Night of the Demons

• Directed by Kevin S. Tenney
• September 9, 1988 (Detroit)

A group of high school students throw a party in an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween and while attempting a séance they accidentally release a demon that possesses them one at a time.

Some movies are just prime examples of the era in which they are made. Night of the Demons is one such film. It has all the negatives like bad acting, mostly unlikeable characters making dumb decisions, bad acting, thin plot with adults playing teenagers who are nothing but stock characters. And who can forget excuses for nudity and sex? This has all that. Yet those often the most endearing elements of 80s horror.

A group of teens old enough to buy liquor in real life decide to have a party at an abandoned funeral home with quite an urban legend attached to it. This is all at the behest of an unpopular weird girl (I guess ‘goth’ would be the right term). These are people that clearly do not like each other. And as much as they verbally berate and nitpick you wonder why they even associate. That’s not necessarily uncommon in horror movies with the characters existing just to get killed. It makes little sense though. I am not expecting best buds, but they should tolerate their individual presences.

There is minimal characterization here. What you get in the beginning is what you get at the end and it’s not much. Nobody grows. They do however throw a narrative curveball or two at you. I was left thinking that Sal (William Gallo) who has an unnaturally thick Brooklyn accent was going to be the hero along with pure Judy (Cathy Podewell) but he meets a rather gruesome end.

The body hopping demon feels a bit like The Evil Dead. It is more interested in torment than anything else. Even the use of a séance feels like a like a variation of using the Naturom Demonto. They do enough with those elements that the use is not a cheap imitation but more inspired by that film. Having written that I could see a crossover between the two in theory. Anywho…

Our main villain of Angela Franklin (Amelia Kinkade) dances seductively in a black wedding dress while also trying to be humorous in the vein of Freddy Krueger. Unfortunately the attempts at macabre jokes fall flat. It would have worked better if those behind the film just played it straight with her and the cheese came from elsewhere. The most effective bit of dark humor is a joke that connects to the wraparound and uses the urban legend of razors in apples.

This was done on the cheap. The shots are tight and the dissolving demons in the end are just the actors crouching down while smoke pots billow off camera. That made me laugh. It certainly got the point across but was just so halfhearted.

Do not get me wrong. I enjoyed Night of the Demons for all that it is. Done right like this, trashy horror is good. It is very good trash. Like all good trash it knows it is indeed trash and tries to be nothing more. This is a late-night frozen burrito of films. Despite enjoying yourself, you might regret viewing it but once the incident fades into the past you will do it again.

Night of the Demons is a prime example of a horror cult classic. It is a perfect example of a bad film done right that transcends its flaws to become enjoyable.