The Dark Backward (Horror/Comedy)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Made only
as far back as 1991, Adam Rifkin’s The
Dark Backward brings together Bill Paxton and Judd Nelson as Marty
(Nelson) tries to get out of being a garbage man by becoming a stand-up
comic. His accordion-playing eccentric
friend Gus (Paxton) tries to help, but things get more bizarre when Marty lands
up with a third arm!
Things
get even more silly and bizarre in this wacky world wrier/director Rifkin
created. Feeling like an elongated
installment of the cable series Tales
From The Crypt, the film has some ideas, but gets too caught up in its own
parade of the bizarre to really work.
Wayne Newton, Rob Lowe and Laura Flynn Boyle help make this more
entertaining, but this pans out to what the makers were hoping to be a cult
item.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 digital image shows the age of the film, but
color can be interesting, though Director of Photography Joey Forsyte (Henry
Jaglom’s New Year’s Day) has some
black and white shots in there as well. Production
design is typical of the over accessorized 1980s look. The original theatrical sound was old Dolby
A-type analog, upgraded here to Dolby Digital 5.1, but that cannot hide its
age. The upgrade is decent at best. Extras include deleted scenes, outtakes,
Canes Promo Shorts, Blump‘s Squeezable
Documentary, 15th Anniversary Q&A section and feature length
audio commentary by producer Brad Wyman, Rifkin, Nelson and Paxton.
- Nicholas Sheffo
