Dark Sanity starts with a seemingly happy married couple named Alan (Chuck Jamison) & Karen Nichols (Kory Clark, the IMDb listing is wrong her name is definitely spelt with a 'K' in the credits) moving into a new house in Los Angeles area having relocated from San Diego. Karen is an ex-alcoholic & has in the past suffered from 'visions', things begin badly as no soon has Karen set foot in the house she has a horrifying psychic vision of a severed head... Alan tries to comfort her & they both try to forget the incident & get on with moving in. Alan is a salesman & invites his boss & his wife Mr & Mrs (Clarine Jackman) Jacobs round for dinner, an idea with which Mr Jacobs agrees to. At first the casual dinner party goes well but while going upstairs Karen suffers from another vision, this time a cloaked figure appears to attack her with an axe. The Jacobs quickly make their excuses & leave as Karen shouts, screams & acts like a real loon. Karen's visions continue & she thinks about starting to drink again when an ex-police Sergeant named Larry Craig (Aldo Ray) talks about the house's dark past. Craig says that a woman named Lucy Duncan (Iris Bath) was decapitated in the house about a year ago & he thinks that the wrong man was put away, Lucy's son Edward (Dennis Barnett). Craig also says that he had strange visions in the house as well & that he was a personal friend of Lucy's. Craig believes that the murderer is still at large & Karen's visions can help him unlock the mystery, find the real killer & bring them to justice. But who can it be? Surely it's not Benny the retarded gardener as that would be far too obvious, but who else is there...?
Directed Martin Green Dark Sanity is a strictly by-the-numbers murder mystery with a few horror elements thrown in for good measure. The script by Larry Hilbrand & Phillip Pine isn't exactly gripping edge-of-the-seat stuff as it plods along at a fairly pedestrian pace. The murder elements aren't introduced until the 30 odd minute mark when Craig eventually shows up, what proceeds that is Karen having a couple of very brief visions. Frankly I'm surprised at the IMDb on this occasion, they insist on no spoilers without warning readers yet the 'Plot Outline' section on Dark Sanity's main page gives away the twist ending revealing Karen's visions weren't flashbacks to the past but in fact flashfarwards to the future, her future. The person who wrote that is fired! Empty your desk now! Anyway, it works OK as an overall storyline but seemed a little lightweight & the eventually unmasking of the killer was somewhat underwhelming & the motive was about as simplistic & dull as it could have been & it's a shame that such little effort appeared to go into this potentially make-or-break aspect of the script. Dark Sanity felt more like a Saturday afternoon crime mystery episode like Columbo (1971 - 2003, wow has it really been that long?!) or Quincy (1976 - 1983) just without the intelligence or personality. The psychic investigator portion of the script is also severely underdeveloped & this could have been a great plot thread but instead it's reduced to the cheapness of having Karen scared by her visions & being able to have a severed head turn up once in a while, the marital dramatics between Alan & Karen also seem unnecessary & are frankly tedious to sit through. One more thing, what has that black cat that keeps turning up got to do with anything? There's not a lot of gore, just a couple of OK looking severed heads, one cat & one human & a severed hand. The acting is OK & varies throughout the film. Technically Dark Sanity looks rather cheap through it's relatively short 85 odd minute running time, it ain't going to win any awards that's for sure. The music sounds like it was composed for a completely different film & doesn't compliment the on screen action at all. Overall I thought Dark Sanity was an OK time waster, I don't think I will ever want to see it again but as a one-time-watch it was satisfactory. Average at best & a good episode of Columbo would probably be a better alternative, difficult to recommend.
Directed Martin Green Dark Sanity is a strictly by-the-numbers murder mystery with a few horror elements thrown in for good measure. The script by Larry Hilbrand & Phillip Pine isn't exactly gripping edge-of-the-seat stuff as it plods along at a fairly pedestrian pace. The murder elements aren't introduced until the 30 odd minute mark when Craig eventually shows up, what proceeds that is Karen having a couple of very brief visions. Frankly I'm surprised at the IMDb on this occasion, they insist on no spoilers without warning readers yet the 'Plot Outline' section on Dark Sanity's main page gives away the twist ending revealing Karen's visions weren't flashbacks to the past but in fact flashfarwards to the future, her future. The person who wrote that is fired! Empty your desk now! Anyway, it works OK as an overall storyline but seemed a little lightweight & the eventually unmasking of the killer was somewhat underwhelming & the motive was about as simplistic & dull as it could have been & it's a shame that such little effort appeared to go into this potentially make-or-break aspect of the script. Dark Sanity felt more like a Saturday afternoon crime mystery episode like Columbo (1971 - 2003, wow has it really been that long?!) or Quincy (1976 - 1983) just without the intelligence or personality. The psychic investigator portion of the script is also severely underdeveloped & this could have been a great plot thread but instead it's reduced to the cheapness of having Karen scared by her visions & being able to have a severed head turn up once in a while, the marital dramatics between Alan & Karen also seem unnecessary & are frankly tedious to sit through. One more thing, what has that black cat that keeps turning up got to do with anything? There's not a lot of gore, just a couple of OK looking severed heads, one cat & one human & a severed hand. The acting is OK & varies throughout the film. Technically Dark Sanity looks rather cheap through it's relatively short 85 odd minute running time, it ain't going to win any awards that's for sure. The music sounds like it was composed for a completely different film & doesn't compliment the on screen action at all. Overall I thought Dark Sanity was an OK time waster, I don't think I will ever want to see it again but as a one-time-watch it was satisfactory. Average at best & a good episode of Columbo would probably be a better alternative, difficult to recommend.