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The involvement of Paul Bartel in "Out of the Dark" goes beyond his appearance, with an atrocious wig, as the manager of the seedy Royale Motel. As executive producer he has influenced Bartel-like dark humor throughout the film. The supporting cast alone is reason to seek this one out. You get "Lust in the Dust" alumni Lanie Kazan, Geoffrey Lewis, Tab Hunter, and "Divine". In addition, Tracey Walters, Karen Black, and Bud Cort are on board. This story of a clown masked killer murdering phone sex girls, is creatively photographed, and the performances are enthusiastic. Unfortunately, "Out of the Dark" was "Divine's": final film. ...................... - MERK

Enter the world of phone sex. Yeah, that was a thing back in the day, before the Internet.

Kristi works for a phone sex business, Suite Nothings, owned by Ruth (Karen Black). Her boyfriend is Kevin, who works as a photographer, taking sensual images of the girls working for Suite Nothings. Off course, being a film about a phone sex business AND being an 80's slasher, there's no surprise in this being sexploitation. Yup, nude girls and boobies, boobies, boobies.

Bobo, a guy with a clown mask, stalks and kills the girls working for Suite Nothings. Being a whodunit murder mystery, the film tries very hard to set up possible suspects, but it is rather obvious who the killer is. I had my suspicions from the very beginning, and I was right.

While detectives try to solve the murders, Kristi and Kevin do their own investigation as well. 'Out of the Dark' is not a bad entry to the 80's slasher repertoire, but I'm not sure I'm going to remember it by its title.

Look out for a guest appearance by Divine, whom I hardly recognized without his trademark make-up.

At a phone sex hotline called "Suite Nothings", a killer known by the alias of "Bobo" begins stalking and killing the women while wearing a clown mask. Lt. Frank Meyers (Tracey Walter) investigates the killings in order to identify and stop the killer.

Out of the Dark is a 1989 slasher film written by J. Greg De Felice and Zane W. Levitt the two were inspired to work on with the prevalence of premium 976 telephone numbers. Originally written under the title of 976-KILL, the script was acquired by Paul Bartel and produced by CIneTel Films which changed the name to avoid confusion with 976-EVIL which they had also produced. The film largely went ignored on its theatrical release making only around $900,000 against a $1.6 million budget, but it most likely did better on cable TV on video stores where this kind of film tended to thrive. While Out of the Dark doesn't strive too far from established tropes of the genre, it does get a bit more stylish and ambitious than other slashers of the time.

What makes the film work is definitely in the interesting cast of characters that are assembled who are played by noted character actors like Karen Black, Bud Cort, Tracey Walter, and even a cameo from Divine (in what was his last role before his death of heart failure). The movie has a nice air of sleaze to it coupled with a mixture of dark humor such as a sting operation where the cops are listening to the phone sex line trying to trap the killer and are clearly getting "hot and bothered" by the language the girls are using. The movie does a good job of making the phone sex operators likable characters many of whom are actresses just trying to make ends meet (one even has it on her resume that she played Ookla the Mok on Saturday morning cartoon The Barbarians). The movie is nicely shot with some visually memorable scenes that strive for a De Palma or Hitchcock feel (De Felice and Levitt even said this was their inspiration) even if the actual "mystery" probably won't surprise you especially since it relies on some pretty flimsy logic.

Out of the Dark is a fun sleazy slasher and it's definitely worth a look for fans of the genre, the actually content isn't far beyond what you typically associate with the genre, but there's some good style and sleaze at play.

For a grade-B slasher, this isn't too awful. Tone down the forced nudity and dopey killer and they could've had something even better. As it is a clown-masked nut is dispatching the hot chicks of a phone se....uh, phone *fantasy* hotline. The mystery aspect is very well executed, which is why I say this could've been a lot more if they went for realism. Instead it's a giddy killer, Freddy Kruegering his way through some routine murders. "Don't call me, I'll call you!" he groans after strangling one of the girls. Then all of a sudden the director goes for nasty gore when a hooker is dismantled and left in a bloody bathtub. The cast is really above par (the girls are gorgeous), with some unknowns turning in good performances, along with veteran journeymen (and women) such as Black, Owens, Cort, and in his one big part I've ever seen, Tracey Walter. Long ago infamous crossdresser Divine even shows up for a scene. And Paul Bartel (who ex. prod.), too! Danielson and Dye carry the film well, and have maybe the most steamy sex scene I've ever watched (even moreso than say, "Fatal Attraction"). The ending provides a good shock and makes this not totally useless. So if you can find it, give it a shot. "It's time for Bobo!"

A pretty routine thriller, but competently directed and relatively well-written. At first it seems to play all its cards too early, but it does keep some surprises in store. Some intense horror sequences help, but in the final 5 minutes the film resorts into standard cliches and implausibilities (killers that just won't die, forgotten characters appearing out of nowhere, etc).