![]() Mimicking and spoofing everything from hacky horror TV shows, Stephen King adaptations, and the Lars von Trier series Kingdom, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is perfectly terrible looking. The bulk of the program is a straight-ahead replay of the shelved episodes, padded with present-day talking head commentary from the principal “actors” - Garth Marenghi (co-creator Matthew Holness), Dean Learner (Ayoade), and Todd Rivers (Matt Berry). The premise alone is dense: washed-up horror author Garth Marenghi digs into his archives to unearth a vanity project from the ’80s, a failed TV show that networks didn’t pick up, about doctors packing heat at a low-rent hospital located above the gates of hell. For a show that seems like a low-stakes sendup, its stylistic roots and thematic layers run deep. The Channel 4 cult classic set the template for creator/director/star Richard Ayoade’s art. ![]() Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace(2004) is the skeleton key. I am exciting and delicious.” - Graham Purvis, Submarine Oliver O’Sullivan looks back on his pair of films, two nuanced character studies that are deeply in conversation with each other Ayoade hasn’t directed a feature since 2013.
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