A Noite do Demônio

"Curse of the Demon" might just be the best horror film I've ever seen. When I saw it for the first time as a teenager in the mid-sixties on television one night, it really frightened me. And even now, at my age, it still gives me goosebumps.

Dana Andrews plays the skeptical American psychologist investigating a devil worship cult in England led by Dr. Karswell, played by Niall MacGinnis. The acting is pretty weak once you get past the two main characters, but it's the craftsmanship of the director that really matters.

Jacques Tourneur manipulates light and shadow to create fear of the unknown in this tale of modern science colliding with ancient sorcery. The monster is pretty tame as far as it goes, but that's not the point. It's not what you see, it's what you imagine that gets to you.

Long, dark corridors ..... dancing shadows ..... strange sounds contrasted with eerie silences ..... the impending sense of doom and apprehension. This film touches our primal fears, like a child waking up during a thunder storm. Is nature an ordered world or can it be manipulated by evil forces?

Filmed in England, this 1958 film was originally released with a running time of 95 minutes under the title NIGHT OF THE DEMON; when it reached the United States it had a running time of 83 minutes and the title CURSE OF THE DEMON. Both versions are contained on this DVD, with the English version the better for those twelve minutes, but in truth there is little significant difference between the two, and if you are a connoisseur of 1950s horror films you will find both equally fascinating.

Based on the short story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James, DEMON offers the tale of American psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews) who travels to a conference in England, planning to debunk a devil worshiping cult led by Karswell (Niall MacGinnis.) Unfortunately for the professionally skeptical Holden, Karswell's powers are genuine: he has successfully translated an ancient text and, through runes written on parchment, casts a curse first against Holden's colleague and then against Holden himself.

DEMON was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who worked with producer Val Lewton to create a series of memorable and distinctly noir-ish horror films at RKO in the 1940s: CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and THE LEOPARD MAN. All three films created a sense of unease and scream-aloud fear by implication and suggestion, and although DEMON is much more explicit in its effects, Tourneur brings the same sensibility to bear on DEMON, endowing it with remarkable authority and power in spite of several distinct flaws.

Chief among these flaws is the script, which can best be described as somewhat abrupt in terms of dialog, and leading man Dana Andrews, whose performance is remarkably unsubtle even in a decade noted for a lack of cinematic restraint. Film lore also has it that Tourneur lobbied against showing the demon on screen, and given the fact that the visual is hardly inspired this clearly would have been the better choice. None the less, DEMON has jolts and jars aplenty, not the least of which is Karswell: Niall MacGinnis' performance, with its mixture of the commonplace and the flatly evil, is remarkably fine. The film also sports a host of memorable set pieces: the storm, the flying parchment, Dr. Holden's exploration of Karswell's mansion, Dr. Holden's run through the night forest, and the final train sequence, to name but a few.

Although it is not well known today, like Tourneur's films with Lewton, DEMON has cast a very long shadow in terms of influence, and it is very difficult to imagine such films as ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE CHANGELING without both this film and those that proceeded it. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

"Curse of the Demon" (aka "Night of the Demon") is one of those weird little lost films that everyone agrees is wonderful and yet very few people seem to have actually seen. This is one of those rare British movies that is set, not in the city, but rather in the chilly, fog-choked countryside where little seems to have changed since Stonehenge was built. Niall McGinnis holds sway here as the impish leader of a Satanic cult, who swiftly dispatches of his critics by summoning a huge, horrific demon to rip them to shreds.

Into this isolated world walks psychologist John Holden, played by yet another seriously underrated actor, Dana Andrews. Andrews, who made a name for himself playing tough guys in films like "Laura" and "The Best Years of Our Lives" is wonderful here as the skeptical, even slightly smarmy, American who absolutely refuses to believe in demons, even when strange, unexplainable things begin to happen to him. Peggy Cummins is his love interest, the open minded schoolteacher whose uncle may have been a victim of the Demon. Niall McGinnis is disturbingly likable as the head of the Demon Cult, chucking aside a chance to play Aleister Crowley and opting for Benny Hill instead. He is very disarming as the films central villain, and Andrews confusion mirrors our own as the movie stalks relentlessly through a seance, a stormy Halloween party and a frightening hypnosis session to its surprisingly violent conclusion.

This movie is, by turns, sarcastically funny, suffocatingly tense and shockingly scary. The demon looks a little corny nowadays, and was revealed much too quickly with no suspenseful build-up, but the movie is so smart, so moody, so creepy and well done with an excellent cast to boot, that one can easily forgive the demon, which looks a lot like a slightly deformed bear with a pig nose and goat horns.

This is an excellent adaption of the short story "Casting the Runes" by M. R. James and still has the power to scare even 50 years later. Highly recommended!

Dana Andrews as an American psychologist, newly-arrived in England to attend a convention, who ends up investigating the death of a colleague which may stem from witchcraft. Delectably sinister and crafty UK occult entry from director Jacques Tourneur, who creates a shimmering and eerie mood from Hal Chester and Charles Bennett's screenplay. The two writers, adapting Montague R. James' book "Casting the Runes", reportedly quarreled over the occult elements in the script--with Bennett's attempts at a more subtle approach going unrealized (arguably, we get too many close-ups of the titular demon, but he's a scene-stealer nevertheless!). Tourneur weaves this Hitchcockian tale with a great deal of hypnotic style, and gets fine performances from Peggy Cummins as the daughter of the deceased as well as the always-reliable Andrews (one might say the actor seems a bit stolid here but, since his character is a born skeptic, he should look tense and uncomfortable). Niall MacGinnis is nothing short of amazing as Dr. Julian Karswell, sort of a mama's boy/devil cult leader and one of the very best villains in 1950s cinema. Supporting performances are all first-rate, the picture looks fantastic in chilly black-and-white as photographed by Ted Scaife, and the satisfying finale leaves one both smiling and hungry for more. Initially released in the US as "Curse of the Demon", missing 15 minutes from its original running time of 95 minutes. ***1/2 from ****

Dana Andrews plays the New World skeptic to the point of irritation - but not beyond, but the honours go to Nial MacGinnis whose warlock oozes malevolence, yet you still wouldn't mind enjoying afternoon tea with him. The scene where he waits in the car, opens the door and orders 'come along mother', after the tension of the seance is the icing on the cake. The black and white cinematography only adds to the 'darkness' of the tale. The opening sequence of the story with Denholm Elliot franticly driving through the lonely English countryside builds the tension wonderfully (you peer with a growing sense of foreboding as the headlamps try to beat a path home). I wonder if Hollywood could ever remake this. I doubt it. Throw millions of dollars at it, an A-list leading man and shed-loads of computer wizardry and you wouldn't even come close to the original.