opens the gate. Millions of creatures start to wake up and run towards the gate. Burke kills Hudgens, and the group places a bomb and runs away, only to realize that they cannot detonate the bomb from such a long distance. Burke goes back and sacrifices himself.
Edward and Aline rise to the surface at dawn but find an evacuated city with cars abandoned on the streets. As they walk down the street, something runs toward them.
Cast[]
- Christian Slater (Dustyn Arthurs, young) as Edward Carnby
- Tara Reid as Aline Cedrac
- Stephen Dorff as Commander Burke
- Will Sanderson as Agent Miles
- Françoise Yip as Agent Cheung
- Karin Konoval as Sister Clara
- Matthew Walker as Professor Lionel Hudgens
- Mike Dopud as Agent Turner
- Frank C. Turner as Sam Fischer
- Mark Atcheson as Captain Chernick
- Darren Shahlavi as John Dillon
- Ona Grauer as Agent Feenstra
- Ed Anders as James Pinkerton
- Brendan Fletcher as Cab driver
Characters[]
Edward Carnby (Film)- Raised at an orphanage under Sister Clara, Carnby lost his memory when he was ten years old. At twenty, he was recruited by Bureau 713, gaining knowledge on the paranormal soon after. His current assignment is investigating his past along with researching the disappearance of the Abkani. Due to the experiments conducted on him as a child, he has the ability to sense paranormal activity and has increased strength and speed, which allow him to perform acrobatic moves that a normal human could not do.
Aline Cedrac - An archaeologist and museum curator. She is the ex-girlfriend of Edward Carnby and knowledgeable about the Abkani and their culture.
Richard Burke - The Commander of Bureau 713, formerly worked under the direction of Carnby.
Professor Hudgens - Conducted top-secret experiments in Bureau 713, which were shut down after one of the orphaned children escaped—Edward Carnby. Hudgens still works for 713 but now as a science officer. Hudgens is deeply interested in the history of the Abkani, and has gained insight into the "Xenos", nightmare creatures linked to the Abkani's mythos.
Fischer - Fischer leads the medical unit of Bureau 713. He is one of Carnby's few trusted allies and friends.
James Pinkerton - Former Agent of Bureau 713 who went missing in action in the 1980s. He and Hudgens were in charge of the investigation of the disappearance of goldminers at Brutan Goldmine. Pinkerton became an experiment for Hudgens, who attached a Xenos creature to his spine. His abilities included increased awareness, strength, speed and willpower.
Sister Clara - Sister Clara runs an orphanage and one of the orphans under her care was Edward Carnby. In the eighties, she was persuaded by Professor Hudgens to allow experiments on the orphans. She keeps this secret from everyone but is inwardly guilty for her immoral actions.
Game references and similarities[]
- In the film and the games, the lead protagonist is named Edward Carnby.
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare mentions Edward Carnby as part of a paranormal agency known as Bureau 713. The film version goes into detail as this is part of the focus of the film.
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare and the film both feature creatures that thrive in the darkness, have invisibility and can be harmed by light and electricity.
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