When Dan Madigan was a writer for WWE, he pitched a character that would have Jon Heidenreich become a thawed Nazi named Baron Von Bava, revived by the Jewish Paul Heyman, whose mother survived the Holocaust, complete with goosestepping and armband like a 1950s heel.
Somehow, he didn’t make it in wrestling. He did, however, write this movie.
Originally called Eye Scream Man, The Goodnight Man and Goodnight, this stars WWE wrestler — and current mayor of Knox City, TN — Kane as Jacob Goodnight. It also made $45 million on an $8 million dollar budget.
Years ago, Officer Frank Williams barely survived facing off with a killing machine in an abandoned house, losing his arm while his partner is killed and seven victims lose their eyes to a killer that somehow survived being shot in the head.
Now, he’s a social worker that’s part of the team that’s helping twentysomething teenagers work off their community service by cleaning up the abandoned Blackwell Hotel so that it can become a homeless shelter.
It’s all a trap as Jacob Goodnight is there to destroy anyone that intrudes on his turf, usually by using hooks and taking their eyeballs, unless they have religious tattoos. It’s a dark and dirty-looking 2000s slasher, but Dark’s talent as a director makes it better than it should be, which is the story of every movie he made.
Producer Vince McMahon supposedly had one suggestion: give Kane a three-foot cock.
