Marquis de Sade

The Marquis De Sade, Egypt, ancient Gnostic cults, Robert Englund in a dual role, gratuitous sex and nudity, murder and mayhem... on paper Tobe Hopper's Night Terrors sounds like it should be at least a fun, entertaining flick given the ingredients. It's not. It is a plot less, incoherent shambles that brings little entertainment. There is basically no plot beyond some vague stuff about a cult that follows the work of De Sade who for some unclear reason feel the need to seduce the daughter of a local Christian archaeologist and kill her. That is pretty much it- I think it has something to with the Gnostics but who knows what the writers were thinking. Most of the movie is a meandering mess as the heroine is exposed to various weirdness, dream sequences and erotic encounters, intercut with scenes of Englund as the imprisoned De Sade in the 19th century chewing the scenery. It seems like the makers were trying for something serious but whatever their pretensions were they are buried in the cheesiness, bad acting, sleaze and fake looking decapitated heads.

There aren't too many good points. Robert Englund is fun to watch, as always and the lead actress, Zoe Trilling, whilst not very talented, is attractive and in various stages of undress through the movie but watching Night Terrors is a chore. At least I got to see the movie from which the "When you're as criminal as I" bit from the Australian film certification ratings guide that was on the front of so many VHS tapes from the nineties came from.

Tobe Hooper, may he rest in peace, had a well-filled career of hits and misses. The hits are widely considered as bona-fide masterpieces ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Poltergeist", "Lifeforce"), while the misses are seen as total failures even by the most hardened horror fanatics ("Crocodile", "Mortuary", "Djinn"). Personally, I wouldn't dare to refer to Tobe's nineties movies as failures, but they are an acquired taste, for sure. "The Mangler" is such a pleasantly deranged mess, and this "Night Terrors" is even more bonkers!

This flick is a wildly incoherent hodgepodge of crazy half-processed ideas, extravagant characters, gratuitous sex, and even more gratuitous violence. Ravishing teenager Eugenie "Genie" Mattheson visits her archeologist father in Alexandria, Egypt, but quickly gets involved with the local jet set that throws wicked costume parties and orgies. The MC of these parties claims to be a direct descendant of none other than Marquis de Sade himself, and he also believes that Genie is the reincarnation of the Marquis' wife.

It's an intriguing enough plot, but the handling of it is overly hectic and unsatisfying. The film constantly bounces back and forth between the events in present day Egypt and flashbacks of a 18th century prison dungeon in which the Marquis himself is raving madly and yelling to a picture of his muse. It doesn't exactly help that Robert Englund, in a large dual role, gives a god-awful performance and that the gory highlights come too late in the film.

And yet, it doesn't matter how good or bad "Night Terrors" is. The most important thing you need to know is that the one and only Zoe Trilling stars as the female lead. Who? Trilling is one the most gorgeous girls to appear in horror movies during the late 80s and early 90s. She may not be the greatest actress of her generation, but she's unbelievably hot and sexy. "Night Terrors" and - of course - "Night of the Demons 2" were the high points of her career, but then she inexplicably vanished from acting. With a cherubic face and a dreamy body like hers, that decision hurts for almost 30 years already.

I like Tobe Hooper's work, but like all artist he has hits and misses. I think that horror is a very personal thing, akin to what turns a person on sexually. What is hot for one is an off for another.

The movie has an interesting concept.

I feel the acting is good. Robert Englund is wonderful as the Marquis De Sade and it was nice to see William Finley again. (He is also in one of my all time fav's "Funhouse" also directed by Hooper. )

Set design, editing, costuming, score and photography all have a very 80's feel to it although the movie was filmed in 1993. It has that high glossy feel to it.

The movie is neither as artist as it would have like to have been, nor is it completely terrible. Trust me there are A LOT worse out there. If you like Robert Englund, or have a kind of fascination for the Marquis, then this maybe worth your time. But if you are looking for chills, gore or T&A skip it.

1st watched 8/26/2001 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Tobe Hooper): Scary, yet sadistic(which makes sense) portrayal of a relative of the Marquis De Sade carrying out the same sadistic acts and enjoying it that supposedly his predecessor did. This Tobe Hooper film really doesn't do a whole lot different than his similar in style Freddy Krueger movies with the same star (Freddy himself - Robert Englund) playing a dual role(the Marquis De Sade and his relative). It is also seems like it wants to really poke at Christianity but then loses that in the end much to my chagrin but leaving an inconsistent feel to the movie. Could have been much worse if excesses were taken in sex and violence, but they try to keep this at a minimal despite some disgusting scenes. My final thought is why would Hooper want to make this movie. It obviously took awhile to actually get distributed, then it has to be advertised gruesomely and with Hooper's name in the title to hopefully make some money on his name and his gore. It's obvious this didn't work.

This is one of the smaller films Tobe Hooper directed in the 80s and 90s but one of his darkest in subject matter. There are quite a few thematic links to Texas Chainsaw Massacre: we had a virginal girl getting wrapped up in an underground cabal or torture and black magic. This is not as intense but keeps you invested with its bizarre style and solid performances. Hooper fans won't be turned off by the absurd and symbolic moments, but mainstream horror fans won't get it. This is not a slasher film, but all Hooper films get unfairly graded as such. He works with very esoteric and macabre stories that are not supposed to be realistic. They are old school horror movies with a more intelligent knowledge of evil and depravity. Hooper may have topped himself 2 years later with the similar film "The Mangler" which also starred Robert Englund, who is really having fun in both films. Big recommendation to fans of David Lynch or Jess Franco, whose sometimes producer Harry Allan Towers produced this film!