Posts
SOURCE-Scream Factory Blu Ray
It was early 91 as was normal back then I couldn't sleep. Flipped through the TV guide,who remembers those?,and saw at 2am Showtime was airing something called Night of the Demons. I mistaked this for the early 80s killer bigfoot movie,which I had heard about in horror mags and through older friends.
When the movie started and I saw it wasn' t the killer Bigfoot movie I almost turned it off. Then I saw in the credits that Linnea Quigley was in the cast. Yep I am gonna watch this. About 90s minutes later the film was over and I was already looking to see when it was airing again. So I could record it and keep a copy.
Made in 1987 and released in 1988 Night of the Demons was a fairly low budget horror film. That got a rolling theatrical release. Which means only a few prints were made and the film would play one geographical region for say a month then move to another. Seems that most people did like I did and discovered this film that started a cult franchise from either seeing it late at night on cable or renting the VHS from the video store.
This movie was a big enough hit that 2 sequels were made. Then in 2009 a remake got released. Pretty sure in previous editions of 31 Days of Horror I have covered the third film and the remake.
The plot is fairly simple. A pile of high school kids are invited to a party on Halloween night. The party is held at an abandoned funeral home on the outskirts of town.
At the start of the film,after some pretty good opening credits,we see an old man. Who has just bought a big bag of apples and a box of razor blades. Seems he is gonna stuff the apples with the razor blades and pass them out Halloween night. Then on the same street we meet our female lead Judy. She is dressed up as Alice,from Alice in Wonderland. And is going with her boyfriend,who refuses to wear a costume,and their friends. The friends are a couple the dude is dressed up like a doctor and the lady,who is played by Jill Terashita best known for playing Ahab in Sleepaway Camp 3,who I am guessing is suppose to be Peter Pan.
We then see what Angela and her best friend Suzanne are up to. SUzanne,played by Linna Quigley, is distracting the clerks in the gas station by bending over and showing her ass,while Angela is busy stealing beer and snacks. After Angela is out the door with a pillowcase stuffed full,Suzanne walks up to the cashier "Do you boys have sour balls?" she asks the two clerks. They reply with a loud yes. "Well I bet you don't get many blowjobs then!"
Next we meet up with 3 more of their friends when they get to the funeral home. You got Stooge,the typical fat asshole jock like dude,who is dressed up like a pig. Roger,the scared dude,who is I am guessing a pirate and finally Helen. Also Judy's ex Sal shows up.
After the batteries in the radio die,which leads to Stooge bitching cause he just put the batteries in the radio that morning,Angela wants to have a seaunce. Helen sees what is actually a pretty well made demon puppet in this huge creepy mirror. This causes Helen to freak out. And the group splits up.
A spirit comes out and possess Angela and now the movie is going into 4th gear. You have Judy finding out her boyfriend only came to have sex. And Judy gets trapped in a room with a door that won't open. Roger and Helen say fuck this and go to leave. But now the giant wall that surrounded the property has no gate. Nothing but a solid wall. Stooge watches the possessed Angela dance,to what I think is an old Bahaus song. Jay pissed cause Judy refused to give him any ended up finding Suzanne in a room. Lipstick all over her face. And we get the scene that is the most remembered part of this film. Suzanne unbuttons her top. Exposes both her breasts then takes her lipstick and shoves it through her nipple into her breast.
Stooge is now also possessed and he wanders off. Finding Frannie and Max,Peter Pan and the doc,fucking in a coffin. Frannie is on top. Stooge grabs her head and twists it around backwards. Then with Max's arm hanging outside the casket Stooge starts slamming the lid down until the arm falls off.
THe FX work in most of the kills is pretty damn good. It is all practical FX work. And what surprised me is even now seeeing it on Blu Ray when Linnea as Suzanne shoved the lipstick thru her nipple into her breast it still looks real. I have seen Ms Quigley's breasts at least 50 times in various films. And the what has to be latex fake breasts in that scene look just like the real ones we have seen in films like Return of the Living Dead.
By the last act of the film the only people left alive are Roger,who has spent a pile of the film hiding in a car,and Judy. They figure out that if they can make it past midnight and get over the wall they will be over. Something about a underground river running around the property,which the wall is built over. And how the spirits of the dead can't cross running water. This leads to a gruesome scene near the end were Roger and Judy climb the wall . Using the barbed wire that is attached to it.
Anyways Roger and Judy survive. And since the two cars are on the other side of the wall they walk home. As they are getting close to Judy's home the old man from the start of the film is out there getting his newspaper. He makes a snide remark about Roger and Judy. Then he goes inside. HIs wife brings him a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. He takes 2 big bites out of the pie then asks her about it. Since there was so many apples left over,She mentions how they didn't have many trick or treaters,she got up early and made a pie out of the leftover apples. Then a quick cut to a close up of the old man's throat as a full razor blade cuts through his throat from the inside....!!!
This release is loaded with extras. You get two commenatarys. Some interviews. Plus as you can see at the top as is custom with Scream Factory releases you get two covers. The drawn cover is new art Scream Factory had created for this release and the other is the movies original poster art. I prefer the poster art.
Sure this film is a bit cheesy. And some of hte acting is pretty rough,Linnea has this odd way of saying some of her lines that just stands out in a bad way. But I have had vhs and dvd releases of the film and never seen it look or sound this good.
Night of the Demons gets a B.
