DARK TOWER (1989) * ½

Dark Tower is an Evil Skyscraper Movie.  There were a lot of these in the ‘80s.  I guess the most famous example is Poltergeist 3.  Why were there so many of them?  Maybe they were supposed to be cautionary tales for architects who continually build buildings higher, thereby tampering in God’s domain.  Maybe they were meant to act as scary bedtime stories for the rich folks who lived inside of them.  Whatever they were, they were rarely effective. 

Architect Jenny Agutter watches in horror as a window washer plummets to his death.  She claims he was pushed by someone or something on the scaffolding, but no one believes her; except for cop Michael Moriarty.  (Mostly because he wants to sleep with her.)  The next day, a security guard dies mysteriously in an elevator.  When Moriarty’s partner goes nuts and kills a bunch of people in the building, Moriarty goes on a quest for answers.  Along with two paranormal experts, he tries to use his long-repressed power of ESP to put a stop to the supernatural shenanigans.  

Dark Tower was a troubled production.  It was originally intended to star Roger Daltrey and Lucy Guttridge with Ken (Return of the Living Dead 2) Wiederhorn directing, but he wound up being replaced by Freddie (The Creeping Flesh) Francis.  The film’s cobbled-together nature is really apparent during the finale when Agutter is chased through the building, and her hair and wardrobe change from shot to shot. 

Speaking of which, most of the film centers around long scenes of people wandering endlessly down hallways until they are eventually picked off by the supernatural entity.  As you can probably guess, this gets tedious awfully quick.  The random appearances by Agutter’s dead, eyeless husband are almost laughable.  The zombie ghost in the finale is likewise terrible as it looks rubbery AF.  The ghost’s big scene at the end feels like it could’ve come out of a Tales from the Crypt episode.  If that was the case though, we’d only have to wait thirty minutes to see it instead of ninety. 

Moriarty has always had a weird energy about him that makes him fun to watch.  If it had anyone else in the role, Dark Tower might’ve been even more torturous to endure.  I especially liked the scenes of him mumbling to himself while doing research on his computer.  Agutter (using an American accent) is pretty much wasted, but Kevin McCarthy gets to chew the scenery late in the game as one of the paranormal experts who investigate the building. 

Francis/Weiderhorn use a lot of low-angle shots of the skyscraper to make it look ominous (and taller).  They aren’t successful.  There are so many of these establishing shots that one could build a drinking game around them.   

One interesting aspect about the movie is that it takes place in Spain.  Many films are shot there, sure, but they usually try to pretend it’s New York or something.  Because of the location, many of the supporting players have thick accents or don’t even speak English at all.  Dark Tower also earns a place in cinema history for being the only flick that was unofficially released as part of both the Curse AND Demons franchises.  That’s got to be worth SOMETHING, right? 

AKA:  Curse 5.  AKA:  Demons 7:  Inferno.