To be clear, this is not a review of Night of the Demon (singular). That's a 1957 British horror movie. Neither are we discussing Night of the Living Dead, Night of the Creeps, Night of the Lepus, Rats: Night of Terror, or Fright Night. Nope, Night of the Demons, for better or worse.
Night of the Demons is definitely not the best Halloween movie. If I am picking a horror movie set on Halloween I would rather watch Trick 'r Treat, The Guest, or the obvious: Halloween. I am definitely not picking C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud, that movie actually was the worst one I reviewed this month. We are not lacking for Halloween movies. But we might be lacking for Halloween party movies. Michael Myers is more about babysitters and trick'r'treaters, not really shindigs. If say, the year is 2020 and you can't really have a Halloween party, maybe Night of the Demons can scratch an itch.
I will not call Night of the Demons a great movie. Actually, even as a dumb horror B-movie, it is disappointing in a few ways. However, it certainly is not an un-fun movie.
From the start the movie lets you know the primary thing on its mind: sex. Send this movie straight to Horny Jail because we open with our protagonist, Judy (Cathy Podewell), topless in a bra and mocked for her big tits by her baby brother. "Wow, bodacious boobies' sis! If you keep on growing you'll have to hire someone just to tie your shoes." Except this kind of prose all throughout Night of the Demons' script. We meet Scream Queen Linnea Quigley's character, Suzanne, ass-first as she leans over to present her panties to some store clerks while playing Pac-Man. "Do you guys have sour balls? Too bad, I bet you don't get many blow jobs!" That kind of talk never stops.
We have a cast of about ten teenagers all traveling to an abandoned mortuary called Hull House. (Presumably not related to Jane Addams or late 19th century feminist social reform movements.) Angela (Amelia Kinkade) is considered something of a "weird girl" at school, but she's putting on this party along with her slutty friend, Suzanne, whose ass you've already met. Judy is coming with her boyfriend Jay (Lance Fenton), who did not even bother putting on a costume. Angela decides it would be fun to perform a seance and summon some demons. Evil Dead shit thus begins.
Angela and Suzanne end up possessed immediately. First Suzanne, then Angela after a very long lesbian kiss. This is really where Night of the Demons can make or break itself. You have a comic script, a few memorable characters, Linnea Quigley is bound to take her top off at some point, one guy Sal (William Gallo) talks like he's Tony Soprano opening up some gabagool. All you need is some great gore and creative kills. Sadly, that does not happen. Nothing happens that is all that scary.
One guy gets his eyes gouged out. A naked couple fucking in a casket gets smashed, but you never see anything. Those are the best kills and they're pretty basic. Even the "Deadite" designs are not that impressive. They get decent monster make-up, Angela especially, but not a unique visual. The demons do not get very good "crazy" moments. Angela talks like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. Her actress was a professional dancer, so they had her character dance for awhile, which really spooks the other characters for some reason. Suzanne shoves lipstick up her nipple in an impressive magic effect. That wasn't gore, the lipstick just disappears in slight of hand, seemingly into her tit. Linnea Quigley is stealing this show, but they barely have her talk in the second half of the movie.
Here's my problem with Night of the Demons. I love that you have Linnea Quigley topless and doing weird stuff. That lipstick idea is really twisted and bizarre. It creeps me out. However, nothing comes of it. Her tits are not some like cartoon Hammer Space. Later she seduces a dude, and I was thinking, "okay, let's build on this boob idea". Maybe the guy is fondling her and his hands get stuck inside. Or like the boobs grow mouths with razor-sharp teeth and devour his hands. Nope. Nothing like that. She just kills him while fucking him. Later she suggests that his corpse might be able to get hard again. That's gross, I wish there was more of that.
I mean, one character dies off-camera! That's a waste of a kill. We lose all the expendable characters in the span of ten minutes, leaving a final half hour where Judy and the Final Boy, Rodger (Alvin Alexis) have to hide from the Deadites. The gore is not just there. Nor are the scares.
Rodger at least is the one guy smart enough to try to escape. He's the Black guy, and decides early-on that all this demon shit is White People Problems. I bring up Rodger because watching this movie reminded me of that old saying "Black dude dies first". Is that ever true? I'm totally off-topic here, but having seen a lot of horror movies from a lot of eras, the Black character almost never dies first. Scream 2 kills the Black characters first but just to mock the idea. I've seen more subversions of the trope than the trope.
Anyway, Rodger isn't very good as a hero and neither is Judy. They're both boring.
To conclude, Night of the Demons is not a great horror film. However, at least it ends on one of the best brick jokes in the history of horror. The whole movie might be redeemed by that single choice.
Night of the Demons was not the grand finale I was hoping for. I couldn't have rewatched Night of the Comet? Night of the Comet rules! Night of the Demons has a good reputation as a horror movie, which I don't think it has earned. If you want a dumb horror comedy about horny teenagers, Chopping Mall is a way better pick. Spookies, a much cheaper and much more incompetent movie from
1986 with roughly the same plot, has
better scares than Night of the Demons. I guess it is essential viewing if you're a huge Linnea Quigley fan. Oh well.
And that, my dear Space Monkeys, concludes Spooky Month. Happy Halloween. And remember, don't eat any apples with razor blades hidden inside them.
THE END?
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