Synopsis
They Have Come to Conquer the Four Corners of Earth
The spirits of dead Indians are haunting a couple's house, and they call in an exorcist, whose trademark is a black whip, to get rid of them.
The Dark Power
1985 Directed by Phil Smoot
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Alternative Titles
Dark Power, インディアン・ゾンビ／死霊の詰合せ, Το Ξύπνημα των Ζόμπι, Toltecs a Maldição, La maledizione del cannibale, Toltecs: A Maldição
Releases by Date
Premiere
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USA
Physical
26 Feb 1988
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Japan
Releases by Country
Japan
26 Feb 1988
- Physical VHS release
USA
01 Jun 1985
- Premiere
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An aspiring reporter and co-eds bunk in an house rumored built over the burial site of Toltec sorcerers. With their supposed resurrection in a few days' time, the girls aim to dispel the myths around the area, but then a rotted hand pops from the soil...
Oater notable Lash LaRue must have been a family friend of writer-director Phil Smoot. That and this selling the actor as a God among those trained in the ways of the bullwhip. It's difficult to tell whether Smoot fails at this or LaRue really is flinging his trademark around as haphazardly as it appears on-screen. And he looks damn near identical to creepy grandpa Will Hare in Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
Who cares,…
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letterboxd.com/zombifan/list/a-stab-in-the-darkmondo-cinemas-slasher-film/
Another in a long line of evil native american curses killing people films. (there are a lot of these) Scalps does it better. (let that shit sink in)
Some ancient wizards or some mumbo jumbo are buried alive (six inches in the ground) and are resurrected in modern times.
I swear to Christ I'm not fucking with you elderly western star Lash Larue saves the day with his whip.
The first half is agonizingly boring, with the second half being stupid as shit.
I watched it for free and somehow felt ripped off.Mondo Cinema out......
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... or, The Toltec Mummy vs. Lash LaRue and the College Girls.
I always enjoy when I can tell ten minutes into a movie that the backstory of its creation is going to be at least as entertaining as the film itself. I haven't dug into the roots of The Dark Power just yet, but there's no way I'm not going to be fascinated by the story behind a no-budget, Carolina-made Native American zombie slasher that doubles as a comeback vehicle for 68-year-old, bullwhip-toting '40s cowboy star Lash LaRue.
The death of a small town's resident elderly Native American guy leaves the populace unprotected against vengeful Toltec spirits who don't take kindly to a crummy rental property being erected on…
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“All right, you demonic bastard. Let’s take this outside.”
Lash La Rue is a man with a whip. Not an understatement. Watch him defeat some ancient Toltec spirits terrorizing chicks in an isolated suburban style house situated on some rolling hill.
Because I enjoyed Phil Smoot’s Alien Outlaw, I was looking forward to seeing The Dark Power. He made both movies in 1985. Dark Power didn’t charm me as much. Quite dull during the two first acts, enough for me to notice mundane moments such as a horrible beer pour, resulting in a totally flat beverage. An obviously nonsmoking actor - trying to smoke between lines. An ill fitting score that includes a repetitive chime that sounds like some notification…
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This and Alien Outlaw are terrible, but I'm kinda happy they exist. Not only because they make great Rifftrax, but because they both feature an old timey cowboy actor famous for whipping things (?) in otherwise very 80s b-movies. Like... why? Was he a childhood hero of the director? Did he bankroll the films? Did Devo bring whipping things back into fashion in the 80s? I want to know! It's that kind of singularly weird, random shit I'm just glad is out there, y'know?
4 stars for the Rifftrax!
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It boggles the mind that a production team thought the world was hungry for not one, but two, Lash Larue (A poverty row Western star) horror joints in the same year. DARK POWER is the Evil Dead rip-off that's got a whole lot of talk for an hour, a nasty streak of casual racism, and evil ghosts that act like three stooges characters when they aren't ripping people's faces off.
In other words, it's a pure regional product. I bet you've never seen a film climax with a disturbingly racially motivated whip duel in girl's sorority house.
I guess there's value in that?
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Zombie Toltec warriors versus shit headed college kids and an old sheriff whose weapon of choice is a whip...
There's an uber bitchy racist chick and her fucktarded racist brother whom I couldn't wait to see get axed. The other characters aren't racist but they're so bland that you dont care about them. The Indian zombie warriors are bumbling overexaggerated caricatures that look like they belong with the monsters from Neon Maniacs. The kills were hella lame aside from one face mangling scene. The old cop that saves the day wields a whip and says shit like "fear my whip" and "I'm the man with a whip". He even has an awkward 5 minute whip off with the last zombie…
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Hooptober 5.0 B-b-b-b-bonus-s-s-s-s! #2 (movies I watched on a whim after finishing making the list)
Watched via Rifftrax.
So, big surprise, there is a lot to hate about a film whose poster proclaims "INDIAN ZOMBIES GET HEAP BIG REVENGE ON WHITE MAN!" I have my doubts that there is any way to handle native american zombies and be in good taste, but I'll go ahead and spoil that this movie certainly doesn't get close. What was more surprising was the inclusion of a black character just to be the target of some random racism. I assume the purpose of that is as a cheap shortcut to make the racist characters unlikable before they die, but it's pretty gratuitous. There's even…
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The term "so-bad-it's-good" was coined for precisely this kind of movie. A regional (North Carolina) oddity that stars old B-Western star Lash La Rue as a whip-wielding ranger up against ancient, resurrected Toltec shamans out for blood, it's an amateurish mess of bad acting, pointed racism and sexual harassment, and comedic zombie mayhem. It's the kind of film that makes you wonder at its very existence -- like, people actually put money into this? But as for entertainment value, it's pretty high. But it could have been higher if not for the nasty streak of racism that is a plot point, with two characters using the N-word, and several characters actively trying to get rid of the one black character.…
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Every now and then, you watch a film that is so bizarre, so off-beat, so terrible, that it makes you take notice. 'The Dark Power' is the oddest film I have watched for a while, and I loved every second of it. Okay, that's actually a lie, because I fluctuated between loving it, and being ashamed at how much I was enjoying it.
Set in the home of an old Native American spirit keeper, that some one with keen business acumen decides to convert into, to all intents and purposes, a sorority house. So a remote location, a spooky atmosphere and plenty of youngsters to kill off. We have all the great elements of a comedy horror slotting into place,…
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Get out the whipped cream and cherries because this film is a trashy treat. Whips and ass galore. See Lash whip whips around! See spot run! Watch incredibly misogynistic and racist college kids get stalked and killed by the most ridiculous shamanic reincarnations I have ever seen! Watch somebody’s face get ripped (but say it like Elmer Fudd) right off! See Lash whip evil zombie things into submission! Whip your hair back and forth so hard that your head comes off… ok maybe not. Trash the kitchen! Listen to bad one liners and xylophone noises! Whip fights!!!!!! This is pretty ridiculous, you’ll be slap happy if you see it… but it could also leave you shaken (not stirred).