There aren’t many people who don’t admire Sam Raimi’s insane genius. In 1990, he was riding high on the success of his low-budget classic horror series The Evil Dead. Critics and fans were already familiar with the work of a director who could obviously think outside the box.
With the release of his 1990 film Darkman, he verified similar beliefs. Although the trailer gave the impression that it was a rip-off of the Caped Crusader, it was far from that. In the superhero genre, it was a bombshell, and the story had the boldness to thrive in the gloomy portrayal of heroism.
It was a brave endeavour to say the least, with R-rated violence and grim comedy, and the identity-swapping superhero might easily be confused for a cadaver.
Sam Raimi wanted to make a superhero film after the success of Evil Dead II, and he was eager to adapt the pulp magazine story The Shadow. He moved on to invent his own superhero, who was more of a mutant mix of Frankenstein’s Monster, Batman, and the Invisible Man, after his efforts were refused.
Liam Neeson plays the lead role. Neeson as the protagonist, this superhero was something we had never seen before as he transformed from his bleak depression to incandescentrage. The story is a cross between Gothic horror and science fiction. It has a hazardous and living sense about it, and the thrill of the plot is quite unique.
When the film was released in 1990, fans were pleasantly surprised, and Darkman’s brand of retribution ensured that no one knew what to expect next. The film’s success spurred two sequels, however Sam Raimi was just an executive producer on the two Direct-to-Video sequels. We’ll teach you everything there is to know about this original and unique Darkman, as well as the franchise’s legacy, in this video.
Who Is Darkman – Darkman 1?
This movie was based on a short story written by Sam Raimi himself, serving as a tribute to the horror films of the 1930s.
Dr. Peyton Westlake is the protagonist of the film. He’s focusing on creating a form of synthetic skin that will aid burn patients. During his investigation, however, he encounters a problem: the skin appears to disintegrate after only 99 minutes.
Meanwhile, his lawyer girlfriend Julie comes across an incriminating document that reveals a large-scale fraud involving a developer named Louis Strack Jr.. When he is captured, he admits to his misdeeds, but advises Julie not to get involved in anything that could put her in danger.
He claims that he has enormous plans for the city, and that some of them include breaking the law quickly. Louis even tells her of the participation of Robert Durant, a notorious criminal leader. in this matter, who wants possession of an incriminating document Julie has. The gang shows up at Dr. Peyton’s research facility looking for the paper.
They kill his assistant and injure him severely by dipping his face in acid and burning his hands before blowing up his lab. Dr. Peyton, who had just found out about the photosensitive nature of the skin he created, is hurled into the river on the impact of the explosion.
He is terribly burned and disfigured when he is brought to the hospital as an unidentified victim. During the treatment, the nerves of his spinothalamic tract are snapped and he loses any sensation. He no longer feels any physical pain and as a result his strength is enhanced with the adrenal overload. However, he is no longer mentally stable and escapes from the hospital after waking up from a coma.
He is presumed dead, and even his lover Julie is ignorant of his extraordinary survival. Unknown to anyone, he establishes a lab in a derelict building and works to perfect the technique of synthesizing skin.
He then goes on to make a mask that resembles his previous face, as well as plotting revenge against the group for what they did to him. Before positioning his head in front of an incoming car, he grabs one of criminal boss Durant’s henchman and obtains the identities of other guys in the gang.
He pays close attention to each person’s demeanour. and cleverly impersonates them to infiltrate the syndicate. This causes a lot of confusion amongst the thugs and slowly Dr. Peyton nears his vengeance.
He even uses his own face mask to meet Julie and finds out that she really has feelings for him irrespective of his appearance. She was seeing the developer Strack who had comforted her in the tough times, but she calls things off once Peyton is back. Later, shelearns that Strack was working with Durant the whole time.
It all boils down to a final showdown where Dr. Peyton gets to fight his nemesis Durant. As he tries to escape in a helicopter, he hangs by an attached cable and causes the chopper to crash. He then impersonates Durant and heads to deal with Strack.
They engage in some intense fighting before Strack is thrown off a building to his death.Julie, who was being held captive in the same building, pleads with Dr. Peyton to go back to his old life, but he claims that there have been some significant changes in his nature. He puts on a mask and escapes into the crowd, walking away from his love!
Darkman II: The Return of Durant
Dr. Peyton returns to his experiment in a building beside an abandoned subway track in this sequel, which picks up where the first left off. He now uses the money he took from the thieves to fund his studies, and he believes Durant is dead.
He is working on a problem that arose from his previous research, in which light caused the skin he made to break down after 99 minutes. Durant awakens from his sleep with some evil preparations in place, unknown to him.
This time, he plans to free Alfred, a prison convict who could assist him in developing particle-beam weaponry that would help them gain control of the criminal underworld. Dr. Peyton finally meets someone who is working on the same project as he is, David Brinkman,who works alongside him to try and develop a way to beat the 99 minute mark!
When Durant’s men want to buy David’s building, he refuses and is killed as a result. His finger is chopped off in a trademark Durant style and Dr. Peyton learns that he is alive immediately after he sees the corpse.
In the meantime, a reporter who was working on the case discovers that Dr. Peyton is still living and even befriends the scientist. However, Durant gets her killed as well in a car bombing after she does a story on his criminal activities.
Durant is still desperate to buy David’s building, and this time he is putting pressure on David’s sister Laurie, according to Dr. Peyton. He sets out to protect her, employing his previous strategy of infiltrating Durant’s lair with masks that resemble the faces of Durant’s men.
Durant tries to flee in his car, but Dr. Peyton has it equipped with explosives, forcing him to die the same manner he killed the reporter. Our hero receives justice and swears to continue fighting crime in the same manner in the future.
Darkman III: Die Darkman Die
This film begins with the same concept, with Peyton Westlake still searching for a permanent liquid-skin compound that will repair his skin. He’s also a vigilante who wears a cloak and patrols the city at night.
This time, he is involved in a shady business and a criminal enterprise. Rooker, Peter. Peyton is approached by one of the physicians who had saved him after the brutal attack by Durant,Dr. Bridget Thorne, who wants to help his research and restore his sensory system to some extent. With her help, Peyton finally manages to create some of the liquid skin that won’t break down under sunlight.
There is a sudden twist in the plot when Dr. Thorne reveals that she is actually Rooker’s mistress. The kingpin arrives and expresses his desire to make good use of Peyton’s superhuman strength. He is taken captive as the duo tries to find the root of his power. Peyton, on the other hand, manages to elude capture and sets out to learn more about the group.
We see a human aspect to his character when he meets Rooker’s wife and daughter. He disguises himself as Rooker and spends time with them, even attending his daughter’s school programme. Rooker, meantime, puts his research to good use and creates a recipe for Peyton’s superhuman power.
He instills it in one of his henchmen and puts him on dangerous tasks like assassinating an idealistic District Attorney. Peyton arrives just in time to save him, but Rooker has other dark ideas in mind.
He kills Dr. Thorne and uses the formula of super-strength on himself. He also takes his own family hostage, the family that Peyton had grown to love. The rescue attempt results in an intense brawl, but eventually, Peyton gets the better of Rooker and throws him into an industrial shredder.
A massive explosion takes place in the facility and although Peyton is able to save the mother and daughter, the daughter’s face suffers terrible burn injuries. Peyton makes the heroic decision to use a little bit of liquid skin to repair her face instead of his own.
He must restart his research after his research disc is damaged, and the film ends with him resolving to continue his research and deliver his particular brand of vigilante justice.
Our take on these movies
The original Darkman, directed by Sam Raimi, was one of the first R-rated superhero films to hit theatres. This superhero film had an adult tone to it, yet the storey was well received by the audience. While there are some violent scenes, the film never promotes psychopathic conduct or violence; rather, it depicts it as it is. Peyton, the fragile superhero in this film, lacked such abilities.
Except for his capacity to feel no pain and greater strength after the therapy, he was as vulnerable as any other guy. Furthermore, he is never depicted as an altruistic do-gooder who contributes to society. Darkman is out for his own revenge and it just happens to be that his own enemies were criminals as well.
This underrated classic was helped by some brilliant performances with Liam Neeson taking the center stage as the protagonist. It took a lot of effort because he had to work eighteen hour shifts underneath all the makeup.
Initially, Sam Raimi wanted Bruce Campbell to play the role of the protagonist, but the producers weren’t too sure that it would be the right casting, and eventually, he was brought in for a small cameo. There are some logical loopholes in the narrative but that would hardly bother you given the entertainment value.
We loved the score by Danny Elfman and the visual effects were decent enough for the times. This entertaining superhero film isn’t your ordinary Hollywood blockbuster. Some of the scenes struck out to us because they seemed like they could have come straight from a comic book.
In terms of action scenes, we particularly like Peyton being swung from a helicopter by a chain. The goofiness of the action and brutality added to the Sam Raimi flavour found in films such as Evil Dead. The original Darkman film is, in general, a must-see for everyone.
A lot of things changed in the second movie in the series, and it all started with Sam Raimi not being the helmer any longer. He was the executive producer, but the story or direction had nothing to do with him.
Neither was Liam Neeson a part of the project, and this straight-to-video sequel was obviously handicapped by the absence of two major people who made the first movie so successful. However, directed by Bradford May, it is still pretty watchable and as decent as you could expect a low-budget B-movie to be.
The story is interesting and Liam Neeson’s replacement Arnold Vosloo does a pretty good job as Darkman or Dr. Peyton. The story delivers the action and thrills that a Darkman film should, while the photography steals the show with some fascinating shots.
The conversation is quite amusing, and the characters break away from their perceived peculiarities in a few scenes, as we witnessed in the first film. Expect nothing short of a sweeping epic, but it’s certainly a film worth seeing.
As we have said already, Darkman II proved to be a very satisfying sequel given the terrible reputation of Direct-to-Video sequels to good movies. The same director, Bradford May, is in charge of the third movie as well, and he does a pretty good job one more time.
This film was made concurrently with Darkman II, and it was originally planned to be the series’ second part. However, the release date was pushed back, and it was relegated to third place.
The plot is set in stone, and now that Durant is gone, Darkman must cope with a new foe. Arnold Vosloo, who reprised his role from the previous film, did an excellent job of giving the tough-guy superhero a human side. This time, Darkman not only fights bad powers, but also saves a woman and her daughter, giving him a sympathetic side.
The film is a great mix of hard-hitting action scenes and some emotional moments to strike the perfect balance. The witty dialogue is like a breath of fresh air and it made the experience all the better. Some of the essences of the original film has been retained with the OTT visuals and the nightmare vision sequence.
Comparisons with the original would be rather unfair, but Die Darkman Die does hold its own with some power-packed content. As long as you can handle the bloody and gory violence with a dash of strong language at times, you will certainly enjoy the narrative.
And Then Darkman Teamed Up With Ash From Evil Dead
If you believed Darkman III was the final chapter in the series, you were mistaken. Yes, the movies finish there, but Dynamite Entertainment released a four-issue comic book in 2006.
The plot’s most interesting aspect was that it featured two of Sam Raimi’s most popular characters, Ash Williams and Darkman. You’re all probably familiar with Ash Williams, the protagonist of the Evil Dead films. As they are brought together, the plot establishes an intelligent link between them.
The narrative picks up from where the third movie left off. We see Peyton looking over his girlfriend’s business whilst moonlighting as a vigilante. His lady love, Julie, is now dating a new man named Tony.
One day, Julie and her assistant Brynne stumble upon a box containing some occult-related items. One of these items is the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, and Brynne manages to translate it partially. When Julie reads through the text she is possessed and the citizens and the deadbodies in the morgue change into dangerous deadites.
Darkman soon realizes the seriousness of the chaos and jumps in to save Julie and Brynne from an attack by the undead creatures. However, he is shocked to learn that Julie has been transformed as well and the others refer to her as the Queen of Darkness. Darkman tries his hardest, but he is unable to free Julie from her possession. Instead, he tries to save Brynne, and the two become entangled in a library.
She identified Darkman as Dr. Peyton and revealed that another section of the text she translated stated that a hero from another time will appear and assist in this hour of need. They say the incantation, and Ash Williams is transported through a gateway by a vortex. The deadites’ relentless assault continues, and the group does their best to stave off the onslaught.
The Queen of Darkness arrives along with the dead, but when Ash tries to shoot her, Darkman stops him out of his love for his beloved Julie. Ash and Darkman indulge in a brawl following this, and using this opportunity one of the deadites runs off with the Necronomicon.
As they are reeling from the shock, Brynne calms their nerves by telling them that the deadite got the wrong book because she had changed the cover anticipating something like this. Darkman and Ash decide to spread out to conduct things effectively, but Darkman warns Ash to not shoot Julie because he believes that there is a way to restore her to life.
Brynne is shown about Darkman’s research centre, and the two collaborate to interpret the remaining sections of the Necronomicon. The Queen, in the meantime, collects the deadites for a speech.
The gathering is attacked by Ash, who fires a bazooka at the Queen. Just in time, a deadite pushes her out of the way, and it’s revealed that the deadite was Darkman, who was impersonating one with his special skin.
He apologises for sabotaging the Queen’s assassination attempt, but expresses hope that he will be able to transform her back into Julie. The Dark Queen escapes and resurrects Darkman’s arch-nemesis Durant from the grave, making him her lieutenant.
Darkman and Ash drive through the city as the deadites set fire to everything. They get to know that Durant is leading the army of the dead as they look to set up a new empire. Darkman tries to fight Durant, but he seems to be too strong with his enhanced strength.
However, Brynne finds the revival spell that could transform the Dark Queen back to Julie. This causes some disappointment to Ash who had to kill his love when she turned into one of the deadites. However, they assure him that the circumstances then were very different and she was beyond saving.
The trio then embarks on one more quest to perform the reversal spell and infiltrate the lair while disguised as deadites. Darkman fights Durant once more in a terrible battle, as Brynne tries to keep the Dark Queen at bay while the ritual is carried out. When it’s over, the Queen reverts to Julie, and Durant, along with the rest of the deceased, turns to dust.
Darkman departs on his own road after Julie is brought to a hospital and reunited with her boyfriend. After congratulating them on their achievement, Ash returns to his own time. Darkmanstill continues to watch over Julie and we see the human side of his character when he states that he can never save everyone like Superman and he has his limitations.
How Darkman Indirectly Shaped The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Yes, we’re making some bold assertions here, but we have ample proof to back them up. In some ways, Sam Raimi established the stage for future Marvel superheroes and how they would be presented years later.
As many of you are aware, Sam Raimi went on to direct the Spider-Man trilogy, which forever transformed how people viewed superheroes. You might believe Darkman and Spider-Man are as dissimilar as chalk and cheese, but there is a common ground between them.
They are both likeable characters who may be cheered on by the audience. The story has a sense of humour to it, and it’s clear from Darkman that it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously all of the time.
Sam Raimi has a fascination with comic books and in the Darkman movie you can see the stylized frames that are evidently experimentations with an over-the-top storytelling. Even with his Spider-Man movies he went for the 60s comic style that he remembered.
The intrinsic goofiness of the narrative and the protagonist is similar to what we saw in Darkman. In addition, there are several identical sequences between the two that are hard to miss.
For instance, the scene where Peyton succumbs to his anger is very similar to a comic book narrative and it has been recreated again in Peter Parker’s transformation. Following Spider-huge Man’s success, a slew of additional heroes emerged, all of whom were cheery and entertaining to root for.
The way Marvel depicted characters like Iron Man and Captain America reflected the goofiness and comedy. They understood that spectators enjoyed the lighthearted portrayal of their heroes, who were fragile and not indestructible.
Was it a clear influence of Darkman? It may or may not be the case, but clearly it was one of the first superheroes to have no such grand superpowers, one who was fun to watch and easy to relate to because he was flawed!
Sam Raimi Broke Every Protocol In The Book To Release The Final Cut!
Darkman was a resounding commercial success, grossing nearly $50 million on a budget of only $16 million. However, many people are unaware of the circumstances behind the film’s release, which involves a last-minute edit.
Universal Studios had hired their own editor and had first passed on Sam Raimi for the assignment. However, the editors they hired continued fumbling with the job, and the test screening results didn’t add up to much.
The original editor intended to turn it into a romantic comedy, but he eventually gave up and abandoned the effort. Another edited out some of the more fascinating parts to make an 85-minute film. This is when Sam Raimi’s editor suggested a last-minute edit work once again.
They all sat together for the project and restored a lot of the scenes that were chopped out. The entire movie was redone and Universal Pictures was kept in the dark about these developments. When they did find out, there was a lot of hue and cry because this was completely against the prevailing protocols of post production.
But it was too late to make any changes at this point, so they went forward with the final cut. The controversy died out as a result of the film’s box office success, which pleased both critics and fans.
As a result, Darkman’s legacy was saved by a last-minute cut that resulted in the best-possible version of the film. Stupid protocols have wrecked several wonderful films in the past, and we’re relieved that this will not be the case with Darkman.
Future Of The Darkman Franchise!
We are terribly sorry folks! We tried to bring you good news, but so far there is none. We have no such news whatsoever that points to the possibility of the series and lore being extended. Clearly, there are tales available.
For example, a comic book adaptation would be fascinating to watch! We’ll cross our fingers on this one and hope to hear positive news soon about a future project based on our beloved, eccentric superhero series.