Night Angel

Night Angel (1990)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Above average horror film has an evil spirit taking over the body of a beautiful woman (Isa Andersen) who then goes out and uses her sexuality to seduce men and kill them.

NIGHT ANGEL doesn't have a very detailed story but it really doesn't have to because it pretty much delivers in every way that you'd expect it to. If you were renting this movie back in the day or seeing it late at night on Cinemax, you'd expect nudity, sex, gore and violence and that's pretty much what the film delivers. Fans of this type of thing will certainly find a lot to enjoy here.

I think a lot of the credit has to go towards director Dominique Othenin-Girard who made this right after the somewhat disasterous HALLOWEEN 5. This film here allowed him to experient with his European feel and I thought this added a lot of good style to the picture. The sexuality is certainly a tad bit more erotic than you'd typically see in a horror film like this and there's no question that the director wanted to push this aspect.

I also thought the cast was quite good and especially Andersen who plays the sex object. She does a very good job with the performance and she certainly knows how to milk that sexuality to where all of these men would fall for her. Linden Ashby, Debra Feuer, Gary Hudson and Karen Black are all good in their roles as well.

Horror fans will be happy with the blood level here as the demon rips out the hearts of her lovers and this leads to some great red stuff. The violence is pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this so all is good on that level. NIGHT ANGEL certainly isn't a masterpiece and it is flawed but at the same time it's a good entertainment.

OK - I have to admit it: I love old school 80's & 90's era, electro/disco music and this decadent atmosphere that you CANNOT really find in todays mystery/horror/whatever films (there are exceptions, of course).

This one isn't too dumb, really. Compared with lots of silly hollywood 'horror' this one is much much preferable. We even have enough style, music and few gore effects to get things going. And of course, as you have probably understood by now, there's an evil mistress that is trying to rule the world. And then, the final supposedly climactic ending sequence. This is quite an OK viewing, with quite pleasant & amusing characters.

No masterpiece, by no means, but should be OK for most horror fans and fans of that particular atmosphere I described above.

A demon assumes the guise of a woman and becomes an editor at a fashion magazine. She lures men into her spell and then kills them. Not much of a premise and with rather poor acting, but the director makes this work. The effects have style and look rather good, the sets are creative, and the photography is inventive. The lead looks her part very well, but just can't act to save her life.

Rated R; Violence, Nudity, and Sexual Situations.

This movie has pretty much all the best stuff that comes with a good 80's horror movie. The execution of the plot is what usually tells 80's horror movie apart from all other decades in my opinion. There always has to be some extravagant action sequences involving some sort of sexualized pain infliction, lots of heavy gasping and strip dancing sex scenes with some guts on a spring styled gore to top it all off. Check, check and check!

So this movie introduces us to Lilith, a cool demon for an eighties styled horror to center around. Here in this movie they have decided to depicted her as the incarnation of lust and embodiment of evil with a tiny call out to Pazuzu (see if you can find it). Her powers are mostly psychic enabling her to send images into people dreams and thoughts and also move objects around telekinesis like. Lilith was very well portrayed by German actress Isa Jank in this movie whom I've never seen before in any horror and I thought she did an amazing job on this role while being very sexy.

Acting wise we also get some familiar faces from horror which should be a welcome sight to many. I was surprised to see B. J Turner here as well as I am a fan of the movie Scarecrows (1988) too and now this movie. I barely recognized Doug Jones, the man is a true chameleon much like Jenette Goldstein both of whom are always worth seeing, Jenette not being in this movie though but they are worth comparing.

Phil Fondacaro's appearance is unfortunately barely even cameo its so short but good never the less as is Roscoe as the narrator. Karen Black on the other hand was great also but seen plenty of times through out the movie, very enjoyable performances all round and truely leaves you wondering what people were thinking rating this movies so low and easily places this movie in the top 5 most under rated horrors of the 80's both due to how few people who have actually seen it and how poorly it has been rated by those who have seen it.

As I wrote earlier, there is a plethora of 80's horror elements in this movie and it would require a very long review to cover them all. Eitherway I will say that it was refreshing to watch a horror and not at all feel the need to fast forward at any point. Also being a fan of weird horror I should point out that this movie does come with a few flash in the pan weird body horror moments mostly towards the end, nothing quite as extreme as Society (1989) though but still welcome.

If you like under-rated horrors like this I would recommend the following: Impulse (1984), Xtro (1982), Nightwish (1989), Spookies (1986), Subspecies (1991), Dead and Buried (1981), The Dark Side of the Moon (1990), and Silent Madness (1984). All worth the watch if you can find them.

"Night Angel" for most part follows the typical staples of 80s supernatural horror with lukewarm results. It wants to be an erotic thriller with supernatural touches, but the uncanny aspect cheapens it. Considerably silly and weakly acted (with the exception of an always amusing Karen Black), and while uninspired, it's never boring due to competence in its polished direction and outrageous old-school latex make-up effects (thanks to some outlandish hallucinating nightmare sequences). Director Dominique Othenin-Girard was at the helm, who previously directed "Halloween 5" the year before and some of the visual and atmospheric aspects collide here. He sure does like the blue filter when staging the lighting. It's violent, sensual and brooding, but done in a rather tacky manner. Just look at the lust-filled orgy sequences. While serious in tone, some elements are tawdry then say shocking in what it aims to achieve and the dialogues at times can make you groan. The story centres on the fashion magazine industry where glamour and vanity attracts evil in the shape of an ancient evil demon in woman form. Nothing surprises in the writing with the usual raving character suddenly appearing and they know how to vanish this succubus. A mysteriously infatuating Isa Andersen might look the part, but acting-wise was less desirable and some of her delivery raised a chuckle. While across from her is a wooden hero in the shape of Liden Ashby and Debra Feuer fairs much better as his romance interest.

"She's Satan's whore wife"!