Hello everyone, hope everyone's been doing well. Sorry for the brief hiatus here at The Blue. I have been a bit busy fighting off a cold and being a stay at home Dad with a 7 year old that is being home schooled through online virtual academy. It's definitely a lot to take on. But so far, it's been worth it.
We are closer and closer to closing out this Halloween season. There were quite a few movies that I kept tossing around on what to have to close out the spooky season. Pretty much as early as this countdown was starting out, I was trying to figure out exactly what would be a good way to close things out. The more time I spent, the more I started to notice others lists. I thought I'd take the time to close it out with some movies that maybe haven't received a whole lot of attention lately.
To kick things off, I received an invitation to a party. It was from my friend Angela. She's really into the Halloween season - it's like her Christmas. So I thought I'll give it a shot. Soon after, strange things began happening...
Join me as I dive into Night of the Demons (1988).
Night of the Demons (1988) was written by Joe Augustyn and directed by Kevin Tenney. It starred Cathy Podewell (Judy), Alvin Alexis (Rodger), Hal Havins (Stooge), Billy Gallo (Sal), Linnea Quigley (Suzanne), and Amelia Kinkade (Angela).
This is a film that oozes the Halloween atmosphere and feels that Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was oozing. It just encapsulates everything so perfectly. Children trick or treating? Check. Apples with a surprise inside? Check. Creepy old house? Well, it's actually an old funeral parlor but check. Group of teens that looking to have a good time? Check. All perfect elements of the spooky season.
It all starts off in innocent jokes and a light atmosphere. It's showing that it's going to be a fun film. It's not taking itself seriously. I mean there's a character named Stooge, who is a bit of a tool that could be taken as a bit crass. But underneath it all, it's a bit light-hearted. Well, except for the little brother being a bit of a perv. That's just super weird.
All of characters are pretty likeable. The cast delivers solid performances. They know exactly what kind of moving that they were making. They were proud of the fact that they were trying to have a good time with things. In the making of feature on the Shout! Factory release, everyone behind the scenes seemed to be having a great time making this film. They wanted to make a film that emulated the experience of a haunted house. Did they succeed? I would say 100% that they were able to succeed.
The story is a bit light. But honestly, I think that's part of the reason why the film works so well. It works in absolute spades in my opinion. On the night of Halloween, 10 teens decide to go to a party at an abandoned funeral parlor. "Hull House", rumored to be built on an evil patch of land & underground stream, is the place. While starting the party, the teens gather around a big mirror to perform a seance...BIG MISTAKE. They awaken some evil force and find themselves trapped and taken over one by one. Now it's a battle for who can survive and cross over the stream before going to hell....
That's the basics of this movie in a nutshell. I know I don't go too much into the specifics of which characters survive and such and such. That's okay. This is a film where I don't necessarily want to spill everything. Because at that point, what's the fun of watching and experiencing this unique spooky thrill ride? I will say though that Amelia Kinkade rocks it as Angela. If you look into this film series, you'll notice that it does have a poster character for the film and that it's Angela. She is a big reason why the film works so well. She relishes in just being evil when she turns. Yeah, there's a bit of camp to it. But that's okay cause it makes it fun. I am 100% happy with putting Angela up into the Horror Movie pantheon alongside Freddy. Yeah, this is a smaller film than anything in there. But it definitely stands equal alongside it.
The demons. The demons are all creepy as can be. They start off having some oddities to them akin to Evil Dead-ish. However the really intriguing part is seeing how they progress through the film. They are not impervious. They take on damage and lots of it. By the end of the film, it is an absolute horror seeing the monsters that they become. Oh and by the way, don't ask Suzanne about her lipstick. It's something that once see, it cannot be unseen.
There is some gore in the film. Actually there's quite a bit of it. However, it's used really well. It's not too over the top to Evil Dead II or Army of the Darkness levels. But it's still there.
Overall, this is a small film. It's one that managed to spawn two more films and a remake. That's pretty good in my book for a simple low budget film. Plus it's one that's fun to return to from time to time. Especially during these spooky months.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Night of the Demons can be found on Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, and Shudder.
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