Leif Jonker’s developmental years were steeped in the big-budget movie culture of the 1970s and 1980s. Like most nine-year-olds, he dreamed of bringing down dark empires and begged his mother to let him see the R-rated Alien. When Jonker saw a making of Star Wars special on TV, he said he “realized that people actually made movies.... I was blown away.” He was also determined to make his first film, Alien 2.
At the age of 12, Jonker made his first short film and financed it, selling the acting parts to his friends. Soon, he was setting his sights higher. “My sister said I was going to be a filmmaker, and I was going to have a movie going by the time I was 18. Suddenly, it was like I had a deadline.”
Estranged from his parents and “basically homeless” at 17, Jonker had no resources to support a budding film career. He moved back home with his mother and killed time delivering pizzas. The young artist started pitching his ideas to investors, seeking to raise $100,000. When these efforts failed, Jonker decided to make a movie on the cheap to raise money for future projects. Darkness was born.
With a gory vampire script under his arm, Jonker mounted a shoestring search for a cast and crew. He met Darkness lead actor Gary Miller working at a video store. Miller had a limited knowledge of makeup effects that would prove handy on set.
The movie was shot on inexpensive super-eight film with used cameras—one bought for 50 cents at a junk store—and cost a total of $5,000 out-of-pocket. In order to keep the film alive during hard times, Jonker moonlighted in an assortment of odd jobs.
“I drove a forklift; I washed dishes; for the last half of the movie, I worked this third-shift hotel desk security job,” he said. At one point, the entirely teenage cast and crew started selling their plasma to buy film.
With no pyrotechnics, no digital editing, and no experience, Jonker and his crew managed to create splatter scenes and outrageous death effects using papier-maché dummies. All blood spurting, flesh tearing and melting gore was done with basic household supplies. One shot that shows a woman getting her throat ripped open was done with “mashed potatoes, a little liquid latex, food coloring and a condom,” Jonker said.
“The most expensive effect,” he added, “was when I get hit in the head with the bottle of holy water. Those bottles cost $12 each, and we missed twice.”
Although Jonker notes the film was intended as something like “a garage band demo tape,” the finished product ended up being released on video in Europe and Asia and ultimately sold thousands of copies through small video stores in the United States. Blockbuster Video was even interested for a while, before deciding the cover art was too gory for its stores.
Now, 15 years after its original creation, Darkness has been re-mastered and is poised for a major DVD release. Jonker and the cast will be present at The Carolina during the upcoming Nevermore Film Festival to film question and answer sessions with the audience as well as audience reactions for the DVD.
Jonker is currently out of Wilmington on some new film projects, including Darkness 2. His debut “demo” film, he said, “became this whole other monster that we never intended it to be.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.