As a horror fan things simply do not get better than what we were blessed with in the 1980s. Everywhere you look, there’s something great—or at least incredibly fun—to entertain you…and perhaps nudge you a tiny bit closer to insanity depending on what you’re watching.

An upcoming documentary titled In Search of Darkness dives head first into the joy and madness that is ’80s horror. It covers a massive lineup of titles which first arrived that decade, and features chats with many of the folks who were involved in making them.

You can find much more info on In Search of Darkness and watch a trailer below.

The movie was made thanks to crowdfunding campaigns, including one through Indiegogo where this overview of the project was shared:

THE DEFINITIVE ’80s HORROR DOCUMENTARY
Bringing the Horror community together to celebrate the most iconic era in cinema history

For the first time in Horror history, “In Search of Darkness” is bringing together “˜80s icons, modern horror greats, and popular horror influencers to create the most complete retrospective documentary of the genre ever made.

Now in production, we’re giving fans one last opportunity to join the journey, claim exclusive rewards, and to be the first to see it.

We have 40+ interviews filmed and more than 100 hours of incredible material, and we can’t wait to share the finished documentary with our backers. Here’s a taster of just a few of our favourite snippets from the documentary:

• Heather Langenkamp (Actor – A Nightmare on Elm Street) details the “crazy day” on the Elm Street set filming her iconic bathtub scene with Freddy’s glove, plus the film that made her swear off watching horror.
• Joe Dante (Director – The Howling, Gremlins) explains how Gremlins was originally a much darker film and why they scrapped the plan for the beloved Gizmo to become the evil Gremlin, Stripe.
• Jeffrey Combs (Actor – Re-Animator, From Beyond) on crossing the line of excess in horror and how he studied dead bodies in the morgue to prep for Re-Animator.
• Barbara Crampton (Actor – Re-Animator, From Beyond) on cocaine-fuelled filmmaking and the use of nudity and violence to sell horror.
• Keith David (Actor – The Thing, They Live) recalls the two-week prep and cinematic inspirations for his epic fight with Roddy Piper in They Live.
• Greg Nicotero (SFX – Creepshow, Day of the Dead) pulls back the curtain on some of the era’s greatest SFX shots, including the use of rancid pig intestines on the Day of the Dead set.
• Bill Moseley (Actor – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) on Tobe Hooper’s twisted Texas Chainsaw 2 humour and why so many people got “walking pneumonia” on set.
• Caroline Williams (Actor – Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) on having to do the “chainsaw dance” with no training and a live chainsaw, and that pivotal moment with Leatherface’s chainsaw between her legs.
• Kane Hodder (Actor/Stuntman – House I & II, Friday the 13th VII-X) talks about staying in character as Jason on the set in Times Square and how he overcame his tragic on-set accident to perform the ultimate record-setting burn in a Friday the 13th movie.
• Sean S. Cunningham (Director – Friday the 13th) details how a film concept based on a simple title and marketing savvy became a juggernaut horror franchise.
• Tom Holland (Writer/Director – Fright Night, Child’s Play) details the “blind dumb luck” and last-minute make-up effects inspirations on the Fright Night set that turned the film into a horror classic.

The documentary’s director, David Weiner, had this to say about it:

The doc is set to be released later this summer, but unfortunately that’s only for people who backed one of the crowdfunding campaigns. The good news is that they’re still accepting backers through Indiegogo if you don’t want to wait longer to see it.

The deadline to back In Search of Darkness so you’ll be able to see it as soon as it’s released is March 31st.

Trailer

[Source: via Heat Vision]

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