Dark Sanity (1982)
3/10
The only demon here is the demon drink.
3 August 2017
The cover for Dark Sanity depicts a woman, presumably Kory Clark as the film's protagonist Karen, with a demonic forked tongue. Why, I don't know, because she doesn't have one in the film. Instead of being a she-demon (which might have been cool), Karen is simply a housewife, albeit a recovering alcoholic housewife with marital issues and psychic powers. In an attempt to start life afresh, Karen and her long-suffering husband Alan (Chuck Jamison) move to a new home, which they got cheap, partly because it is such an ugly property (those rough stucco walls and caramel carpets have simply got to go!), but also, as they later learn, because it was the site of a brutal murder.

Soon after, Karen starts to have chilling visions of the killing: glimpses of a shadowy figure brandishing an axe and a severed head. Hubby Alan, who is fresh out of sympathy, thinks that his wife is back on the sauce, but a local cop, Larry Craig (Aldo Ray), who was involved with the murder investigation, believes that Karen might be the key to solving the case.

A meandering mediocre mystery featuring very little gore and zero scares, Dark Sanity is humdrum stuff, despite fairly capable direction from Martin Green and one or two adequate performances. The boredom arises from a dreary script that focuses far too much on Karen and Alan's failing relationship, and which neglects to deliver scenes of tension. There's also a little too much padding in the form of obviously innocent suspect Benny the creepy handyman, and to make matters worse, apart from the visions and a poor cat who loses its head, there are zero deaths. If only a few more people had wound up hacked to pieces before the final reveal, this might have been a worthwhile little psycho thriller.

As it stands, it's a 3/10 at best.
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