One Dark Night (1982)

One Dark Night is an early 80's supernatural horror about a teenage girl who spends the night at a mausoleum as part of an initiation.

Six dead girls are found at the apartment of famed occultist Karl Raymar, as well as his dead body. While attending his funeral wake, his estranged daughter Olivia has a peculiar vision. Her husband believes that her father was a phony, but she's determined to know more about his life to try to make sense of his death. She meets a writer named Samuel who was an old friend of her father. He tells her that his psychic abilities were real and gives her a tape that sheds further light into his occult experiments, including the fact that her father was a psychic vampire who would drain energy from others' fear. Meanwhile, high schooler Julie wants to be part of a club called The Sisters. The three members are lead by Carol, who's ex boyfriend is now dating Julie. In an effort to get back at her ex, she has Julie spend the night at a mausoleum as the final initiation to let her into the club. She plans on sneaking in there later to scare Julie. What none of them know is that Karl's body is entombed in that same mausoleum, and even after death, his psychic powers are still active.

This movie is perfect for Halloween month. The beginning has a lot of moody atmosphere, and the end is just a blast, with Karl's corpse using his psychic powers to reanimate the other dead bodies. While not as well known as other 80's horror, it has gained a cult following over the years. I wouldn't exactly categorize it as a zombie film, but there are plenty of rotting corpses to be seen during the outrageous climax. It takes a while for the spooky fun to start, but once it does, it's well worth the wait. One Dark Night ultimately ends up being quite fun and entertaining, and stars Meg Tilly (older sister of Jennifer) and Adam West from the 60's Batman series. I streamed it on YouTube.

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