Night of the Demons

Hey, perhaps if all remakes were as unpretentious and amusing as "Night of the Demons", people wouldn't complain so much about the deterioration of the horror genre in general… This one is several hundred miles away from being a good or even semi-memorable horror movie, but it's entertaining while it lasts and offers plentiful of adequate make-up effects, a suitably light-headed atmosphere and a whole lot of yummy voluptuous actresses in revealing Halloween costumes! In all fairness, I also have to admit that it was pretty impossible to mess up a remake of the modest 1988 cult-favorite. The original "Night of the Demons", as well as both of its sequels released during the 1990's, was a very simplistic and unpretentious little flick also and it's rather easy to accomplish a present day update for the post-2000 horror audiences by making just a few minor changes left and right. The titular night still refers to the Halloween celebration, but instead of an abandoned funeral home like in the original, the party mansion is now a sinister family estate where once – in the roaring 20's – a horrible tragedy occurred when a desperate woman tried to win the love of a man trough a séance, but she ended up awakening seven demons that were even exiled from hell for being too bloodthirsty. To reign again, the demons require seven human bodies to possess, and let this just happen to be the exact number of idiots that remain loafing around the house after the police rudely interrupted the party. Hostess Angela is the first victim to mutate, and through seductive games and lesbianism she gradually causes the rest to go demon too. The mansion's history records may have altered slightly, but director/co-writer Adam Gierasch nevertheless blatantly copies the main trumps and highlight sequences of the 1988 original. Most notably the infamous sequence with the lipstick receives an update and furthermore the movie revolves on luscious twenty-something people that flirt, drink and cannot keep their hormones under control. The kills and make-up effects are well-handled, but nowhere near as imaginative as in the old installments and there's zilch tension, logic or sympathy for the characters. I presume that supporting actresses Diora Baird ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre: New Beginning") and Bobbi Sue Luther ("Laid to Rest") were exclusively cast for their large bra-sizes and their willingness to share their beautiful boobs with the rest of the world, whereas Monica Keena ("Freddy Vs. Jason") has the tough responsibility to depict an amiable and more or less intellectual heroine. "Night of the Demons" also features two relatively washed up stars of the 90's in the shape of Shannon Elizabeth and Edward Furlong. The former hasn't appeared in anything significant since she went topless in "American Pie" and the latter will probably always remain the kid from "Terminator II" and "American History X". But seriously, Edward Furlong looks terrible these days… Pretty much like he's consuming nothing but drugs and alcohol since the year 2000. Oops, I just quickly checked his biography here on the site, and it actually appears to be true. Sorry, Edward.

I put off watching this for years because of the poor reviews. I'm a fan of the original, as in it is one of my favorite horror movies, so I really didn't want to like this. Going in, I expected the worst but I have to say, it wasn't half bad. The original poked fun of itself constantly and knew what it was, a cheesy good time, this was no different. While not nearly as good or dark as the original, this is still worth a watch and is far superior than Night of the Demons 3. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it bad? Yes. Is it supposed to be? YES! I had a great time I'm sure you will too. It also has a killer soundtrack including Type O Negative, Concrete Blonde, etc.

I managed to watch an hour of this film before turning it off. Remakes of 80's horror films are a dime a dozen nowadays. Some go straight to DVD, some to the theatres, some with big budgets, some with small.

Although well versed in cinema and movies, the original 'Night of the Demons' has evaded my radar and so I had no memories of the original 80's film (soon to be watched though).

Regardless of whether the original was a good film or not, this updated version is a waste of time. Shannon Elizabeth should have words with her agent, as I don't think her career has derailed to the point that she needs to be doing cheap horror films. Edward Furlong is clearly in it for the money and you can sense that he knows he has yet again signed up to appear in something cheap and crap.

The film premise is simple...party goers at an old abandoned house discover skeletons in the basement. One gets bit and possessed by a demon who in turn ends up getting others possessed. Blood and death follow. We've seen it many times before done a lot better.

The acting is poor, the script is basic and flawed. The direction is standard with nothing inventive thrown in.

I used to say to my friends that you'd never get away with making some of the horrors of the 80's in this day and age. The 80's was a glorious time for cheap, cheesy, silly films which are fun and enjoyable with ridiculous stories and ideas which would not pass as well on modern audiences....but it seems we are getting a new wave of these films. Problem is, they aren't as entertaining and magical. It doesn't work for the modern era. Instead, films like this just come off as cheap, careless and crap.

I remember watching the original "Night of the Demons" back in the late 80's, so I had somewhat mixed feelings about this movie. Initially I thought something in the lines of "why does the world need a re-told version of this movie?" When the movie started, I was pleasantly surprised with the intro, at least, because it had that certain unique Lovecraftian touch to it. But I also thought, if this is how the movie is going to be all the way through, it will be too much, too unbearable. Luckily, the movie did change over to become an ordinary-styled movie.

Well, the storyline is pretty straight forward, and no twists or turns to the events that unfolded. The movie was also somewhat true to the original 1988 movie, but of course with some major changes, which was actually good to see. But overall, the story was predictable and somewhat stale, even if you haven't seen the original movie.

The effects and the setting was quite alright, and the demons did looks alright, I will give them that much.

There was a sex scene in the movie that made me almost still my coffee. That was just too ridiculous, trust me, you will know what I am talking about when you see the movie, or if you have already seen it. I am not giving away details, but that was just downright stupid.

As for the cast. Well, there were some known faces, no major stars though. I am not a fan of Edward Furlong, but he actually did a good job in the role here. I had to look twice when I first saw Edward Furlong, but yeah, that was him alright. And another familiar face is Shannon Elizabeth, though her performance in the movie seemed more like it was some project she just wanted to get over with.

I suppose for people who haven't seen the original "Night of the Demons", this movie will be quite a blast. It has enough action and suspense to keep you interested. There is also a good amount of gore and effects in the movie. So that is a plus. But for us who have seen the original version, then this action-packed remake is a hollow attempt at bringing something old back to life. Don't get me wrong, the movie is good in itself, it should just have been made as something else, not a remake of that old movie.

For me, this movie was the type that you watch once and never again.

"Uh okay. So, they're demons."

Lots of pretty, B-level actresses in slutty Halloween costumes being killed. Lots of dumb guys. A decent amount of gore. A paper-thin plot about some demons haunting a house in New Orleans on Halloween. Not very scary. Ample amounts of chessiness and campiness. Some okay monster designs. An amateurish script. Late-night TV quality production values. Some really terrible Halloween-themed rock music. A powerful urge on my part to fast-forward a lot.    

That's basically my experience with Night of the Demons, in a nutshell. I can't compare this to the original movie, as I haven't seen it. But on its own merits, it's not funny or scary enough to really be worthwhile. But hey, boobs. Check the cast list and see if that makes this pretty mediocre flick worth watching for you.