A Noite do Horror

My review was written in April 1990 after watching the movie on Magnum video cassette.

Nice special effects highlight this regional horror pic, a one-man effort made in Colorado by John Henry Johnson three years ago and currently in video stores.

Title refers to a remote weekend hangout, reportedly haunted, on the outskirts of the small town of Dudley, where teens congregate. Unfortunately for Patrick Keller and his chums, three ghouls in a crypt led by Brent Ritter are conjuring up the dreaded Muldoon Man, a missing link of sorts, to take over Earth.

THe kids go to witch Bettina Julius for help. They ultimately defeat the baddies, including the Muldoon Man, who blows up real good at the cemetery climax.

Naive pic is fun to watch and could have been a sleeper success if Johnson had built his story around something less cliched than the old "teens on an outing" standby. The Acting is weak, but makeup effects are interesting. Johnson has done his homework, even coming up with a nice Jean Cocteau-invented mirror-to-another-dimension gimmick.

A group of horny and obnoxious teenagers find the corpse of the Muldoon Man buried under Colorado cemetery.The ancient mythological creature Muldoon Man has an army of zombies and ghouls,who follow his orders and are hungry for some teenage blood.I remember having seen "Curse of the Blue Lights" on Polish cable TV many years ago under the title of "Przeklenstwo niebieskich swiatel".The acting is bad and the plot is childish,but I must say that make-up effects of ghastly ghouls are excellent.The film lacks nudity and gore and it resembles "Spookies" and "Neon Maniacs".Die hard zombie fans may want to check this very rare local oddity out.I doubt that it will ever be released on DVD.6 ghouls out of 10.

It's been a long time since I've seen this but I remember being tempted by the cover and the title in our local video store for months before I took a gamble and rented it. Boy, what a disappointment! I've got a pretty good memory when it comes to movie plots and the fact that I can't remember much about this one except for the gruesome makeup isn't a good sign. Like the other review here says, the script was horrid and the acting was worse. I get the idea that it was made by some guys with good makeup and FX skills... but not a lot else.

Despite being pretty bad I'd actually like to see it again to refresh my memory and see if there might be something worthwhile I'd missed the first time. Sometimes even the worst movies have redeeming qualities or a gem of a (badly executed) idea.

The young me would probably have loved Curse of the Blue Lights. The seven to twelve year old me, free of expectations, free of growing into gore or serious horror cinema. Curse of the Blue Lights is a pretty juvenile affair really, and looking at it through the cold light of adulthood it isn't all that good, but on a Friday night peering back into the mists and yearnings of youth it does the trick. A low budget regional affair, it sees a group of teens out for the night in the Blue Lights area, an ill defined and ill lit place that seems to have a river nearby but most importantly a slope wherein is buried an ancient beast, the Muldoon Man. One teen slips and falls, revealing a petrified hand protruding from the dust, they also find a medallion which they take before heading home for a pick up truck, get apprehended for speeding, return and find the body gone. Following tracks they find nefarious ghouls beneath a cemetery and realise there are some bad shenanigans afoot, which they set about putting to rights with the help of a local witch. Its a fast paced film bounding with enthusiasm, the cast are generally as young looking as the ages they seek to portray and there's a pleasant feel of youthful endeavour to the film, friends getting together to make a movie and test their skills. Though the writing is poor and the acting often flat there's a drive and purpose to everything that makes it a pretty easy watch. Special effects are the highlight, much better than would be expected for a film of this budget. Quality ghoul make up and some neat melting effects, even an amusing old school shonky monster at the end, if nothing else the sum of the effects makes the film a decent cheesy time. Special effects man Michael Spatola went on to credits in Stargate and Terminator 2: Judgement Day as well as other more minor projects and there's loving craft here that seems to foretell such a career. Some of the performances are fun as well, mostly from folk who only did this one film. Cheers go out to Brent Ritter hamming as fiercely as he can beneath a lot of make-up as main ghoul Loath, Kent E. Fritzell and Willard Hall as his equally enthusiastic but inept assistants Bor and Forn and Bettina Julius as the aforementioned witch, who really isn't terribly comprehensible but is quite watchable in a weird sort of way. This stuff and the energy of the leads makes for a cheerful camp that buoys the film through its slower patches and gives a bit of an extra pop when things do hot up. The film is a bit too long at over an hour and a half and the lack of general gore (a spot of blood and melting effects mostly) puts a slight dampener on things, preventing it from ever reaching a full head of delirious steam, but its a fun watch nonetheless. Best recommended to younger viewers, those seeking films suitable for younger viewers and those seeking to revisit their earlier years, this one gets a fair 6/10 I think.

The basic plot of "Curse of the Blue Lights" revolves around a decrepit group of ghouls living beneath a Colorado cemetery. Aside from consuming the dead, they are plotting to raise the petrified remains of a towering entity. Enter a group of teenagers who get involved caught up in their plot and must struggle to stop the ghouls and avoid a gruesome fate.

Apparently inspired to some extent by the works of writer H.P. Lovecraft, this low-budget offering has surprisingly sophisticated makeup effects, but little else. The acting is poor and some of the dialogue is bad to the point of pathetic. Some is evidently intended for humor, but the result appears rather childish. Strong points include sets and some of the shooting locations as well as the special makeup effects. Die hard fans of ghoul and zombie flicks might have some interest in this one, but most other viewers should steer clear.