Night Of The Demons
It’s amazing how some low budget horror movies of the 1980s can still hold up remarkably well today (probably because their key components were still fresh and original at the time compared to the post modern era of today’s horror flicks where everyone steals or homages bits from the past and the overall effect of these recent films is diluted as a result), continuing to hold a large fanbase and appreciation after all these years. This 1988 release (made for $1.5 million) certainly falls into that category, on the surface an Evil Dead spinoff attempt but it also carries an almost punk mentality to it that evokes Return Of The Living Dead (and features one of that film’s main cast members). With atmosphere to spare, a lively theme song and an interesting attempt to establish within itself an ongoing franchise villainess who would return for the sequels, the film only falters in the respect that the first half is actually superior to the second with some pacing issues coming up (especially in the finale) and a couple of actors in the ensemble who fall a bit flat with their performances, an attribute that certainly doesn’t apply to one Amelia (Mimi) Kinkade as Angela, the aforementioned franchise player whose character in the sequels (unlike here where she is shown to be another frightened, innocent victim just like the others before being possessed) is described as not only having been evil all along to begin with, but may possibly have set up the group in this first film by gathering them in this demonic place, an abandoned funeral home (called Hull House) where years earlier the original proprietor and his family were found butchered on Halloween night with no answers ever forthcoming as to who was the actual perpetrator (apparently because all of the bodies were far too mangled to make any heads or tails out of who actually did it). But now Angela has decided to throw her own Halloween party at the burnt out facility ostensibly with the intention of doing seances and other weird stuff in order to celebrate the holiday in a proper manner. The fellow (overage) high schoolers she invites are a diverse bunch, ranging from an overweight punk rocker who likes to verbally abuse his two friends to a picture perfect jock who is dating the most virginal girl in school (along with her tough talking ex boyfriend who follows them along and crashes the party) as curiously enough almost all of the invitees have apparently barely gotten to know Angela herself aside from having classes with her in high school. Made up in a fancy goth outfit that gives her the appearance of being the super sexy twin sister of Tim Curry in Rocky Horror, Kinkade deserved more screentime and character development here (not to mention more closeups) but her onscreen dance routines post possession is what helped this film become the stuff of low budget horror legend, alternately freaking out and turning on several of the characters before she switches to her heavily prosthetic demon face and makes another kill (Kinkade herself was a real life professional dancer who eventually became a world famous “animal communicator” / whisperer). The film hits its stride quickly in the first 20 minutes as director Kevin Tenney (who also churned out Witchboard during this time) seems to have given his cast some serious free reign with their roles here, with the over the top punk rocker Stooge (Hal Havins) getting off some extremely creative bits of profanity, the borderline stalker ex boyfriend (William Gallo) doing an Italian, Brooklyn accented tough guy schtick that belies the fact that his character turns out to be the most heroic in the entire film and even the totally sideline character of the neighborhood grumpy old man (Harold Ayer) who is such a nasty piece of work that he is relishing the opportunity to put razor blades into the apples which he will be handing out to the trick or treaters that evening (something which has nothing to do with the main story but yet still results in a surprise ending). Then there’s the little brother of the school virgin (Cathy Bodewell, best known as JR Ewing’s young trophy wife on Dallas) who is SUCH a wiseass that he probably could have starred in his own sitcom, going so far as to compliment his own sister on her breasts and even telling his mom that her fudge brownies look like dog turds. Once the main characters are gathered at the funeral home and the fun begins, we start getting a dynamic of the other characters on hand including the (very) token black guy (Alvin Alexis) who proves to be such a coward that his main trait is to constantly run away at the first sign of trouble (and in many cases not even telling the others about the monster that he sees coming around the corner), the popular and handsome high school jock (Lance Fenton, best known as ill fated quarterback Kurt Kelly from Heathers) who doesn’t even bother to wear a Halloween costume but fully intends to deflower his virginal date (who spends the whole movie dressed as Alice In Wonderland) and perhaps most memorably, legendary 80s Scream Queen Linnea Quigley as Angela’s shallow best friend (and possible co conspirator) whom despite being almost 30 at the time successfully uses her petite stature and little girl demeanor to pull off playing a high school temptress. Quigley’s key attributes during her prime were her blonde hair, her perfectly toned body and her completely uninhibited onscreen nature to do things which many other actresses would not including going completely naked and doing sex scenes that result in her becoming fully demonic as she murders the unlucky guy whom she is on top of. Quigley is actually the first out of the group to become possessed (although she too MIGHT have been set up by Kinkade’s Angela) and in many ways becomes the most interesting of the bunch, although obviously in this narrative environment every murdered character does come back as a deformed demon which in one sense manages to keep the entire main cast together for the duration of the running time. Things do get to be a little long in the tooth towards the end, perhaps a combination of having the wrong characters be the ones to survive (or get killed) and the climatic scene in the crematorium where everything gets slowed to a standstill as the possessed Angela carries on a whole conversation with the remaining protagonists from the other side of a door which she could have easily busted through along with a not so pat explanation of how to finally defeat these creatures and escape (the movie doesn’t spend nearly enough time on the backstory for these entities and exactly what they are nor do we learn all that much about the “rules of engagement” so to speak). But rough patches of pacing inconsistencies and some bad acting aside, this remains one of the more popular and enduring horror entries of its time (and right in line with the recent resurgence in popularity for Quigley’s work going on right now with various remastered blu ray home media releases of her films from the 80s) that still bests anything (including a recent remake) that comes down the pipe today…
8/10