I have waited for a new horror offering from Douglas Schulze for a long time. He made this creepy little gem called Hellmaster way back in 1992 and after that seemed to drop from the face of film-making. So finally, in 2004 I pick up this movie at my local video store with intriguing box art (which is usually deceiving) and low and behold Douglas Schulze is credited as writer/director. I'm amazed and perplexed how this one escaped my knowledge so I have to rent it. However, I am less than pleased with the results. At the beginning I was very pleased. Dark Heaven started out great. It was amazingly quiet and visually impressive. It was so just so stylish and very much like Silent Hill. Creepy in other words. But the film falls apart about halfway through with its lack of logic. I understand that Schulze was probably going for a dreamlike quality based on the ending of the film, but everything seemed to flow up until the middle. So it was almost good. From listening to the director's commentary I found out Dark Heaven was in production for something like four or more years and I believe that's where the film suffered. It seemed like they just shot a piece here and there whenever their people were available. Maybe that's why it ceased to flow. Schulze obviously has the ability to direct a creepfest, now if only he could get proper funding and a proper schedule. I wouldn't overlook this film completely because it does has some genuinely eerie moments and a solid cast.
Review of Dark Heaven
