This 1979 mixture of police procedural and alien-invasion sci-fi is utter schlock that manages to waste the talents of a surprisingly good cast in the bargain. While terrible, however, it is interesting for its complicated production history. The original director was Tobe Hooper, but he was fired after falling behind schedule and replaced by John “Bud” Cardos. Furthermore, it began as a simple serial-killer story: the space monster element was a last-minute addition inspired by the success of Alien, requiring quick rewriting and reshooting. Given all that, the fact that the result is a mess is hardly a surprise, but it seems unlikely that it would have fared much better had Hooper remained at the helm and the original script been left unchanged.
The story is set in Los Angeles, where a killer with a penchant for decapitating his victims begins a spree. A team of detectives headed by Dave Mooney (intense Richard Jaeckel) is soon on the case, but his investigation accomplishes little. More productive is a personal one is undertaken by Roy Warner (William Devane, sporting ludicrously long hair), the father of the first victim and a writer whom Mooney had once sent to prison. As the corpses pile up, the press begins calling the perpetrator “The Mangler.” An ambitious TV reporter Zoë Owen (Cathy Lee Crosby, stiff as always) persuades her producer (Keenan Wynn, shouting out his lines) to assign her the story that she hopes will make her career, though he is oddly averse to sensationalism and concerned about placing her in danger.
In the end, however, the tip that solves the case comes not from anyone’s clever sleuthing but from an aging psychic (Jennifer Hyde), whose session with a young man points to him as a potential victim and, thus, a person who can lead the authorities to the killer’s lair. In the inevitable confrontation, the villain turns out to be a huge extraterrestrial that, in bargain-basement, special effects, can incinerate people by shooting destructive beams from its eyes—which makes its earlier preference for decapitation inexplicable—but it is disposed of with relative ease.
With its endless streams of dull talk among policemen puzzled by the case and a thoroughly extraneous cameo by Casey Kasem as a pathologist, The Dark is silly and dull, but connoisseurs of le bad cinema might want to check it out. Extras include an audio commentary by producer Igo Kantor and director Cardos, an interview with Cardos, a second interview with composer Roger Kellaway, a separate audio track of his score, the theatrical trailer, and TV and radio spots. Not recommended.