The horror satire Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace may not be a series known to all, but it’s the perfect comedic cult classic watch for Halloween. Someone who wants a good laugh that still has the trappings of horror around Halloween might turn to a “Treehouse of Horror” episode from The Simpsons, or watch one of the many South Park horror movie parodies, or maybe even binge-watch the entire Scary Movie franchise. While watching those are all well and good, there’s one culty British 80s horror-hospital satire that is among the best ever produced and doesn’t have as much fanfare as it should.
On the surface, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is a parody of generic ’80s horror television shows meets hospital soap opera. However, what makes Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace even more than just that is how layered the comedy is beyond satirizing ’80s horror tropes. It’s a show within a show from the mind of fictional author Garth Marenghi (played by Matthew Holness), and its weirdness makes it perfect for anyone who is looking for a laugh on Halloween instead of a scare.
How The Show Captures The Essence Of ‘So Bad, It’s Good’
The best “so bad they’re good” movies and TV shows get their reputation from the unintentional entertainment value they create for viewers who find them hilarious. Though the production in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace was completely genuine, those behind it intentionally captured this exact tone without feeling like they were in on the joke. The comedy stems from how incompetently made the ’80s show is while also showing how completely delusional the fictional minds behind it are. Like any satire, the acting is bad, the plots make no sense, and the dialogue is hammy, which are some of the most common methods in shoddy filmmaking. However, the filmmakers in this show go the extra mile to make it look incompetently made for comedic value. It’s all capped off by over-the-top gore and practical effects so blatant that they come full-circle to being hilarious.
Among the many errors the show intentionally forces, they get the little things right like stagehands and stunt doubles clearly being visible, actors stopping before their characters are supposed to, and completely pointless scenes with children who do nothing but stroke the ego of Rick Dagless (Marenghi’s character). They also get the big things right, too, as one of the show’s funniest elements is Dean Learner (played by Richard Ayoade) clearly being out of his element while trying to portray Thornton Reed. Because he can’t convey natural emotions to save his life, Learner’s putrid acting sidesplittingly one-ups even Marenghi himself.
The Mockumentary Interviews Only Add To The Comedy
It’s one thing to intentionally execute a shoddily made horror television show for the sake of comedy. However, what makes Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace even funnier is hearing the characters behind it who genuinely believe it’s not only good, but revolutionary. Such is the case when Marenghi and Learner try to convince viewers why the show works so well when they can clearly see how hilariously wrong those two are. Not only that, but Marenghi’s talking heads also show that he is as egotistical as he is talentless while Reed’s talking heads show that he is as disgusting as he is unbalanced.
If that’s not enough, because of how deluded both Marenghi and Learner are regarding the show’s quality, they have no problem explaining the production problems on set, further demonstrating their ineptitude. Todd Rivers (played by Matt Berry), who played Lucien Sanchez in the show, also gives his own take on the show after it aired. Unlike Marenghi and Learner, Rivers clearly knows that the show is bad, but won’t say as much. It’s one of the reasons Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is the first and considered one of the best roles the What We Do in the Shadows star has played.
There Are Enough Horror Elements To Make It A Perfect Halloween Watch
While the show is evidently and comically not scary – like horror movies and TV shows that are unintentionally hilarious – there are certain elements to it that make the show disturbing while maintaining its satirical tone at the same time. For example, one of the characters on the ’80s show does not appear in any of the mockumentary segments 20 years later because it is heavily implied that the other characters murdered her. She is not the show’s lone casualty, either, as the sketchy filmmaking also led to two fictional extras and a cat being killed while the show was filmed.
While the show the character made may not hold a candle to actual horror movies, that’s not for a lack of trying. Despite it all being over-the-top and executed in an intentionally low-budget manner, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is stuffed with horror tropes, from random murders to possessed cats, and from portals to another dimension to cultish rituals, the satirical show skewers just about every B-movie horror element possible, all while topped with buckets and buckets of fake blood. Nevertheless, for anyone who craves a good laugh at a horror satire that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is quite the diamond in the rough.
