Dark Tower



When a window washer freaks out and plunges to his death just outside a high-rise that’s still under construction, the police chalk it up to either a suicide or some kind of medical incident. But security consultant Dennis Randall has his doubts. He’s suddenly been having weird visions regarding this building lately and he can’t seem to figure out why. But his suspicions are bolstered when a security guard is mysteriously found dead the next morning, and then again when his own colleague seemingly goes bonkers and shoots up the lobby. Randall doesn’t know what the hell is going on, but he suspects two things: 1) that there is a very evil, angry presence somewhere in that high-rise, and 2) that for some reason it has its sights set on the building’s architect, Carolyn Page.


This seems like an extravagant undie choice just to go to your job and work in solitude, but to each their own...

Dark Tower (not to be confused with The Dark Tower or anything related to Stephen King) is an American horror film from 1989, set in Barcelona, Spain, that stars Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, and Kevin McCarthy. Which is a surprisingly nice location and good group of actors to cobble together for a horror movie, so I was kinda surprised I hadn’t heard about this one. But it becomes quite clear after the first couple of scenes why this one isn’t talked about. And it’s not just because the movie was only released in theaters in Europe while only receiving a home video release in the US.


No! Not a direct-to-video film! Say it ain’t so!

In short: the movie is boring. One would think that it would be hard to make a movie about a possessed condominium boring, but these filmmakers seem to have pulled it off. Though I will admit that it starts off rather promising. You’ve got a window washer freaking out before hurtling himself 29 stories to his death, a security guard meets a grisly demise in the haunted elevator, the first floor lobby gets shot up, ending in the deaths of several people, and all this is going on while the main character is having odd visions of Jenny Agutter running for her life down desolate hallways while wearing little more than a torn shirt over her lacy undergarments. So for the first 25 minutes or so, the film is on a roll and getting progressively more violent and weird, which should be a positive sign of things to come. But alas, this proves not to be the case. Because after the bang-bang-shoot-em-up in the lobby the movie inexplicably turns itself into some sort of paranormal investigative mystery and all the film’s promise and upward momentum comes to a SCREECHING halt as the film shifts from watching killer ghosts, to watching Randall try to figure out his psychic visions while also trying to get other psychics to help him figure out what’s going on in the high-rise. A scenario which is especially frustrating, because it’s pretty easy early on to figure out what’s haunting the building and why, making all that investigative junk, and thus 2/3rds of the film, feel not only dull but also painfully pointless.


He just walks around and talks to himself for 10 minutes. Prepare to be riveted, folks.

The poor film doesn’t even have the benefit of some wonky or cheesy FX to help it out, either. You do get some bleeding windows (which are subtle, but kind of cool) and a nice shot of a creepy zombie and a crumbling/un-crumbling wall at the end. But beyond that the snazziest special effect you get is an industrial fan making a mess of Agutter’s office and… Uh, nothing. That’s it. Most everything else happens just off screen or is implied, so you rarely have the benefit of seeing anything in the film. Unless of course you were looking forward to watching Moriarty walk around, awkwardly talk to people, or stare silently at computer screens while an obvious voice-over regails his thoughts to the viewer. Cause the film’s got plenty of that on display for your viewing pleasure.


There are two scenes where he does this. TWO!

On the plus side, the movie does have some nice atmosphere, as the unfinished building they’re primarily in does have a pleasant exterior while also containing a perpetually eerie vibe within. And of course it’s kind of hard to make a city like Barcelona not look interesting, which helps a lot too. So at least some of the film’s locations are pleasant to look at.


Aw, look, they tried to get arty. It’s kind of cute.

And as I said before, the cast here is very, very impressive. Certainly better than this silly, plodding, mess of a movie has any right to have. Moriarty is his usual quirky, but entertaining self. Jenny Aggutar sadly spends most of her time either looking nervous or screaming, but still manages to add a level of class to the proceedings. Kevin McCarthy shows up for a hot second towards the films end and is as good as one can expect for only being on screen for a couple of minutes. The surprise here though, is Theodore Bikel as the paranormal investigator, who manages to out-quirk Moriarty with a character who’s so desperate to make meaningful contact with ghosts that he spends 3 minutes talking to an air conditioning unit at one point.


Um, Kevin, honey, why did they dress you like a homeless person?

Ultimately though, Dark Tower is just…dull. The story is predictable as hell, and probably only has enough meat on it for a 30-minute special, not a 90-minute film. And even what little meat there is doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Like, why is the ghost killing all these random people when it’s only after ONE person in particular? Why is Randall suddenly having these visions in the first place? And what do those “making out with the hot architect lady” visions have to do with anything? But, perhaps most importantly, why TF do people keep getting in the bloody elevators when they’ve already been proven, MORE THAN ONCE, to be faulty and dangerous? Seriously, just take the fucking stairs, you morons! I don’t care if it’s 29 floors. It’s good exercise and better than dropping like a rock to a splattery doom. Or better yet, how about DON’T go into the building at all. That would have saved at least two unnecessary deaths right there.

Besides, it’s not like the “heroes” had a solid plan to get rid of the ghost anyway, beyond your standard vague “we have to satisfy this tortured spirit” nonsense. You know the only thing that was going to satisfy this spirit? Sweet, sweet murder of one very specific person. Which – surprise surprise! – it achieves. And then the movie ends, leaving you to wonder “WTF was the point of all that psychic mumbo-jumbo?” If they weren’t even going to be helpful and save anyone, why make us sit through all of that instead of just skipping to the end? It would have saved everyone A LOT of time.

But alas, we shall never know the answers to these questions, because clearly nobody who worked on this movie thought this damn thing through. So a movie with potential ends up with said potential unrealized due to, what I can only assume to be, lack of imagination. Oh well. It’s still watchable and does have a couple of fun bits, though. So if you like overlooked B-grade horror and have some patience to spare, then this one is at least tolerable. But if you’re looking for something more “exciting”, then I assure you, this ain’t it.

Dark Tower is available on a variety of streaming services.

Dark Tower is also available on Bluray.

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