Ring of Darkness

11/5/2023

**_Hampered by noticeably bad ‘B’ acting, but dynamic, comic booky SoCal youth-cult horror_** When a popular boy band from Los Angeles loses its frontman, the manager (Adrienne Barbeau) conducts an American Idol-like contest to enlist a new singer. The top 3 contenders then compete for the gig at the band’s coastal hacienda, but something sinister is going on. Shot in 2003, "Ring of Darkness” is similar to “The Lost Boys” (with a little “Dangerously Close”), but on a $750,000 budget helmed by a quickie director. If you can roll with the ‘boy band’ angle, the first half has pizazz and is entertaining. Unfortunately, laughably wooden acting takes over in the second half (not that it was exactly great in the first half). It’s like the production was running out of money as they were fil