Developing
© 2001 Cinescape
Alone in the Dark
By: Corona's Coming AttractionsDate: Monday, January 17, 2005
Genre:
Horror/Action/Video Game Adaptation.
Studio:
Artisan Pictures.
Production Company:
Boll KG/Brightlight Pictures.
Project Phase:
In the Can.
Who's In It:
Christian Slater (Edward Carnby); Tara Reid (Aline Cedrac); Stephen Dorff (Commander Burke).
Who's Making It:
Uwe Boll (Director); Michael Roesch, Peter Scheerer, Elan Mastai (Screenwriters); Wolfgang Herold, Shawn Williamson (Producers); Mathias Neumann (Director of Photography); tink (Production Designer); Toybox (Special Visual Effects); based on the Infogrames/Darkworks
video game series Alone in the Dark.
Premise:
A supernatural investigator named Edward Carnby faces the horrors of the paranormal.
Release Date:
Janaury 28, 2005.
Comments:
Dimension Films was the first to develop ALONE IN THE DARK as a feature film. A screenplay by MAN-THING writer Hans Rodionoff was written, but the project fell into turnaround. Artisan then stepped in to pick up the rights and fashion a completely different story.
Scoop Feedback:
July 31, 2003... Thanks to the official website for the ALONE IN THE DARK movie, we now know that Stephen Dorff (BLADE) has been cast in the film. Dorff is credited as playing the character of Commander Burke, whomever that person is.
Also new on the AitD site are photos from the set from the first day of filming. The first look at Christian Slater as paranormal investigator Edward Carnby is there (and here) along with some behind-the-scenes shots of the production. [Alone in the Dark.]
August 8, 2003... Coming Soon is reporting (via VFX Pro) that Toronto-based special effects house Toybox has won the contract to create the FX for ALONE IN THE DARK.
Toybox will create the film's horrific creatures for the movie. Up to now Toybox's best-known work was creating all the digital visual effects for JASON X.
ALONE IN THE DARK continues to film in Vancouver, Canada. [Coming Soon.]
August 29, 2003... Hollywood North Report has published a new wave of location photos from the ALONE IN THE DARK production, now wrapping up principal photography in Vancouver. The filmmakers have been shooting exterior street scenes with star Christian Slater riding in the backseat of a taxi. HNR has photos showing Slater walking on-set as well as the preparation and filming of the taxi cab in motion.
Checking out the photographs is as easy as following this link. [Snapped by Hollywood North Report.]
November 3, 2003... The first script review for ALONE IN THE DARK has sprouted on the Web. The movie, which wrapped production not too long ago, is being directed by Uwe Boll (HOUSE OF THE DEAD) and stars Christian Slater and Tara Reid as paranormal investigators Edward Carnby and Aline Cedrac, respectively. Stephen Dorff (BLADE, COLD CREEK MANOR) also has a part in the $20 million dollar production.
Screenwriter's Voice has reviewed the third draft of ALONE IN THE DARK and given it a grade of just 60%. Reviewer Vince Yim feels that while there are moments where there's some good scares, the script is derivative at times and reminds the reader too much of other horror films. "The story feels unsure of what it wants to be," explains Yim. "On one level, it tries to be a psychological thriller. On another, it is a monster movie with lots of gleeful carnage and destruction. On another, it has some shades of an action-adventure serial along the lines of Indiana Jones. While mixed genre films have been known to succeed, this isn't a mixed genre film."
ALONE IN THE DARK is slated for an 2004 release. [Screenwriter's Voice.]
November 5, 2003... Anyone that ever told you that all that time spent on research doesn't pay off? Then thrust this news story in their face and smirk away at them: here's the first official images of the remaining main characters from the ALONE IN THE DARK movie due out sometime next year.
Directed by Uwe Boll (HOUSE OF THE DEAD) and starring Christian Slater as paranormal investigator Edward Carnby, the horror/action movie is based on the popular series of computer video games released by Atari. Tara Reid (AMERICAN PIE) also stars in the film as Carnby's partner, Aline Cedrac, and Stephen Dorff (BLADE) is Commander Richards.
We found the stills kicking around on the website for Interactive Film Sales International, the company that acts as the sales agent for Boll KG, the production company that made ALONE IN THE DARK as well as the other films of Uwe Boll. [Interactive Film Sales International.]
April 24, 2004... After the release of HOUSE OF THE DEAD, director Uwe Boll took a lot of barbs from horror fans left unsatisfied by that particular zombie picture. So can the German doctor-turned-director redeem himself with his latest scary movie, ALONE IN THE DARK? The movie's official website is letting you be the judge of that question by offering internet folk an exclusive web teaser of Boll's new film. The clip, which runs about a minute in length, gives us a look at a couple of scenes from the video game adaptation including a glimpse at one of the film's beasties as it claims a new victim. (Horror movie rule #43: never, ever take a job as a security guard in a museum where strange things have been known to happen.)
Download the trailer from here. The movie's creators are aiming for release at an unspecified time later this year. [Official website.]
November 5, 2004... Lions Gate Films has purchased the rights to distribute ALONE IN THE DARK to North American theaters. Directed by HOUSE OF THE DEAD helmer Uwe Boll, and starring Christian Slater, Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff, the movie studio has now slotted a January 28, 2005 release date for the video game film adaptation.
"ALONE IN THE DARK is a perfect addition to our slate of horror/sci-fi genre films on the pulse of popular culture," commented Tom Ortenberg, the President of Lions Gate Films Releasing. "Uwe Boll has taken a game with a voracious following and turned it into a film which completely stands on its own."
"I'm really happy that Lions Gate is releasing ALONE IN THE DARK," added director Uwe Boll. "The game has millions of fans worldwide and our movie turns out as very intelligent supernatural thriller with great actors and creatures."
Based on the series of SEGA video games, Slater plays paranormal investigator Edward Carnby who is called upon to examine the death of a close friend of his. Carnby discovers clues that lead him to a place called Shadow Island, and the discovery that a secret cult of demon worshippers called the Abskani are hatching a plan to throw a blanket of darkness across the globe. [Lions Gate Films.]
December 23, 2004... IGN FilmForce has unleashed the trailer for ALONE IN THE DARK upon the internet. This is the second video game-to-movie adaptation from German director Uwe Boll (HOUSE OF THE DEAD being his first) and it stars Christian Slater as supernatural investigator Edward Carnby. After one of Carnby's friends dies suspiciously, the paranormal sleuth investigates a shadow-filled island that holds a legion of demons that want to devour the world. Don't you hate it when that happens to you?
Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff round out the major talent. With Boll's online reputation severly wounded after HOUSE OF THE DEAD failed to scare just about anyone, here's hoping ALONE IN THE DARK redeems the man.
QuickTime, Windows Media and Real Video formats of the trailer can be grabbed from right here. Lions Gate Films will release ALONE IN THE DARK on January 28, 2005. [IGN FilmForce.]
January 17, 2005...
Tara Reid is Aline Cedrac in ALONE IN THE DARK.
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Official Web Site:
