Alone in the Dark II: Set Report
August 10, 2007
Burbank, CA
Today Bloody-Disgusting hit up the set of ALONE IN THE DARK II in Burbank, CA to talk about the direct-to-video sequel to UWE BOLL’s infamous video game adaptation. German directors Michael Roesch and Peter Sheerer were on hand to graciously welcome B-D to the set, which unfortunately didn’t have Dr. Boll anywhere to be seen (he was off working on FAR CRY in Vancouver).
The duo was hard at work shooting a scene featuring Natalie (Rachel Specter) and Boyle (Ralf Moeller) walking through a hallway in a house, which was constructed on a soundstage in Burbank. Michael, who carries a
thick German accent [impossible to transcribe], chatted with us about his vision for the sequel, which he also co-wrote. He explains that the franchise is a new start and shot completely on 35mm instead of the previously used HD. He also reveals that the film will be extremely bloodier than the first and feature mostly practical effects. There are no monsters in this film, as the villain is a single ghost-witch, played by Allison Lang.
Later in the day we watched them set up a shot, which was said to be in another house somewhere in New York. The set was an upstairs bedroom with an electromagnetic cage that we’re told “keeps ghosts out.” The room was jammed with automatic weapons, which I guess hurt witches? The cage is a safe-zone, but when the generator fails Natalie leaves to find her father (Bill Moseley).
We also saw some other sets, such as a hallway under the streets of New York that ends at a rusty red door… through the door an alter awaits. The altar was shaped like a pentagram with high posts in each corner and dirt covering the ground. In between the posts fire will be shooting up 10-feet. We also saw a custom built bathroom, which we were informed will become a “blood bath”.
Red-headed actress Allison Lang plays the witch whose application of make-up features her face half-decayed with teeth showing. The witch’s costume, which is an old black dress - something you’d expect the Blair Witch to wear - was designed by Kevin Adarman (?). It carried a hybrid modern-Victorian style and looked quite sleek.
One person we had the chance to talk to was Rachel Specter, one of the witch hunters, which ended up being the highlight of the day. The interview featured Specter walking out in the middle of our interview… no joke. Being that we missed Specter on the set of Screen Gems’ PROM NIGHT remake, we asked her a bit about her role in the film, she tells us “
I play Taylor… a snobby girl [who is] not very nice to Brittany Snow’s character.” Then I asked her about the film being PG-13 and if they shot additional gore for the DVD to which she replied with a nervous stall, “
I’d rather not talk about it, that was two months ago.” So I moved back on to ALONE IN THE DARK II, now check out the actual transcript [word for word], which is weird beyond words:
Mr. D: Who do you play in ALONE IN THE DARK II?
Rachel Specter: I play Natalie, uhm, I... am… hunting a witch.
Mr. D: Ok so you’re hunting a witch, how’d you end up with Ralf?
Rachel Specter: How did I end up with him?
Mr. D: Yeah, because you’re both in the house in this scene…
Rachel Specter: Yeah, he’s on our team of… [she locks up]
Mr. D: Ghost hunters? Witch Hunters?
Rachel Specter: Uhm… can you, can you, turn that off? Can we do this later; I’m going to go eat some food?
Mr D: Nope, that’s it.
After that odd-ball moment we talked to a much more stable, polite and interesting individual… Ralf Moeller, who really wanted us to plug his website
RalfMoeller.com. You might remember Ralf from classic action flicks such as CYBORG, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER – who has now become a Uwe Boll favorite. He had jut returned from shooting FAR CRY and will also be starring in both Boll’s upcoming POSTAL and SEED. In ALONE II he plays witch hunter Boyle. He tells us that the film will “
be kind of scary,” and that it’s “
nothing like SEED.” He tells B-D that SEED was a very violent film, more than he even thought was necessary, “
you can scare without showing every detail,” informing us that Boll might have actually cut the infamous (and unnecessary) ‘baby-smashing’ scene in the film. As for ALONE II, Ralf’s excited by the fact that you don’t have to see everything to be scared, “
It’s the whole idea… not having to see everything [is scary],” he exclaims as he puffs on his cigar.
All in all ALONE IN THE DARK II looked much more promising than I could have expected. Writer-director Michael Roesch was such a nice guy, extremely talkative and filled with passion. Although this doesn’t mean the film will be good, it always is nice to see a director who actually
cares and isn’t full of themselves.
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