Prince of the Crimson Void Review from R.A. Productions!

What can I say about Dakota Ray that I haven’t already stated in prior reviews like for American Antichrist (see review here), Dante’s Shadow of Sin (see review here), and The Dark Days of Demetrius (see review here)? I love his world, and Dakota’s works are straight forward like entering another world. Darkness, an overall umbrella of doom over everything you see, touched by surreal moments that don’t make sense, and I suppose will never make sense no matter how much you muse it over. 

Prince of the Crimson Void is a fall into chaos, a bleak place showing authentic visions of Hell. Dakota usually plays a serial killer, one whom narrates all thoughts using a voice effector. His murderers have supernatural leanings whether real in the movie or in the man’s head. Above all, his characters certainly drink loads plus abuse substances like a child snorting sugar in a sweet shop…they would if they were allowed to, believe.    

This time ‘round, he is Fabian, but before we meet up with him, we can enjoy the pounding death metal blasting over the credits courtesy of Hysterical Blindness. Yeah, Dakota Ray standardly bags an awesome metal soundtrack each and every time. 

Incidentally, this review was also a kind of social experiment — a personal one. My Partner in Gore Willow had never seen a Dakota Ray film, so knowing that she adores many things in the world such as darkness, metal, death, horror, and gothic images, how quickly would she adapt? Well, within minutes she settled very still and quiet, absorbed into the flick like Videodrome was real, if you know that scene.  

This realm is filled with echoes, reversed noises, blackness, and tinted visuals. Usually things are a cold blue, this time round everything is red. 

Fabian is walking with a briefcase. As he enters his abode there’s a demon doll watching his movements. The case is full of doll parts, mainly heads, a mask, a bottle of Absinthe, plus an assortment of Polaroids. He sets up a candle before a doll and the narrative begins.

“It’s been a year since I saw Kimball. I’ve been waiting in the shadows,” this guy is the subject on the pictures. It emerges that they were kill partners. Kimball has slaughtered as many as Fabian has. Our man gains power by taking in the life force of his victims, revelling in the rush and strength. Kimball does the same, so it makes sense he murders Kimball, thus absorbing his soul and the rest housed within his corrupted body. He will then possess his remains. 

Willow fell in love with the selection of creepy toys on show; a staple ingredient found in Dakota films. She wanted to own them all like a spoilt child. Incidentally Willow has a habit of taking dolls apart then doing unspeakable things them with latex and such. 

In voice distortion, Fabian narrates his plan to meet with his ex-accomplice at a cemetery known to both for its the place where all of their victims are buried. “There’s something truly fucking dark about this burial ground.” There’s certainly lots of dead insects. The astonishing red filters are doom laden. All is dead or dying. This is yet another staple in his movies, by the way.

The two men meet up, embrace and talk. Though we don’t hear words, the narrative brings us up to speed. Kimball claims to have cancer and wants Fabian to assist him in suicide. Fabian believes it to be a sham, Kimball is “a fucking coward.” One way or the other, his old friend will die. Additionally, Kimball has a rather bizarre, masked alter ego who torments him daily about their past deeds.  

‘Descending into the Blackened Catacombs of the Necro Wizard‘ is an example of the wordy chapter names throughout. Cool. Over at Kimball’s dwelling, he’s drinking Orange Jim Beam… yuck, then opens a tool kit to reveal the mask of his alter ego. Suddenly, said creature appears before him, promising to always haunt him — even after death! He his reminded of their killings, “They’re broken mutilated dolls!” Prince of the Crimson Void is by far Dakota’s most cerebral mind twist so far in his cannon of creations. 

“Put ya bum away!” griped Willow as Kimball bent over digging up a grave with his pants sagging. This was by far the most disturbing sight so far. He looks into the stormy tinted sky, in his mind he calls to God, then decides no one is in the sky. The trouble is that his voice is way too low on the soundtrack compared to everything else. Kimball exhumes the decapitated cranium of a victim from five years ago, cradling the rotted head whilst narrating many things. Then he sticks his tongue into the decomposed mouth for banter. 

In Fabian’s crawlspace there’s his latest victim, a badly beaten deceased woman. Fabian burns a doll head then licks her face. “I cut her fucking legs off! Symbolizing she can never leave me!” Kimball, meanwhile, has dug up many more skulls in their shared burial ground. He sneers then pisses on them in Jess Franco style zoom close-ups. As he vomits on the bones, we hear Fabian saying, “One of Kimball’s pleasures in life is defiling his victims.” True. Then they’re smashed with a shovel. 

The much-anticipated final meeting arrives between the two psychopaths. They stand before one another, casting long shadows with many eyeball closeups. Kimball has his head chopped off.

One year later, on the eve of his death night, Fabian plans to take his head, claiming it as his rightful property, since for the full year he’s been haunting him. He wants to perform a ritual to make Kimball his spiritual slave, thus becoming godlike. As the time approaches, he pisses on his head, then extreme metal kicks in. Hysterical Blindness are heavy duty, we banged our heads in approval. The brain ball looks to be modelled after a cross between Karloff’s The Mummy and the main poster boy from Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters. 

Prince of the Crimson Void has scenes of decay, desecration of corpses, the finger fucking of a cadaver (then shoving a bottle up). Dakota has gone more graphic this time ‘round. This adds to the gorgeous artwork of disturbing atrocities on show. There’s copious amounts of alcohol and drugs consumed by the characters (Willow figured that Fabian snorts human ashes) and even the abrupt ending makes sense, leaving our imagination open to what was about to occur. Prince of the Crimson Void is highly gothic with many striking images. Dakota shows a steady build up and control each time a new movie emerges. Darien Fawkes is absolutely brilliant, by the way. He works well with Dakota — I suppose he would having appeared in numerous other flicks with him.

After the feature, there’s a quick interview, where Dakota speaks with his voice distortion, hehehe. Trailers follow that, all with ear beating loud soundtracks. Fuck me, this was awesome and a fantastic way to reveal more of his insane world to Willow. She did mention that the experience reminded her of old books on necromancy and witchcraft she used to read as a teenager. 

Prince of the Crimson Void is highly recommended to the right audience. Many don’t see the appeal of Dakota’s works. Hopefully after reading this and my other reviews (see the links above) you’ll be ready if you haven’t had the sensation before. He doesn’t care about the haters. He does this for pleasure. That is obvious, 

I also get a mention in the end credits. That made me smile — a huge Creepy one.