In Search of Darkness: Part II

2020 Directed by David A. Weiner

The ultimate ‘80s Horror retrospective just got BIGGER. In Search of Darkness: Part II is a four-hour-plus sequel to the Rondo Hatton-nominated In Search of Darkness, adding 15 new interviewees and 40+ returning favorites for the biggest and most comprehensive ‘80s Horror documentary cast ever assembled.

Nancy Allen Tom Atkins Doug Bradley John Bloom Clancy Brown Lori Cardille John Carpenter Nick Castle Larry Cohen Jeffrey Combs Barbara Crampton Sean S. Cunningham Joe Dante Keith David Robert Englund Katie Featherston Mick Garris Geretta Geretta Michael Gingold Stuart Gordon Andre Gower Oliver Harper Spencer Hickman Kane Hodder Tom Holland James A. Janisse Chris Irvine Steve Johnson Lloyd Kaufman Show All…

263 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Cinemonster ★★★★

A little more slick than part 1. Still a little uneven, but there are a few deeper dives and some more obscure and smaller cult films addressed. A wider group of onscreen contributors sinks the 80s hook a little deeper. When the world finally clears this damn virus, I'm going to host a 9 hr. marathon of both parts
Can't wait for the sci-fi doc.
Review by TheDionysiac

Features all the problems the first one has from the expert commentary, but works great as a reminder of which of these films I have yet to actually see. 'In Search of Darkness: Part II' is at its best when it shys away from the big horror franchises and really dig into the more obscure and oddball picks, and when the film makers and actors get to tell stories from working on them. For someone like myself who only associates Nancy Allen with 'Robocop' it was a real eye-opener to see how many classic De Palma films she shows up in. Can't wait to revisit all of those. Linnea Quigley also comes off as the secret ingredient, and an underrated…
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★★

The unnecessary but very fun follow-up to the unnecessary but fun original In Search of Darkness.
I do think this is an improvement though. Perhaps mainly due to the fact that it contains significantly less Joe Bob fucking Briggs, the massive droning turd. Nice top, you twat. Then again, for some unknown reason they've also decided to get Chris Jericho to be a talking head on this, rabbiting on about Mother's Day like it's a fucking Criterion release.
The interviews and interviewees are of a better quality and diversity with Jackie Kong especially proving to be an absolute delight, and Clancy Brown's wonderful deadpan warning about a scene in The Keep being a personal highlight - "You don't wanna let…
Review by Tak1408 ★★★★ 10

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Damn, I didn't expect Till Death Do We Scare to be mentioned or even shown. I was right, the Creepshow host did make a cameo.
Well, this was a bit of an improvement. They did focus on other lesser-known horror films or the ones that aren't the Freddies, the Jasons and Myers stuff but then again, so much stuff was missing. Which is why you can make a part 3 and that's the great thing about the 80s itself. I'm disappointed that they didn't talk about the Gate, its perfect horror film to get your kids started. They did show footage but it was about the kids in horror films, the Stephen King type of kids.
Once again, you don't…
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★

People can talk about 80s horror until the sun comes up. I sure do.
- Bill Moseley
Another 4.5 hours of people talking about 80s horror! I think I might have liked this more than part one, for varied reasons.
First off because they covered so much of the 80s mainstays in the first documentary, they were kinda forced to talk about the less mainstream films here and sequels. It was very nice to see them talk about a few Italian and Japanese horror films which was something really missing from part 1.
Filler! Actually this is just my opinion that some of the following was done as filler, like various profiles on the likes of Linnea Quigley and Tom…
Review by Varan_the_Man ★★★★ 3

Definitely an improvement.
The film selection is deeper this time with time spent if movies like The Boogens, Cellar Dwellar, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, and The Seventh Curse.
The interviewees are also more varied with Robert Englund, Shinya Tsukamoto, Geretta Geretta, and one of my favorite YouTubers: Brandon Tenold. They even got the great Jackie Kong talking about Blood Diner!
Sure some segments are too long or too short and people will say dumb stuff (sorry Phil, Mary Lou was not “exploring her sexuality” in Prom Night II. She was a bitchy whore) but there’s enough intriguing information and conversations during the intense 263 minute runtime to make up for moments like that.
I’m down for a part III
Review by Charles Arpin ★★★★

A very comparable follow up to the first segment. These are the definitive guide to 80s horror films.
Special shoutout to my brother Simon who got me there Blu ray of this for my birthday and my name is listed in the credits as a contributor to the project.
Review by Mark Costello ★★★★½

A Part II in every sense of the term, this continuation of the utterly fantastic 80's horror documentary that was Part 1 is exactly the same in terms of format, structure and 85% of its contributors. Only this time, the creators appeared to have really taken to heart some of the criticism of the first part........maybe a little too much........
Managing to outsize even the first part, this clocks in at a mammoth 4 hours 36 mins (including all those lovely credits where yours truly never tires of seeing his name via the Kickstarter campaign that funded this) and repeats the same format of the first: each year is revisited and key films looked at via interviews with those involved,…
Review by Cinemonster ★★★★ 7

2nd time through. So much to like.
Review by Tim Timmermans ★★★★

Great follow-up to the first documentary!
The first one focussed primarily on iconic US horror movies from the 80's. But in that era a lot of (iconic horror) movies where made in other parts of the world as well. Like the Giallo movies from Italy and the Japanese J-horror movies. Part II of 'In Search of Darkness' takes some time to talk about those movies and the impact they had on the genre. And since not all "US-classics" were covered in part I, there also was a lot left there to talk about in part II.
Review by kynky ★★★★

NON FILMS SEEN IN 2021
A great follow up to the first documentary and for my mind a better mix of lesser known and classic horror movies with talking heads from those that were involved.
There are enough 80's horror movies to get to double figures with these documentaries and I'd happily watch everyone as they're made with genuine love for the genre.
I quite liked the look at video games, that would be a great follow up in it's own rights after they've done the Sci-Fi documentary perhaps.
Review by william ★★★★★ 4

i know four hours is a long time but i wish it went on for longer because. Yeah
also my name is in the end credits and that’s really funny because it’s the first time that’s happened! woo

Recent reviews

Review by RickyBoot ★★★★½

Another 4.5hrs of pure ‘comfort blanket’
Exactly the same format wise as the first one and some cool new segments so if you enjoyed the first one you’ll enjoy this just as much. Loads of stuff I’ve not yet seen in this one so loads of ideas for future ‘beer and movie’ nights with friends once this shits all done with
Review by Chris Gallo ★★★★★

If this epic second entry doesn’t make you want to revisit some titles for the millionth time or some for the first time, then there’s something wrong with you. Just as compulsively watchable as the first one with even more deep dives. It almost convinces me to want to watch Italian horror films - which I’ve never been able to get into. I want a part III.
Review by Dipperthy ★★★

Ya me conocía ciertas pelis así que fue más un repaso por momentos que otra cosa. Para el que no sabe nada, viene de 10. Te informas de la situación, aprendes algo de ciertos clásicos, etc.
Review by Charles Arpin ★★★★

A very comparable follow up to the first segment. These are the definitive guide to 80s horror films.
Special shoutout to my brother Simon who got me there Blu ray of this for my birthday and my name is listed in the credits as a contributor to the project.
Review by Vincent Wald ★★★

compared to the first one this has better pacing, better guests, more variety, some fun segments and the movies highlighted are just generally more noteworthy, so yeah, even if I think that more than 4 hours is still too long, it's just so much better than the first one
also, James A. Janisse and all of the other annoying bloggers were barely in this and gave way for the AVGN and the GoodBadFlicks guy, so it instantly made this better
Review by Matías Polako ★★★

Si el primer documental era excelente para los fanáticos del cine de terror de los 80s, esta es exclusivamente para los ultra fanáticos. La segunda parte sigue el mismo formato, año por año, pero hablando de películas mucho mas Under... Que ni yo conocía la mayoría.
Aunque el documental es muy similar, la primera parte es mejor. Sigue su estilo extremadamente simple y nada destacable en lo artístico o en la profundidad con la que tocan cada tema, pero estos documentales no están para eso, es un simple recuento nostálgico con entrevistas.
Pero si es para ver de a poco, como si fuese una serie, porque es muy largo...

Twitter: @Matias_Polako
Instagram: @matiaspolako @videoclubrandom
YouTube: VideoClubRandom
Twitch: VideoClubRandom_
Review by Camilo ★★★★½

9/10
Al igual que su primera parte, es una carta de amor al cine de terror de los 80's. Está lleno de anécdotas e historias detrás de los clásicos del género y trae nuevos invitados.
Review by Keef ★★★★★

Another amazing 4.5 hour documentary on 80s horror. Part II has more depth, more horror icons, and a larger focus on special FX and behind the scenes aspects of the films. Throughout, there is more focus on films within a different tier level of obscurity which was nice. The section on Giallo horror was fantastic.
They also go a bit into horror video games as well as unmade films such as the Pumpkinhead (1988) prequel and the true sequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) which would have had the same cast return as the Sawyer family where they move to New York City! The documentary is chock-full of these deep-dives and personal stories from the people involved.
It would…
Review by Mike Drew Flynn ★★★★½

More entertaining than the first volume, if only because of the hidden treasures and an embarrassment of riches in terms of films I’ve never seen. This one goes down rabbit holes within rabbit holes, covering not just films but audience identification, unmade sequels, franchise-based video games, and Nancy Allen talking about Zelda Rubinstein’s escapades with younger men. Continues the first part’s never-ending shade parade launched against Charles Band. Only the most important and fascinating facts. A half-star for every half-hour of this four and a half hours of joyous pop-culture history lessons. Can’t wait for In Search of Tomorrow, and there’s enough room for a third of these.
Review by Brian Hart ★★★★★

If you liked the first one, you're gonna like this one.
Review by stoplyinn ★★★★

Better than the first documentary and I love the first documentary.
Part two had so much more movies I'd never heard of before and made me want to go watch all of them. I must've added at least 15 movies to my watch list. The new guests were also top notch and I love how they did several deep dives with several of them, including Nancy Allen, Linnea Quigley, Robert Englund, and Tom Savini.
Once again, In Search of Darkness proved that 80s horror is the gift that keeps on giving.
Review by afabry ★★★★

Like many horror sequels, it's basically the first one. Different films are covered of course and new talking heads are brought in. I imagine somewhere there is a 9 hour fan edit.