When you think of horror franchises you don't usually think of smaller known horror films rather you think of the more well known films. Yet the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today was actually the first film in a franchise of films as it not only spawned to sequel but much like every single horror film of the eighties this film also got a 2009 remake and so then join me as I review the film that actually has a smart horror character in it with the film in question being called simply just "Night Of The Demons" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when Judy and some of her friends attend a party at a supposed haunted house hosted by the local weird kid Angela they all find themselves in the fight for there very lives when demons start tryin to possess them one by one. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. While one does expect a film called "Night Of The Demons" to have a pretty bad plot to it as the main idea behind these cheaply made eighties horror films is just to be balls to the wall insanity this is something where the films plot isn't as good as it could have been as it's not as insanely fun as the films title would make it out to be rather it plays everything super straight and while that is fine for something like a Friday The 13th movie as those plots are serious in nature here given the films title you do expect a plot that is a little bit more weird and is a little but more out there and alot less series in tone. Yet in saying this tho the films plot is also exactly the kind of bad that you think it would be as it is clear as day that the makers of this film were having a good time in making the film but they didn't put half as much thought and effort into giving us a plot that is more well thought out which is something that would have been fine if this film was say a horror comedy for example as then you could argue that that's part of the joke but it's not it's meant to be a serious film and yet this is the kind of film that demands a less serious plot to it with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging as well on my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Cathy Podewell as Judy Cassidy , Amelia Kinkade as Angela Franklin and William Gallo as Sal Romero. Also starring in this film is Alvin Alexis as Rodger , Linnea Quigley as Suzanne . Lance Fenton as Jay Jansen , Hal Havins as Stooge , Allison Barron as Helen , Philip Tanzini as Max , Jill Terashita as Frannie , Harold Ayer as The Old Man , Marie Denn as The Old Man's Wife , Karen Ericson as Mrs. Cassidy , Donnie Jeffcoat, Jr as Billy , James W. Quinn as Clerk 1 and The Demon Voices and Clark Jarrett as Clerk 2.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. Acting wise the actors that you do expect to give us a solid performance give us exactly that however tho this film is made up of very little known actors and it's those actors that do bring down the quality of the acting in this film which of course isn't there fault as they can only do so much with the material and need direction with this being something that it appears wasn't given as it does come across as this films director Kevin S. Tenney had no clue on how to direct his actors alot of the time as we do get actors feel lost and unsure of themselves. With the best actor in the whole entire film being Amelia Kinkade as Angela Franklin as she is quite clearly having alot of fun playing this character with it being something that does show through in her final performance and while she doesn't really act anymore it would be nice to see more of what Amelia Kinkade can do outside of these films just to see how good of an actor that she is as she does seem like a really good actor if this film is anything to go by, with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films characters a lot to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Much like alot of trashy eighties horror films the characters in this film aren't really anything to write home about. That is apart from the character of Rodger who is ab actually a smart horror character as the second things start to get a little bit to scary he's saying that they should all get out of the house something which both he and Judy actually do granted they don't get very far but it's the fact that he actually did it in the first place which is what makes him a smart character as the second things to get a little bit to spooky in real life we would be the ones trying to escape it just to live another day and whilst we do expect horror characters to mainly be dumb because if they were smart and did the smart thing that there would be no movie to begin with but nine times out of ten they never escape the scary house where all the danger is rather they just stay in one place and here we have a character that fights to get out of the house the first chance that he gets. With the rest of this films characters being the typical characters that you find in these sleazy eighties horror movies with Angela being the weird one , Suzanne being the girly girl , Sal being the joke and Stooge being the unfunny comedy relief character and while the characters of Judy and Rodger are a little bit better then this as Judy is the kind and caring one and Rodger is the smart one of the group they all feel like characters that we've seen done better in other horror movies and heck even Rodger stops being the smart one and runs BACK into the house near the end just before he gets killed of which is something that his character just wouldn't do as it's not the smart thing to do.
One of the worst things that any film can do is make you think of other and better films as it takes you out of the film that your meant to be watching. Yet this is something that this film does with it's tongue in cheek poster with the film saying that it's so scary that both Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger won't be attending this villains party and while OK fair enough you want to make sure that people think that your film is scary that's fair but when you straight away start comparing yourself to both Friday The13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street then you better have the scares to back in up or be a film that's so bad it's good because if not that line on the poster about the party being so scary that both Jason and Freddy won't be there will be seen for nothing more then what it is and that's a cheap marketing tactic to get horror fans into watching the film. Look to be fair mentioning them on the poster is something that does make alot of sense as slasher films where all the range in the eighties however this film was coming out at the tail end of that boom and therefor mentioning two of the biggest horror characters is something that would be seen as being out of touch with what the public are currently seeing and while there is nothing you can really replace there names with and it is fun seeing this film kind of poke fun at them in the poster it would have made more sense if the makers of this film came up with something else that emphasized just how scary the film is or heck maybe they could have gone the tongue in cheek route and have the poster be more darkly comical like what they would they would do with Night Of The Demons 2 and 3, While mentioning Freddy and Jason by name on the poster isn't harming the film by any means and it is a good way to get horror fans to watch the film it is something that doesn't work with the films more serious tone.
This is a film that you can tell right from the title alone wasn't made to be a mainstream hit film as rather it was always going to be more of a cult hit. Which to be fair isn't a bad thing but at the same time tho this film really doesn't all that much to earn it's cult status as yes there are two sequels and a remake but just in terms of what's in the film this film was very lucky to even be the modest hit that it ultimately ended up being as its fun enough to be that much of a cult hit even tho the film itself does have its fair share of fans yet it's not good enough to be a hit with the mainstream crowd due to how out there and weird that this film could be. This is something that dies make you wonder just who will really like this film and well to be truthful the answer is both the mainstream and the cult film crowd as there are moments in this film that will appease both sets of people and yet if the film leaned in on it's comedy alot more as there are signs of this film being a truly wicked film with there being a pair of killer scenes with a grumpy old man that you think aren't going to go anywhere but then they come back at the end of the film for a nice darkly funny joke that would have worked alot more if the film did lean in to it's comedy alot more and be this truly weird and out there film that both mainstream audiences and cult film fans can enjoy. This is a film that you can also tell could only work in the eighties due to the amount sleaze that we get in the film which is something that does make the film more enjoyable as it allows you to get fully prepared just for what type of film that your going to be watching as while this film knows what it is and is afraid of being exactly that its when the film leans into the things that make it fun that it does become this hugely entertaining film.
It's been said quite a few times in this review but if this film was more of a horror comedy then it would have worked all the more better. As the films title is one that doesn't make you think that your going to be getting a serious film therefor you might as well lean into it and fully embrace the films more goofy premise as this is something that would allow the film to be alot more fun to watch and yet by playing it super straight it does hinder the film and stop it from being as fun as it could have been as if this was a film that was truly balls to the wall insane and had alot of insane kills think Evil Dead 2 but on an even smaller budget then we could be looking at a film that alot more people will not know about but will also be talking about. Another thing that stops the film from being as fun and goofy as it really could have been is the fact that alot of the time we don't get to see the main characters together with alot of them being separated for alot of the film and while this was mostly likely done for practical reasons or so that the film can give us some really good kills if these characters were together alot more then it would have meant that we got to see more of the characters just talking and making fun of each other in the way that friends do with this being something that would have the add on effect of making the film alot more fun to watch. However the film shouldn't be goofy for the sake of being goofy and thankfully this is something that the film does realise as when it comes to the very plot exposition it is something that is treated seriously and that is how it should be and yet when the film doe get to it's kills that's when the film should have been more goofy as due to the main villains of the film being demons the film does have permission to go to those more over the top places and yet for one reason or another it never really goes there.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and six seconds. Which to be to this film is pretty much the exact running time that a film like this one is always going to have and to be fair to this film whilst it doesn't really need that amount of running time in order to tell its story it is hard to argue the fact that the film doesn't waste alot of time in moving the plot as alot of the films scenes are all about doing exactly that moving the plot of the film forward and heck the film even has the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet the film really doesn't use its running time all that wisely due to the fact that it doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with this mainly being to the fact that even tho the film does devote alot of time to moving it forward and focusing on it's plot with the makers of this film instead being alot more focused on showing the teen characters partying then they are in showing us alot of really cool kills and developing the films plot something which the film very easily could have done just by removing some of the party scenes which would then free up time to developing the plot of the film. This is something that does also effect the films character development as while it would have been foolish of anyone to expect this film to give it's characters character development as this is after all a cheaply made eighties horror film there still should have been an attempt to make these character feel like there alot more then the stereotype that the film assigns to them at the start of the film and while Angela does come of as begin memorable despite this none of the others apart from Suzanne and Rodger are all that memorable but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this film making great use of practical effects with all of the films kills using practical effects in really creative which is something that does make this films kills even tho there aren't that many of them truly stand out and be timeless with the only thing that does let this films kills down being the fact that it does take until well over the half way mark for us to even get to the films kills and when the film is this short it did need to start getting to the kills pretty much right away. With the best kill in the whole entire film being that of The Old Man at the end of the film just due to the fact that not only is it a good pay off to something that was set up earlier on in the film but it is also something that plays on the genuine fears that adults in the eighties had about finding razor blades in childrens sweets during Halloween with that kill being as over the top and as gory as you'd want it to be and that is something that does show you just very briefly just how good that this film really could have been and heck the film even ha a great practical effects scene with Linnea Quigley which is something that won't get talked about here but if you know the scene then you know just how good that that effect is, with the death of The Old Man being something that does have the added value of coming out of nowhere due to the fact that we only saw that character near the start of the film and therefor to see him get killed off at the end of the film was something that was both funny and shocking with the rest of the films kills being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall if you love films that are cult films then you will find some level of enjoyment out of this film but in saying that tho this film really doesn't go all the way with how goofy that it should have been which is something that does make it feel like that the makers of this film were afraid to embrace the more goofy nature of this film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things thar re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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