Night of the Demons

Released: 1988
Starring: William Gallo, Hal Havins, Amelia Kinkade, Cathy Podewell, Linnea Quigley
Director: Kevin S. Tenney
Produced by: Paragon Arts International
Rated: R (UK – 15)

“Angela is having a party, Jason and Freddy are too scared to come. But You’ll have a hell of a time.”

Ah, horror films of the 1980s. One of my favorite times for the genre. You can almost guarantee a lot of mindless fun with films from this time. In fact, the film in this review may be one of the best examples of just that. Mindless horror fun.

Night of the Demons centers around a group of teenagers as they gather at an abandoned house and former mortuary for a Halloween Party. Their host is a young woman named Angela (Amelia Kinkade; Night of the Demons 2 and 3) who comes to the party dressed as a bride but clad in black. As the guest begin to arrive, they regale each other with tales about the abandoned house including being built on ancient evil Indian land, a mass murder by the last occupant, and a secret underground river that keeps the evil inside the property. Of course, none of this stops the kids from entering the house and beginning the party. Angela wants to attempt a past life seance using a large mirror found on the property and succeeds in awakening or summoning a demon. However, most of the partiers brush this off as seeing things and begin to try and find their own fun by exploring the house. But then something begins possessing and killing off the teens and they discover that they are locked in the property with no way out.

Night of the Demons is perfect schlocky ‘80s horror. The soundtrack has all kinds of heavy metal and rock n’ roll throughout it, special effects are bloody, gory, and practical, the acting is hit or miss depending on who is on screen, and the sex is gratuitous. This film also gave birth to a horror icon in the character of Angela who appeared in both sequels and the reboot (albeit portrayed by a different actress in the reboot).

Let’s talk about some of these topics individually. First, the effects. They are actually very well done for the film. This film includes burnings, dismemberments, eye gouging, throat slitting, and some other effects and they are all handled well. Of course, there are some that look ridiculous, but even those seem to lend a bit of charm to the film as a whole. One effect to mention involves lipstick that, while different, gives you a moment of shock and a bit of revulsion before the film moves on. It can be looked at as either creative or cheap depending on your perspective (I find it creative and unexpected). The makeup on the demons though is a job very well done. Giving you a grotesque human with demonic features.

Getting away from the positive part of the film, we now are looking at the acting. It is not the best even for this genre. Some of the actors seem to be searching for their cue before they say their line and their delivery is usually flat. Other actors are pretty good though. Stooge (Hal Havins; Life, Witchtrap) while a bit over the top at times seems to be one of the more natural characters in the movie. Following him is Angela who also performs well both as a human and a demon. Unfortunately, one of the main characters, Judy (Cathy Podewell; Beverly Hills Brats, Dallas), only seems to be able to scream or whine. Her performance outside of that is almost grating when watching the film.

The story of the film is nothing special. Night of the Demons is full of every trope in the slasher film that there could be. You have all the generic characters, the cheerleader, the overly sexed girl, the jock, the slob, the good kids, etc. None of them are deep or really developed characters and they don’t need to — most of them are not making it to the end of the film. This movie will deliver on the charm of the slasher genre. You will get bits of comedy mixed with horror and gore and have fun throughout the entire movie.

The soundtrack for Night of the Demons is entertaining to listen to if you are a fan of the rock/metal style. It includes a song from the English gothic rock band Bauhaus who perform Stigmata Martyr. The music for the animated title sequence (and the title sequence itself) is memorable and entertains the audience until the movie starts. Most of the music is written or co-written by Dennis Michael Tenney, the director’s brother. His music adds to both the action on the screen and indicating the era of the film.

I have multiple copies of this film in my collection, but for this review, I order the new release steelbook Blu-ray from Scream Factory. Besides having a new 4k scan of the uncut version of the film, it contains trailers, featurettes, and a promo reel. It also comes with an interview with Amelia Kinkade (Angela), audio commentary with the director, actress and scream queen Linnea Quigley (Suzanne), producers, the make-up effects artist and more. The quality of the picture of the film is quite good with a clear image, almost no grain in the dark sections, and crystal clear audio in 5.1, and original or new stereo. There is also a Collector’s Edition of the film that includes custom artwork and a DVD version. I believe the Blu-ray in the steelbook version is a new scan of the film’s negative, but not having watched the Collector’s Edition I am not sure. I have heard that the transfer in the Collector’s Edition is also excellent though. The other differences are the steelbook case and the removal of the DVD. No matter which you grab, this is a nice transfer and good addition to a movie collection.

The tagline for Night of the Demons includes nods to Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. I wouldn’t put it on the same level as their best films, but it definitely is better than their worst. Angela deserves to be remembered as a high ranked member of the slasher horror genre and for fans of said genre, you won’t be disappointed by Night of the Demons. There was a reboot of this movie in 2009, but poor casting hurt it and it also lacked the charm of the original. So stick with what works and watch the original. Cover your mirrors, pop this movie into your player, sit back, enjoy, and save me some popcorn!

Rating:

Jack Savage:

Don’t get me wrong, this is one of my all time favorite slasher films. It is mindlessly fun. However, it does have quite a few faults that may drive a more casual viewer to turn it off. But I enjoy going to Angela’s party every once and a while. Just have to survive Halloween night and make it to morning.