Film: OF DARKNESS Directed By: Gary E. Irwin Official Site: Go there now! PLOT SUMMARY: While cleaning out their recently deceased grandfathers belongings, Brian & Jeff Chaisson inadvertently stumble upon an ancient book; one of mysterious and malevolent origin. Later that same evening, while entertaining friends during a sleepover, Jeff unveils the recent discovery in an effort to impress the group. Seizing the opportunity, the gang uses the book as a scare tactic against their favorite target and youngest member, Charlie. Succumbing to peer pressure, and the trusted reassurance of his older brother Tank, Charlie opens the book and unwittingly unleashes a malicious entity. An unseen force that has chosen to target the boys...an evil that has chosen the form 'of Darkness'.

Screenshots:   The Review: By Don Normann If you like your shorts stained (naw, just kidding!) Let me start that over. If you like your shorts creepy, intense and to the point, OF DARKNESS delivers. I have to admit to a little twinge of jealousy as I was watching it, too. This is the kind of little movie that used to have me hiding under the covers when I was the age of a lot of the cast members in this movie. Now it seems like kids that age are either starring in or making the same kinds of movies, or both. And as horror shorts go, this one is pretty accomplished for such a tiny budget. Okay, I admit that it's nothing you or I haven't already seen. Two brothers, Brian and Jeff Chaisson, are hauling a trunk down into the basement of their house, a trunk that belonged to their late grandfather. When they accidentally drop it, strange artifacts spill out, including an old and disgusting looking book that suspiciously resembles the one in Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD series. Older brother Brian (Frank Nardi) jokes that his parents said that their grandfather worshipped Satan, and we get our first Creepy Moment that hints there was more to the story than just a half-joking comment. The kids high-tail it out of there. Presumably a night or two later, Brian sneaks off to go to a party he's not supposed to be attending, with little brother Jeff (Dallas Scott) covering for him. So what else is a bored teen going to do but invite his buds over for horror movies and farting around? That's exactly what happens, but when that gets tiresome, Jeff's got something 'cool' to show his friends. If you guessed that it's "grandpa's book", you win the genius prize. And knowing that, you can probably also guess that somebody's gonna get dared to open it, and when they do, Really Bad Things are going to happen rather quickly. (This movie IS only about twenty minutes long, you know.) So the true pleasure in watching OF DARKNESS is not so much about what happens, but how it does. Using little more than lighting and sound effects and camera angles, director Gary E. Irwin and writer Matt Casale have fashioned a nice, doom-laden little chiller that plays on whatever childhood fears of the dark you might still have in the back of your mind, and asks: what if your parents were wrong? What if there WAS something in the dark out to get you...only this time, there's nobody around to save you from it? If you like movies like PHANTASM, THE GATE and even THE GOONIES, there are elements of all those movies here without the benefit of the special effects, but with plenty of the same spirit. Especially with the nice little twist at the end... The cast of non-Hollywoodized kid actors is great, and Dan Watchulonis' photography is surprisingly crisp and clear for a low-budget feature. I don't know if OF DARKNESS is director Irwin's first film, but if so, it makes a great calling card. Now I really hope that when he does get into something with a much bigger budget, he doesn't lose the sense of creativity and ingenuity that's on display here.