Horror Movie Review: Dark Tower (1989)

What an absolute mess Dark Tower is. A supernatural horror with very little action, horrible pacing, bad effects, iffy acting, and an ending that is eyebrow raising at best. Which sure makes sense when you read up about the troubled production, post alterations, and directorial disdain. Not only did partial director Freddie Francis insist that he be credited under a pseudonym (Ken Barnett), but he would never direct another feature film again afterwards.

Set in and around a high-rise building that has had a spate of mysterious deaths. Jenny Agutter plays Carolyn Page, the building owner, calling in outside help in the form of Michael Moriarty’s Dennis Randall, a security consultant. He also struggles to find a cause, and together, they start to believe that there is something supernatural at work. Something that connects to Carolyn’s late husband, the architect of the building.

There’s a solid concept here, and two leads with the acting chops to make the story notable, but all of that is squandered in favour of a lacklustre and unfocused story. Where, rather than keeping things mysterious then revealing a supernatural threat, the film effectively tells us up front what is going on and then expects us to be invested in the detail around Carolyn, the love angle with Dennis (sort of – they have no chemistry), and what happened to her late husband. It all ends up playing out more like a daytime TV drama then a horror film.

It’s not just that the story is boring and predictable, it’s the fact that the story is messy and riddled with pacing issues. There are far too many scenes that go nowhere, repeat, and just have characters talking inanely. When we do get some form of supernatural action, it’s limited and almost always, uninspired. The only section that does have some life, comes at the end, but even then, there’s nothing to get excited about.

There’s little intrigue to things, very little fright, and almost no interest in the character’s plights either. Making it clear just why Dark Tower has become a forgotten 80’s film. This is no hidden gem, and it’s such a shame as the core concept, location, and lead actors could have really given us something special here.