Night of the Demons

Rating:
Summary: Frightfully Fun And Sexy Halloween-Night Horror
Review: Overwhelmingly entertaining, spooky, supersexy, atmospheric, bloody-good horror ride. The basic story - a bunch of kids sneak into a funeral parlor for a Halloween party and accidentally awaken an ancient demon. Nothing especially original here - substitute 'funeral parlor' for 'abandoned house' or 'musuem' or 'dorm' or whatever, and occasionally substitute 'sneak into' for 'are invited into', and you have an oft-used idea, sometimes well-done and sometimes not so well-done. From the opening credits of "Night Of The demons", though, with its immediate establishment of atmosphere and its superb musical score, you know you're going to be in for something a cut above. In the next few minutes, it becomes so clear that it's not going to matter if the same kind of thing has been done before, this is going to be done at a level that irrelevates questions of originality. It's like "True Lies" - that movie, about an undercover operative keeping his baddie-fighting activities hidden from his family and maintaining a secret life - there's nothing especially original about that, it's just done SO much better than 95% of the action movies that previously treaded similar ground that it doesn't matter. And like "True Lies", which actually incorporates alot of innovative scenes into its familiar prescence, "Night Of The Demons" actually innovates in its individual scenes to a fine degree, aided by superior camerawork, superior special effects, and just plain superior movie-making.

Tremendously fun without becoming a horror-comedy and Certainly not a spoof; manages genuine tension and fearsomeness to keep things from becoming lightweight, this'll remind longtime horror fans why they fell in love with the genre and may win a few non-fans over in spite of themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Party Pooper
Review: "Night of the Demons" is what Carbon Dioxide gas would be if it were a movie: odorless, colorless, tasteless, scareless, and deadly dull. How can you go wrong with a late-1980's horror flick featuring a Halloween party held in a decrepit mausoleum with a dark and fatal past, a passle of booze-snookered high-school hooligans, with a few bored and hungry demons tossed in for good measure?

Kevin Tenney proves you can go very, very wrong. Despite heaps of atmosphere, a moody setting, the coolest animated credits in horror movie history, and two red smoking hot leads (Mimi Kinkade and Scream Queen Linnea Quigley), "Night of the Demons" is all set-up and zero pay-off. This is a film in which you constantly hiss "Great Crom, this *has* to get good any minute"---right up to the final credits, when you deflate and sigh "that's all there is?".

The only exception of the final "Apple Pie" Sequence, at the very end of the film, in which a misanthropic old geezer gets his just desserts, quite literally. To be brutally honest, apart from the brief eye-gouging scene, the little fun you'll have with this turgid flick---assuming you love horror movies, that is---is if you fast forward to the end of the movie, where you'll see what happens to nasty old men who hate Halloween. Had Tenney capitalized on the film's final four minutes of Grand-Guignolesque nastiness throughout "Night of the Demons", this would have been an unabashed four-star romp. Alas, "Night" is bloodless and toothless.

If you're a horror movie completist, you'll check this thing out---I realize that. I'm writing this review simply as a warning beacon: do not go into "Night of the Demons" unarmed. Do not go with high hopes. Do not expect a gore-encrusted goulash a la Dan O'Bannion's "Return of the Living Dead", as I, seeing Quigley's name on the credits, did. Do not think that the cool intro animations, the Borgo Pass 1980's Bauhaus tunes, the red smoking hot presence of Kinkade & Quigley, and the awesome glory of the mirror shot promise you a satisfying horror flick.

In summary: Do not crash this party with high expectations or you won't be "partying hearty" when the credits roll. First off, director Tenney took out a big bloody scalpel and ripped off the infinitely superior Italian gore maestro Lamberto Bava: "Night of the Demons" is basically Bava's disgustingly satisfying "Demons" & "Demons 2" without the fun, the scares, or the gore.

In those films, it is true you have to suffer idiotic dialogue and excruciating dubbing, but you are rewarded for your patience. By contrast, unless you like watching complete idiots wander through darkened hallways crying out for each other, you'll never get a satisfying payoff from this well-appointed, searingly dull waste of time and celluloid.

Yes, Mimi Kinkade's dance to the sepulchral "Stigmata Martyr" made me run out and buy the Bauhaus "Singles:1: CD. But style aside---and at times, "Night of the Demons" has style in spades, leaving the viewer in the hellish limbo of always expecting that the film is about to get good---what's the point?

What's the point of a horror flick that never delivers the tricks and treats? What's the point of a movie about demonic possession when the red sauce never really flies? How is it possible for mere mortals to evade demons merely by walking down a hallway a few feet and turning right, while the supposedly rampaging demon ambles on in the other direction? Why is it that the high school sweethearts, murdered while making out in a coffin buck-naked, dutifuly don their clothes as undead demons before slaughtering their schoolmates?

I'm a lenient horror fan and gorehound; I don't ask much. What I ask for is this: goop, gore, blood, and scares. "Night of the Demons" is about as scary as a haunted house held at a local church. Two stars for the delicious Quigley (with her extra-storage space for lipstick) and the luminous Kinkade (who devours the camera every second she's on), 1/2 star for the eye-gouging and razor blade finale. This is the rare instance in which you should ditch Angela's "party" and hit the high school stomp instead. You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Where're You Going? The Party's Just Starting...
Review: 'Night of the Demons' or 'Evil Dead in Surburbia', is one of those decent B-movies from the 80s that actually entertains. It's not a particularly scary movie, but it has everything it should: a passable cast, gore, makeup fx, nudity, and a great 80s score. What makes it succeed is its spirit. When cheesy movies play out like you're supposed to take it seriously, they turn out to be crap. This one doesn't. It has some humourous moments sprinkled in that remind you to have some fun.

A group of teens are invited to an old abandoned building called Hull House for a Halloween party. What they are unaware of is that it's inhabited with demonic presences waiting to possess each one of them. One by one, the group is killed off, and then reimerge as demons. Will the blonde goody-goody get out alive???

The movie is a lot like 'Evil Dead', but they are also very different. Well...not VERY different, but different enough. Oh hell, who cares? It's a fun movie for horror fans! The dvd contains a commentary, an interview with cast member Linnea Quigley (goth-rocker chick from 'Return of the Living Dead'), and numerous trailers. Fun stuff!

Rating:
Summary: Night of the demons.
Review: Angela is having a party, Jason and Freddy are to scared to come. But you'll have a hell of a time. With a crappy tagline like that it just made me want to watch it more.
I thought it was going to be bad but it turned out to be pretty awsome, I watched this film a couple of years ago before it went out of stock but now you can watch this on dvd from Anchor Bay. The story is about a typical bunch of teens who are invited to a halloween party at an old house and each one gets possessed by a demon, if you like this then I also recomend return of the living dead which also stars Linnea Quigley.
My favourite scene is when the asian girl tricks her boyfriend into having sex with him and then ends up chopping his arm off, Im not sure if it happens that way because I haven't seen it in a long time. I think that you should check it out especialy if you like low budget horror films from the 80's but if you don't then your going to have a hard time watching it.

Rating:
Summary: SCARY AS HELL
Review: I AM SO GLAD THIS IS COMING TO DVD. i HAVE WAITED FOR SO LONG. THIS MOVIE IS SCARY AS HELL. TRUST ME. I HOPE IT HAS SOME GREAT EXTRAS TO BACK IT UP.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic B-movie!
Review: I couldn't help but notice how much B-movie fans like this movie, so I rented it...it was awesome! If you're into campy B-movies with lots of scares, nudity, and gore this is your movie! The special fx are amazing and will make you cringe in a particular eye gouging scene involving the beautiful Linnea Quigley and some helpless (...) guy. In the unrated directors cut, look for full frontal nudity and alot of x-tra gore. Another odd scene involves Linnea Quigley and a tube of lip stick. You've gotta see it to believe it!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully GREAT MOVIE!!
Review: I FIRST SAW THIS MOVIE ABOUT 10 YRS AGO AND LOVED IT.
I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT PURCHASING IT UNTIL NOW.
IM SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR NOT PURCHASING IT 4 YEARS AGO
WHEN IT WAS AVAILABLE ON DVD. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE GREAT
HORROR MOVIE CLASSICS LIKE, OMEN , EXORSIST , AND EVIL
DEAD. IT IS A MUST HAVE FOR A HORROR MOVIE FANATIC SUCH AS
MYSELF. I NEVER SAW PARTS 2 AND 3 BUT I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH
PART ONE I PLAN ON PURCHASING THEM BOTH SHOULD THEY COME OUT
ON DVD.

Rating:
Summary: For grade B horror films, you can do a lot worse
Review: I just watched this film again after not having seen it for at least a decade and forgot how good it really was. Sure it's not the most original of premises and the acting is terrible, but for the types of movies they were churning out in the '80's, this one is a lot of fun and filled with a creepy atmosphere and moments of dread. You can't help but like it.

This film rounds out the barrage of "Night" movies released in that decade (the others being the very underrated Night of the Comet and Night of the Creeps) and is far more entertaining than most of the ho hum stuff being made today. I highly recommend this film for a rainy, October night. Grab your popcorn (and the one you're with) and sit back and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: awesome movie
Review: Listen, This movie is about a group of teens going to party on Halloween at an old possessed house. One by one they are either killed and turned into a demon or just turned into one. This movie has some hot chicks, an awesome storyline, a decent bit of nudity not enough but a decent bit, if your a horror movie fan, buy it, if your not a true horror movie fan go buy the new edition of the Blair Witch Project!!!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Nice creepy atmosphere to this movie. Ms. Quigley is HOT! Can be watched again and again!