In Search of Darkness 1995-1999

Every horror fan has their favourites. Favourite kills, favourite final girl, favourite villain and favourite film. Lots of horror fans will most likely have a favourite era of horror too. Mines almost definitely the 80s, followed by the 70s, 30s and then 00s. The 90s rarely pings on my horror radar. I don’t think I’m a complete island on this opinion either, I’ve seen writers and horror historians refer to the 90s as a forgotten era and it’s hard to disagree. This writer certainly wouldn’t pluck many 90s films from my brain as examples of my favourite films or as examples of the best of horror.

384 minutes of my life later, I think that might be about to change…

Paul W.S Anderson talks the amazing Event Horizon

You may well have heard of In Search of Darkness before. The Creator VC team behind them have previously released 4 other horror odysseys looking at the 1980s and 1990-1994. I devoured them all up. This time, it’s the turn of 1995-1999 to take the spotlight.

I went into 95-99 with a pre conceived notion of awful slasher sequels, shit cgi, corny dialogue and irritating teens. Yes, there’s plenty of those films, BUT in amongst it, the late 90s really had some stellar entries.

If you’re familiar with the previous documentaries, you’ll know what to expect but if not, you’re in for a treat. An all star cast of directors, stars and horror fans share thoughts, insight and inside stories on this era of horror. It’s brilliantly put together, with a chronological journey and timeline view of the years. Squeezing in social history of the time and setting the scene helps transport you back to the 90s and see how and why these movies were made.

Art is always a response to society at large. The 90s focus on the internet, connecting online, new technology, AI, race relations, law and order, politics and even the DVD boom are covered and reflected in the movies chosen to cover in detail. I’m a huge fan of social history but it’s not laborious for anyone who’s not.

We see how this influenced the 90s films we all know and love; Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Se7en, Vampires and Wishmaster. There’s also moments for lesser known films like Necronomicon, Xtro 3, Thinner and The Shining mini series. Some films, I’d never even heard of and like previous instalments, this documentary is responsible for a load of new additions to my watchlist! I HAVE to watch The Island of Dr Moreau and the companion documentary Lost Soul.

Personal highlights in the documentary included hearing Ernest R. Dickerson talking about Demon Knight and Tales from the Hood. It completely repositioned my view of Demon Knight in terms of the importance of having a black female final girl. It was however really sad to hear about Gilbert Adler having such a horrendous time making the follow up Bordello of Blood.

I could hear Brian Yuzna talk for hours and it was brilliant to get his thoughts on Necronomicon and The Dentist. Ted Raimi was fascinating as well as insightful talking about Skinner, Tim Balme discussing The Frighteners was another highlight and then I found Michael Gross to be utterly hilarious the whole way through. It’s even made me think I might have to revisit Tremors.

Jamie Kennedy is uncannily like his adored character Randy Meeks

It was fantastic to see the admiration and genuine love Heather Langenkamp still carries for Wes Craven. Tom Savini is hilarious especially talking From Dusk till Dawn. Andrew Divoff was a completely unexpected delight and even the famously grumpy Mr Carpenter was fantastic value.

I’ve mentioned the film above but I was also stunned to see Harry Bromley Davenport turn up to speak about Xtro 3 whilst being so candid and honest about its limitations. Simply put, you don’t see this in many other documentaries.

I could write pages more on my favourite moments and lessons learned but it needs to be watched instead.

I was slightly disappointed that there was teasing of Rumpelstiltskin but it wasn’t really discussed but I have to accept my favourites might not be everyone else’s! In order to get this review done I watched the full documentary in two sittings which was a mammoth task and did impact my enjoyment towards the end HOWEVER that won’t be the case on my rewatch and for the majority of other viewers.

In my eyes, the team at Creator VC have done another amazing job. They pour genuine insight, brilliant editing, a stellar soundtrack and their hearts and souls into every project and this hits the heights of the previous docs with (in my opinion) a weaker list of films to go at.

It’s changed my opinion and view of 90s horror completely. I’m sensing that 2026 might become the year of the 90s…