Oscar winning cinematographer Freddie Francis and writer Ken Wiederhorn share the blame for this dull supernatural high-rise horror; given that the film displays very little in the way of Francis's visual acumen, but everything one might expect from Wiederhorn—the man who gave us the shoddy Return of the Living Dead II—one has to wonder just how much Francis had contributed before being replaced as director. I'm willing to give Francis the benefit of the doubt and say 'not much'.

Weiderhorn's script revolves around the construction of a Barcelona high-rise, designed by renowned architect Carolyn Page (Jenny Agutter),which has been plagued by mysterious deaths. Detective Dennis Randall (Michael Moriarty) investigates and, after coming to the conclusion that the building is haunted, calls in help from para-psychologist Dr. Max Gold (Theodore Bikel) and his pal Sergie (Kevin McCarthy) to cleanse the building of the restless spirit.

With its solid cast, and the many possibilities for gory spectacle offered by a haunted semi-built office building, one might reasonably expect Dark Tower to be a cheesy piece of late 80s nonsense, packed with outrageously daft death sequences—indeed, the first scene, in which a window cleaner falls from his cradle onto a passing company exec, shows much promise. Unfortunately, nearly everything that follows proves to be extremely disappointing: long periods pass with nothing of note happening; too much of the film is focused in and around the building's elevator, resulting in extremely repetitive shots from inside the shaft; and there is very little in the way of satisfying splatter. The film's silly finale provides unintentional laughs in the form of a manky looking corpse that looks like a reject from Wiederhorn's earlier zombie movies.

At 37, star Agutter has obviously decided that she is no longer young enough to do nude scenes (although we do get some cheeky shots of her in a camisole)—such a shame, 'cos I reckon she still looks great and some naked Agutter action would have certainly helped alleviate some of the pain (as would my Dark Tower drinking game: have a drink every time someone gets in an elevator or when there is a shot from the bottom of the elevator shaft. Hic!).

It's a bit of a shame that the IMDb hasn't got a cover image of "Dark Tower" published yet. As usual, the VHS cover is much cooler than the movie actually is and it shows a crowd of people gathering around a skyscraper, shaped like an enormous coffin. The movie itself is painfully disappointing, especially if you take a closer look at the people who were involved in making it. The directors-duo Freddie Francis and Ken Wiedernhorn both have much better films on their repertoire. Francis made some great British horror classics in the 70's, like "The Creeping Flesh" and "Tales that Witness Madness", while Wiederhorn single-handedly was responsible for the only recommendable 'underwater-Nazi-zombie' flick ever made: the unique "Shock Waves". Some of the cast-members too have delivered better films. The male lead Michael Moriarty frequently works with Larry Cohen ("Q – the winged Serpent", "The Stuff") and Jenny Agutter will always be remembered for her starring in "American Werewolf in Londen". I avoid talking about the film's plot simply because there isn't much to say... It's pretty much a reworking of "Poltergeist" (which I didn't like, neither) in a skyscraper, with the restless spirit of a murdered person avenging himself on anyone who enters the building. Agutter plays the brilliant architect who seems to be the ghost's main target and Moriarty is the clairvoyant police officer who looks after her. The opening sequence is promising, with a guy falling 17 storeys down and crushing an extra pedestrian along the way! Unfortunately, the screenplay then turns into a boring mess without tension or surprises. Moriarty teams up with a couple of other paranormal investigators and they uncover some dark secrets. There's practically no gore, no humor and no feeling with the characters. Moriarty gives his lousiest performance ever and even Agutter's gorgeous eyes can't save this mediocre movie.

The construction of a skyscraper is being haunted by a ghost.

There are two reasons to watch this movie: Michael Moriarty and Kevin McCarthy. If there is a third reason, I must not have noticed it. And sadly, McCarthy's role is relatively minor... he should be carrying the picture, but he just was not given the honor.

Moriarty is a gifted actor, whether or not that is evident here. He can play very goofy, oddball roles (as he has done repeatedly for Larry Cohen) or he can win awards and star alongside some of the greatest names in Hollywood (as he did in "Pale Rider"). This is somewhere in the middle -- not an amazing performance, but not goofy, either (despite the supernatural and horror elements that could easily have asked for horror).