Darkplace is not your average hospital where doctors are working hard to spend all their working hours on taking care of their patients. Its staffers are in an every day jeopardy as one of the doctors played with dark magic and accidentally opened the Gates of Hell. As you would expect, the Gates are located below the hospital and generate a series of strange events. While this sounds like your typical B horror movie, the situation couldn't be more different - "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" is a hilarious 6-episode TV series that can be regarded as a spoof of an ultimate trash kind.
When I first got a hold of "Darkplace" DVD I didn't have any prior knowledge about the show. I expected it to be a typical British sharp humor show that has some relations with our favorite genre. After watching a couple of episodes I was laughing out loud, all by myself, which doesn't happen to me even when a terrific comedy is on the TV.
"Darkplace", which is shortened alternative title to the show, was shot in 2004 and aired around the same time in the United Kingdom via Channel 4. What is so different about it is that it very realistically clones the feeling of a typical 80s TV show. A bad 80s TV show I must say. Everything is over the top here: hospital building is clearly a cheap cardboard model, actors are trying to be as bad as they possibly can, stories are so shallow and I really won't go into discussing the state of special effects. Imagine early Spectrum graphics. There you have it.
Garth Marenghi is a fictitious horror writer that wrote, produced, acted and directed "Darkplace". In his words, the TV series were so unorthodox that it was banned from every TV station except a local channel in a small South American country. In a manner of Ricky Gervais from the "The Office", he is talking to the cameras about the show and in the meantime gives the audience a possibility of finally watching one of the "legendary" episodes. What we get is a mix of played interviews with the cast and the actual episode.
Matthew Holness who is playing Garth Marenghi, as well as lead character Dr. Rick Dagless M.D, is a perfect guy to play this part. He did a very realistic impression of an egocentric bad horror writer that thinks all the best about his work. I really can understand why some people thought that Garth Marenghi is a real person. When the show starts, we see Dr. Rick Dagless MD as a righteous doctor that is in the same time a role model for all the young children he is treating and a fierce fighter against the evil lurking around the hospital.
 
He is accompanied by hilarious characters as Liz Asher, blond doctor with special telekinesys powers, his boss Dean Lerner that shows some of the worst acting ever seen on TV and my favorite Dr. Lucien Sanchez, the man who tries to be charming with his special (cheap) laugh and a regular 80s mullet. BTW, the guy who is playing Lerner is the series co-creator and director.
These crusaders of trash are battling flying irons, one eyed monsters, haunted Scottish drunkards and even green piss that is transforming hospital employees into monkeys.
What is so hilarious about the show is that the people behind it really know there stuff when talking about all the stereotypes of 80s TV shows and movies. I really cannot describe until what details some scenes are planned to look bad. Try to imagine random rough cuts in the middle of a scene which make some things appear in front of the camera and disappear in the next moment. Think of Ed Wood coming back and taking a helm at directing a TV show.
Unfortunately, for now the show is available only on a Region 2 DVD. I guess it will receive a Region 1 treatment, as the series resulted with a cult following on the old continent. The IMDB page for the series shows around 600 votes with an average rating of 9.4/10 which is at least three times bigger than the ratings of horror movies that usually enter my DVD player.
I can't stress out how strangely addictive "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" was. As there are just six 30 minute long episodes, I watched one per day and was eager to do re-runs with friends that are usually taking part in our Sci-Fi Channel or Nu Image movie marathons.
When you finally get a change to watch Darkplace you will find out how the authors managed to take out all the trashy moments from a whole decade and melt it into a delightful, funny and extremely entertaining TV series.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Darkplace
MOVIE YEAR: 2004
DIRECTOR: Matthew Holness
WRITING CREDITS: Matthew Holness
GENRE: Comedy, Horror
CAST: Matthew Holness, Alice Lowe, Matt Berry
COUNTRY: UK
RUNTIME: 180 min
RATING: 10/10
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Website/IMDB Click here
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Trailer
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