Happy Hell Night

First off, let me say.....thank you to Anchor Bay, you guys are releasing the movies we can no longer find on VHS, so for that, my thanks. Now, Happy Hell

Night is very typical for the cheese we know and love from the eighties. It concerns a series of murders that happened in a fraternity by a satanic killer, Zachary Malius, played by the ever creepy Charles Cragin. The story then pushes twenty-five years later in the same fraternity house, and the pledges have to, as a hazing, go to the asylum where Malius was confined to, and take a few pics of the killer. As these movies go, Malius escapes and the killings begin. Nothing new as far as the murders go, but an interesting pick-axe to the skull on a very young pre CSI Jorga Fox. From there, it takes a retired detective (Darren McGavin), a priest and two brothers and the girl they fight over to put Malius back in his confines. The acting is typical for the time and very dated, but enjoyable nonetheless. If you can find it, rent it, buy it, whatever, but this movie is highly recommended to those who love the B movies of the eighties and early nineties. A good movie for Friday nights with popcorn and pizza.

"Happy Hell Night" came out at a time when the slasher craze had well and truly died, as the same ideas were being recycled over and over again, and this one is no different, here we have a killer priest who escapes from a mental hospital after 25 years for murdering a group of college students and surprise surprise, he sets out to do it again to a new group of college kids.

Happy Hell Night is an OK effort and I actually liked it more than I thought I would, once the first half hour is over and the killer priest starts killing, it actually starts livening up and there are some touches in the gore department, but I could have done without the stupid cheesy one liners from the killer, as it would have made him a whole lot creepier, and the supernatural element was done rather well and it does set it apart from the other slasher fodder that came out during this point.

All in all "Happy Hell Night" is an okay movie once it gets going although it does take quite a while and the cast weren't very interesting but they do get killed which is a bonus, and this movie may just be another run of the mill early 90's slasher, but it's still OK.

There were some good qualities here. The look of the villain is creepy as hell. Some of the special effects were quite good. The images are memorable and stay with you in a good way!

That said, this film has a lot of problems. The flashbacks should not be scarier and more interesting than the main story. There are no clear rules about what the villain can and cannot do which leads to confusion and silliness. But the most egregious problem is the villain's constant one-liners. Honestly, if they cut all the one-liners out of this film, it would probably gain 2 or 3 stars from me. As is, I can't recommend this.

This one had a decent premise going for it but it's plagued with a marginal directorial effort, stale performances, and no suspense whatsoever. The characters are uninspiring and when the movie is over, your eyes will hurt after rolling them for an hour and a half. It's one of those slashers that I could've shut off and not cared how it ended. Poor Darin McGavin, Kolchack hit a low with this one. It's fun seeing Sam Rockwell and Jorja Fox in their 5 minute roles but this one is about as fun as a bad case of hemorrhoids on the Tour de France. Happy Hell Night isn't even worth the effort for die hard slasher aficionados. Maybe Anchor Bay will do something better with their money by obtaining the rights to titles such as Just Before Dawn, The Burning, or Popcorn for their next horror outing.

1991/R-18/84m Darren McGavin, Nick Gregory, Franke Hughes, Laura Carney, Charles Cragin.

Another frat-house slasher film with more willing pledges accidentally releasing a maniac from his asylum habitat some 25 years after he butchered seven people at the local Church in a pact with the devil or something like that...

Ergo, he returns to the frat house and hacks and slashes his way through airhead co-eds and dumb jocks until two brothers (actual brothers, not just frat brothers) and the girl they're both screwing do their best to stop him.

Not as bad as it could be considering how little known it is; Darren McGavin is hardly in it and most of the murder victims are without any indentity - just kids having sex and dying. The killer offers the best distraction, delivering kitsch one-liners with every murder and talking like E.T.! Switch your mind off, sit back and enjoy - if you can...