Darkman (1990) – Filmsack Show Notes

INTRO

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BRIEF

Darkman (1990) follows the story of Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson), a scientist working on developing synthetic skin for burn victims. After a violent attack by mobsters leaves him disfigured and presumed dead, Westlake becomes Darkman, a vengeful vigilante using his experimental skin technology to assume different identities and bring down those who destroyed his life. Directed by Sam Raimi, the film blends horror, superhero elements, and over-the-top action, with a darkly comedic touch that has become Raimi’s signature style.

TRAILER/CLIPS

 

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Social Media Post

Darkman (1990) – like Spiderman but instead of spiders… it’s the dark. Bruce! #memo

SHOW NOTES

• The Man of Darkness
• rated R for Madness
• Rorschach smoke test.
• “Because he is an asshole. Tell him no. Tell him no, too. Him, tell fuck you” – Best conversation ever.
• Just another tough guy… we got a surprise for these gentlemen.
• Rumble on the docks.. A bunch of cuties.
• Union Dock workers vs The Mob? 
• Bum leg… No Leg… had to break it off…
• 1 I ain’t selling my property… 2. Nobody muscles Eddie Black bunch of dinks … Yall’s don’t like that.3. We can cut your balls off.
• Wooden Leg Tommy Gun… Tommy not no leg.
• The dinks win…. I sure hope that is not an ethnic slur.
• Counterpoint… one by one… let my anger get the best of me.. I got 7 more points.
• Danny Elfman music!! Somewhere between Batman and the Corpse Bride.
• Sam Raimi’sh
• System ready to receive input…
• Nose scans… blackheads and all…
• Eureka… Just hold together you… shit! 99 minutes… destabilizing. Why won’t the liquid skin last?
• We’re smart guys… Why can’t we make these cells stable.
• What now sweater weather?
• Still won’t last past 99.
• What you guys doing? Watching slides..
• God you always wear things that are so difficult to… let’s dance.
• Hi Herb!! I found some memos I don’t think I was supposed to find… payoffs to the zoning commission. Bye Herb!
• I’ve been thinking… we should get married… 
• The only thing marriage means is you don’t have to make grandma think she has demetia
• Is Liam not wearing socks?
• Does that shock you? You weren’t supposed to know about it.
• How do you know you have a bad guy? They keep a model of a building in their office.
• I am trying to protect you… cause I am a made man.
• I guess we have a standoff.
• Time… 99… 100 minutes… BLACK OUT! Why now!! We made flesh that can exist in the dark?
• What is it about the dark… what secret does it hold?
• Ole 1 leg.
• oh… big tough guy…
• haha… the Asian assistant knows martial arts…
• We have come only for the documents.
• from memo to memorandum.
• You heard the doctor… ventilate him.
• What kind of experiment does he have in that vat with 2 poles of electricity on top.
• Bring the Asian’s fingers… cause I am evil… clean through the brain… how I like it.
• Upstairs home office lab over the Java shop.
• Boom weeeee… right into the drink.
• All they found was an ear… tiny little piece… didn’t take me long to bury that.
• Tim Burton and Sam Raimi were somewhat the same at this time.
• This man would have spent the rest of his life screaming.
• We cut his nerves….  we stick him with a pin and he can’t even feel it.
• Let’s his spin him.
• Feed it with emotion! Hence the restraints. 
• Personally, I give him a 9 on the Buzzard Scale.
• So to make the Darkman… all you really have to do is cut the nervous system off of a highly emotionally damaged creature.
• Ulie… ooolie… peaaas ooolie… iz (M)Eeeee
• I sleep in the streets and watch the water drain… no… you crazy.
• My lab!! My Zenith!! MY FAAAAACE! NOOOO
• My life is this cart I stole from Walgreens.
• I have a new lab… such potential… such promise… such… cough… dust… oh hello kitty friend… home.
• Oh good… somebody is paying the power bill…. now… let’s fire the forge! good good.
• The best photo I have of myself is this burnt photo of my face… just like real face… noooo..
• yes yes… Quadrants… I will make myself perfectly symmetrical and start my new life as a model.  yes yes… clever… 571 hours! that is like more than a day!… it’s… like… 23 days and some change! yes… chaaaange… I need change. Marriage? What was I thinking!
• I must perfect the skin… without my assistant and all the creature comforts of home… wrong… wrong… wrong.
• mummy hands are burning…
• My hands… They took my hands… I replace my hands with my emotion!!
• Strack Industries… where is Tony Strack?
• The papers were destroyed in the fire… just like my future!
• There is no cure for grief… but there is something that cures the symptoms… it is called.. booooze… just kidding… it is dancing… is he watching us?
• There is an unspoken love between the ventilator kid and Durant…. Let’s pretend you didn’t tell us everything Rick.  Rick got flat.
• Hey cash man guy…  you are going to be in my next slideshow. Take my hands? I take your hands. beep beep
• These hands fit like a glove… it is time…
• Love that his hands are like BBQ.. bones and all.
• I am going to put you asleep… while you are asleep… suck it!
• My grandma used to have those curtains in Telly Savalas off wish.
• Head on down to Erny’s Best Deli.
• Yo Pauly…
• I know he likes Ricky..
• Was the Rio tickets for his HoneyMoon? Are those transferrable.
• I don’t even know how I got dressed.
• Pauly Savalas
• I sure hope he is changing those bandages regularly.
• Not now Mr. Kitty… what am I? Some kind of a circus freak? Maybe I should be wearing some kind of hat… pay 5 bucks… only 5 bucks to see the dancing freak….. I’ll give you a show… I’ll show you who is the freak! 
• I am a scientist… think objectively… think… control the rage… take it easy boy… I am a scientist.
• Ding! Hey! My face is ready… cool! Face… On… hello me… it’s me again.
• I was in the hospital… in a coma… hold me… I can’t feel it… but hold me.
• I will tell you everything… but I just need a little time… but only 99 minutes
• Hey… you were dead… but where does that leave us… don’t tug on my face!! 
• I feel like a rag doll.. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore…
• what if I was horribly scarred… hypothetically speaking… why do you ask me that? Is your wee wee all burnt up?
• The name is not buddy… it is Durant.
• We will have to call Hung Fat… or become part of my finger collection. 
• With all my new time I have… I think I will take up skin grafting and impersonations.
• Hey! Take it easy buddy..
• Say Buddy… can we pick up the pace… I only got 99 minutes.
• The money! 
• Just keep them out of my hair… look at my hair.
• White Powder no longer flow…  so until that shining day. Goodbye Robert… Robert… goodbye.
• By the time I finish this cigar…. 
• Ok, Bob. You win… you win the contest of crazy.
• There are 2 of those sons of bitches.
• beep beep… face bubbles!
• This is some mission impossible face melting shit.
• Meanwhile down at the boardwalk amusement park…. Darkman Date.
• We are going to spend the whole day together.
• I’ve got to tell you about how I have changed… meanwhile down at the local freak show.
• When I was in the hospital… was there someone else?
• I am going to win you a thing… then I am running.
• I have my hospital sessions.
• Sorry buddy… you weren’t behind the line… GIVE ME THE PINK ELEPHANT.. IT MATTERS!
• Why don’t you just get lost pal… Scram…. rage.. Take the fucking elephant!
• He’s a freak ladies and gentlemen… he’s a freak.
• Who me? Just running off with my rejected pink elephant and crying as my face evaporates into smoke. You know… how you do.
• Why didn’t you tell me Peyton… You didn’t have to lie about your exposed muscle face!
• You don’t have to hide no more Peyton.
• Either she is really good at finding memos or he is really bad at hiding them. Do all the bad guys say memorandum.
• Robert doesn’t like to pay taxes.
• ooooh… now I get it… I never looked at the city from this angle.
• If you’re not going to kill me. I have things to do.
• Send Robert in with his bad cut.
• The good news? Your wife died.
• Meanwhile down at the Sulfuric and What could possibly go wrong Acid warehouse… 
• I wore my purple suit to the shootout.
•  Oh you’ve got to be shitting me. Smiley is coming. Wait… is the purple suited guy named smiley… are they paying homage to the joker?
• This guy has faces!!
• how many layers to get to the center of a Darkman face 
• I’m going down to… TAKE IT UP!! TAKE IT UP!
• aww… I was hoping Smiley would come flying back up.
•  Get back police copter… he is mine. Excuse me.
• Shake him. Dip him.  Sam Raimi is great of mixing horror and weird humor… like running on the top of a truck while being drug on a rope from a helicopter.
• Skinny Dip… that truck with the clown nose is used a bit.
• Darkman one liners…. kiss your ass goodbye and burn in hell.
• Did Durante make it or not? I guess that is the question we have to ask ourselves.
• He killed his wife… High Steel… btw… you don’t have any kid’s Robert.
• I destroy to build something better… you destroy for revenge. It is all mine… cause I built it all… 
• How did I get up here… don’t care… ahhhh.
• Rebar… it giveth and it taketh away.
• The bad guy has like super villain skyscraper worker abilities.
• She doesn’t date freaks… no wait… maybe she does… muhaha
• Rivet Shooter
• Go ahead… do it Westlake… you will become worse than me… Not is not something you can live with… oppsie. I’m learning to live with a lot of things.
• It’s just a burn. Skin deep. Love me without pity…
• As I worked in the mask… The man changed… I can live with it… but I don’t think anyone else can.
• I want our life back… see ya Jooles. Peyton is gone… there is only Dankman.
• Haha… he is Bruce Campbell…that is awesome… I am no one. I am everyone… call me… Dankmeme
• McDormand, Joel Coen (her husband), Ethan Coen, and Sam Raimi were all living together at the time of the production, which had led to her getting the audition.
• Liam Neeson as Peyton Westlake/Darkman: Early career action role before he became a full-on action star.
• Sam Raimi’s Style: Over-the-top action, dark humor, and wild camera angles.
• The Tragic Hero Arc: From scientist to scarred anti-hero.
• Darkman’s Powers: The 99-minute synthetic skin that allows him to assume other identities.
• Villains: Crime boss Robert G. Durant and his crew.
• The Revenge Quest: How Westlake’s transformation fuels his path for vengeance.
• Horror Elements: How the film blends superhero tropes with horror.
• Stunts and Practical Effects: 90s-era action sequences with practical effects and wild stunt work.
• Danny Elfman’s Score: The perfect musical backdrop for a gothic superhero flick.
• The Importance of the Bandages: Darkman’s iconic look, reminiscent of classic Universal horror.
• The Raimi Touch: Why Darkman feels like a precursor to Raimi’s later work on Spider-Man.
• The Balance of Action and Emotion: How the film mixes spectacle with character-driven moments.
• Memorable One-Liners: “I’m everyone… and no one. Everywhere… nowhere. Call me… Darkman.”
• The Cultural Impact: Darkman as a cult classic that influenced later superhero films.
• The Darkman Franchise: The sequels and why they didn’t quite live up to the original.

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