Darkman

views updated

Darkman ★★★ 1990 (R)

Raimi's disfigured-man-seeks-revenge suspenser is comicbook kitsch cross-pollinated with a strain of gothic horror. Neeson plays a scientist who's on the verge of discovering the key to cloning body parts; brutally attacked by the henchmen of a crooked politico, his lab is destroyed and he's left for dead. Turns out he's not dead—just horribly disfigured and a wee bit chafed—and he stalks his deserving victims from the shadows, using his lab know-how to disguise his rugged bad looks. Exquisitely violent. Montage by Pablo Ferro. 96m/C VHS, DVD, HD DVD . Liam Neeson, Frances McDor-mand, Larry Drake, Colin Friels, Nelson Mashita, Jenny Agutter, Rafael H. Robledo, Nicholas Worth, Theodore (Ted) Raimi, John Landis, William Lus-tig, Scott Spiegel, Bruce Campbell; D: Sam Raimi; W: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, Joshua Goldin, Chuck Pfarrer; C: Bill Pope; M: Danny Elf-man.