I really did think that you needed a darkroom to develop your own film. I bought a Pentax on ebay a while back, which turned out to have a broken meter and lost its charm when I couldn't manage to take any worthwhile photos. I did put a few rolls through it, but I always took those to a local shop to develop.
How long has the process you described been around?
The black-and-white process is based on the same chemical concepts (silver halides, developer, fixer) that Daguerre used in 1839. Of course, it's a lot less messy these days - for a long time they had to coat either copper or glass with stuff and take the photo before it dried - and the chemicals are more refined, but it's basically the same process. The developer I use - Rodinal - was patented in the 19th century!
Colour is a whole different ballgame, though. The current negative process is called C41, and only dates to 1972.
Do you still have to hang them up with clothespins like you see in the movies? :)
Well, you can buy proper film-hanging clips, but yeah, I use clothes pegs . . .
I think that's way cooler. :D