Having brought the best-selling Sega videogame House of the Dead to the big screen, director Uwe Boll was approached by the creator of Alone in the Dark, Part IV to transform the popular Atari videogame into a theatrical experience. The German-born Boll, whose oeuvre includes such homegrown horror fare as Run Amok (1992), the American horror yarn Sanctimony (2000) and the thriller Blackwoods (2002), appreciated the three-dimensional characters of the videogame and the complex plot of the film.
“All the kids that Edward grew up with – why have they disappeared but he hasn’t? Suddenly his work as a paranormal investigator turns personal and he’s committed to finding these kids,” explains Boll. The character’s initial focus, he says, leads to a much more elaborate plot involving a shadowy government organization, ancient civilizations and evil creatures that have been hiding for thousands of years. “It’s a big movie, but it all comes together very well.”
Working with producer Shawn Williamson, with whom he worked on Blackwoods, Boll set about creating a piece of entertainment that could stand on its own for general audiences while still satisfying the game’s loyal fans. “Keeping a movie true to a videogame is tough, in part because they’re very different mediums,” admits Williamson. “A game is interactive and players can take it in different directions. A film is the same experience every time you watch it. Yet I think we succeeded in capturing the energy and spirit of the game while bringing a lot of the back story of these characters to life.”
Elan Mastai, one of three screenwriters on the project alongside Michael Roesch and Peter Scheerer, appreciated the task of adapting a well-executed video game, inspired by the classic horror writing of H.P. Lovecraft, into a feature film. “Games are great source material because they have really elaborate back stories,” says Mastai. “It often takes 50 hours to tell a game story, so there’s a real depth to that universe.”
While putting audiences in the point-of-view of a game player, Boll worked to bring “the creepiness and the suspense of being alone in the dark” to the screen. “We kept things really dark so that, as an audience member, you can’t clearly tell what’s around you and what’s going to happen next.”
That perspective is shared by the film’s special effects coordinator John Sleep, who was responsible for the special effects magic behind such films as Boll’s House of the Dead, Scary Movie 3 and Catwoman. “We’ve actually tried not to show too much on camera, to leave a lot in the shadows so that it leaves more to the imagination.” Sleep isn’t suggesting, however, that the film doesn’t have its share of pyrotechnics. “There are lots of explosions, lots of fireworks, and lots of people running around in dark places with flashlights in the fog. It’s been a lot of fun!”
One particularly exciting scene involved a mine shaft. “It’s a huge crane shot that leads to the final assault of the creatures on the soldiers, and we think it’s a very innovative shot,” says Williamson. Thanks to the film’s ambitious and resourceful production team, Williamson believes Alone in the Dark achieves “a large-budget feel despite its moderate, independent-sized film budget.”
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