Julie is forced into a sorority initiation in a mausoleum.
Tom McLoughlin's One Dark Night (1983) attempts a supernatural teen horror that tries to be Phantasm in style but lands closer to a TV movie.
Meg Tilly stars, but performances are often hampered by the weak script. Much of the film, however, is bogged down by sluggish pacing and a glut of tedious pranks that sap tension.
Both Melissa Newman and Robin Evans, along with Tilly, try their best with the material. Even Adam West can't lift it.
Where it does shine is in its creepy real locations and the climactic sequences, which feature effective practical make-up effects on reanimated corpses and throwback optical effects that evoke 1980s horror charm. These moments hint at the film it could have been.
The daylight and interior setups, while serviceable, further diminish suspense, leaving the film feeling uneven and modest in ambition.
In the end, One Dark Night is a curious relic of early '80s horror, an attempt at eerie supernatural thrills undermined by pacing and teen hijinks, yet occasionally rewarded with inventive effects that recall the era's charm.
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