I think I remember seeing clips of this show many years ago, but not to the point where I can remember much distinctly. However, I’d seen the name floating around off-and-on for years after that, and I finally decided to check it out. It was a pretty fun watch overall and does a very good job capturing and playing up the era it’s parodying. I’ll be honest, though, I almost wish I’d done this earlier, since I think it would have made for a humorous follow-up to a series of reviews that I did a while ago. I’ll explain what I mean later, so for now, here’s an idea of what this show is like.
The show is set-up like a retrospective re-airing of an obscure/lost show created by “famed horror author” Garth Marenghi, presented now with both the available episode footage and new interviews shot with Marenghi, his publicist Dean Learner, and the actor Todd Rivers who played Dr. Lucien Sanchez in the show. The show in question is Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, which is centered around the horrific and paranormal goings-on at the titular hospital and the staff that has to deal with them. The main cast are as follows: Dr. Rick “Dag” Dagless, played by Garth Marenghi himself, the tough rogue doctor with a heart of gold; Thornton Reed, played poorly by Dean Learner, the friendly yet authoritative shotgun-toting administrator; Dr. Lucien Sanchez, played by Todd Rivers, the suave and handsome Hispanic doctor with charm to spare; and Dr. Liz Asher, played by Madeleine Wool, the stereotypical blonde female doctor who’s never really taken seriously by her male counterparts (and has psychic powers sometimes). Together, they go up against such terrors as the child of a one-eyed monster (pun semi-intended) who Dag forms a paternal bond with after losing his own half-human-half-grasshopper son, an obviously contaminated water supply that’s turning the staff into ape-people, and the Scotch Mist which contain the angry spirits of stereotypical Scotsmen who seek revenge on Dag for his nasty comments about Scotland. Each episode is presented by Marenghi with an intro explaining the BS- I mean, in-depth message of each episode, and as stated previously, the episodes are intercut with new interviews with Marenghi, Learner, and Rivers about the process of making the show. I don’t think this is really a show that cares if you “spoil it,” since there really isn’t anything to spoil, but I think you’ll want to experience these episodes for yourself, so I won’t go further with plot descriptions. Plus, I think I want to focus more on my thoughts and impressions of the show, since I think that’s where the real meat of description will be. So, with that, let’s go into my review.
So, as you can probably tell, this show is not meant to be taken seriously. It’s a very tongue-in-cheek “bad-on-purpose” parody of low budget 80’s horror and TV. They really nail the look too, with splashes of “atmospheric” neon lighting, obvious sets, dated fashion, bad keying, and cheesy effects. The actors all give intentionally terrible performances as well (at least one of which, Richard Ayoade who plays Dean Learner who plays Thornton Reed, was actually just that bad). Fans of that era, and especially of the lower quality end of its spectrum, will definitely get a kick out of this. It almost reminded me of an Adult Swim parody at times, like Saul of the Mole Men, except with British sensibilities. It’s premise, being about a hospital that’s plagued by strange and supernatural happenings, is remarkably similar to Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom (the theme song even chants “Darkplace” similar to how Trier’s show’s theme chanted “Kingdom”), so I almost wish I’d covered it back then as a fun follow-up. Really, though, this show is different enough in vibe and execution that it works as a stand-alone watch too, and it parodies far more than just The Kingdom. Over the course of the series, you get parodies of/homages to Planet of the Apes, Creepshow, Halloween, The Fog, and Carrie, among others. In fact, the Carrie reference leads us into a bigger aspect of parody in this show: the works of Stephen King and the author himself. Anyone that’s read his work or seen things based on his work (especially the TV miniseries) would definitely notice some parallels. King not only loves supernatural, or even outer-dimensional, horror, but he also loves to write a lot of melodrama into his works. This carries over to the TV adaptations of his stories, which are often pretty low budget themselves, coming across more like horror-soap operas with cheesy acting and effects than anything else. Now, Darkplace’s execution of this sort of soap is a little different, feeling more like a general take-off of that sort of dramatic television rather than what you might see in, say, The Langoliers or The Tommyknockers. However, I do think the parallel is intentional, since the spoofing of King goes beyond just his works and actually extends to himself. Garth Marenghi is clearly meant to be a play on King, and writers of his ilk, but a very pretentious and self-absorbed asshole version of him/them. Marenghi self-aggrandizes and plays up everything he writes as being deep and/or meaningful, when really, he just writes pulp garbage. He’s also, in British character tradition, definitely the kind of asshole that never realizes that he’s an asshole, often saying awful things that he mental gymnastics into being “profound.” A good example comes in the previously mentioned Scotch Mist, in which Dag blatantly uses slurs against the Scottish spirits, and Garth tries to justify this since Dag’s hatred of and bad experience with Scotland were based on his own. He then goes on to claim that this episode was meant to “help England heal” (heal from what, Garth? The imperial takeover that they themselves induced on the Scots?). That’s the kind of guy Garth Marenghi is, and it’s a treat to watch just how pathetic he can be. Dean Learner is of a similar type of asshole, but more so the “sleazy producer who doesn’t know anything about what’s good and what isn’t and will just talk up his golden boy’s work without having a clue what he’s talking about” type of asshole. The interviews with Marenghi and Learner are a great touch to the show as a result, and really help to sell this whole “obscure show that’s probably obscure for a reason” concept. I also very much liked the intros Marenghi does for each episode, which play into this whole “you’re about to step into the world of my writing” kind of presentation. It made me think of the trailer to Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, the only film King ever directed. In said trailer, King tries to play up the film as being really scary and “his true vision,” even though the actual film is really schlocky, stupid, and not scary in the slightest (honestly, I’ve always wondered if he knew how dumb the movie was and maybe made it that way semi-intentionally). In general, I think this show executes what it sets out to do very well. It’s a fun tribute to and piss-take on 80’s horror and drama TV, as well as a classic example of British asshole characterization. You might have to be in the right mindset to watch something that’s intentionally trying to be bad, and I could also see that sort of gimmick wearing out for some people, but I think that the retrospective framing device helps ease you into what you’re going to get, and that they do enough variations with this “supposed to be bad” concept to keep it fresh and entertaining. That’s about all I have to say on this show, so I’ll wrap up here.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time with Garth Marenghi and his Darkplace. Apparently, the same guys later did a talk show parody hosted by Dean Learner. I’m not sure if I’ll cover that at some point or not, but it’s definitely a possibility. I might want to cover another Wim Wenders film next time, so be on the lookout for that. Until then, give Darkplace a watch and have a schlocky good time.