Night Angel

Night Angel is a reasonably well made horror movie. A lot of it is rather dumb, but it's all pretty entertaining.

Isa Andersen looks great as Lilith, but she can't really act. Director Dominique Othenin-Girard does a lot better here than he did with Halloween 5, which is just as well. The script is a bit silly, but the movie is saved by some excellent setpieces and surrealistic photography.

It's no classic, but I reckon it's worth a look on a slow evening.

An ancient evil entity named Lilith is reborn and assumes the shape of an incredibly sexy young woman (German-born Isa Jank, "The Wrong Guys"). Lilith proceeds to aggressively contrive her way towards being the cover girl for a fashion magazine called "Siren"; meanwhile, she goes about seducing and destroying various horny and mindless men. A virtuous employee named Craig (Linden Ashby, 'Melrose Place') doesn't like what she does to the office, so he teams up with a savvy old woman (Helen Martin, '227') to vanquish the demon. He also takes the time to romance Kirstie (Debra Feuer, "To Live and Die in L.A."), the sister of his boss Rita (Karen Black, "House of 1000 Corpses").

"Night Angel" is acceptable cheese ball fare, no more and no less, yet it does still hit the spot fairly well for anybody who's got a soft spot for this kind of thing. It's got plenty of lovely ladies and sex scenes to keep the audience satisfied, as well as some wonderfully garish makeup FX by Steve Johnson ("Night of the Demons"). It does improve as it goes along, leading to a major set piece of atmosphere and effects; the most memorable bit of business takes place around the 56 minute mark. Dominique Othenin-Girard ("Halloween 5") directs adequately, giving us enough "good" stuff to prevent our minds from wandering too much.

The delectable Ms. Jank, most of whose acting credits consist of TV appearances in her native country, does seem to be enjoying this moment in the spotlight. The rest of the cast is passable, if not inspired, although it's nice to see veteran character actress Martin in an actual heroic role. (At first, you think she's just some sort of pest.) Notable creature performer Doug Jones ("The Shape of Water") has his second credited acting role as shameless horndog Ken. Also appearing are Gary Hudson ("Road House"), Sam Hennings ("Seedpeople"), Twink Caplan ("Clueless"), and Phil Fondacaro ("Troll"). Roscoe Lee Browne ("The Cowboys") does the opening narration. Hennings bares enough of a resemblance to Klaus Kinski to be good for some chuckles.

All in all, an agreeable watch. It's worth sticking with just to hear that end credits song belted out by none other than Screaming Jay Hawkins!

Six out of 10.

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.

"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"!

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.