Night of the Demons (1988) Blu-ray Review from Scream Factory: A Nostalgic Romp into ‘80s Cheesy Horror Fun!

Remember the days of the puffa box rentals? In the UK a lot of rental tapes were displayed via squishy boxes on the shelves. Before the internet all you really had were the covers and perhaps a write up in a mag. Night of the Demons had a moody looking wraparound story, plus it starred Linnea Quigley, fresh as a newly picked fruit running success stories from Return of the Living Dead. 

Another thing about the ‘80s era of rentals, and this definitely included a lot of horrors, if teenagers were involved, there was some kind of nudity to allow a viewer time to pause, rewind, play, pause, etcetera, whilst choking out a bishop. Night of the Demons is purely one of those movies. Linnea has many a scene. Hehehe, with tapes, you’d know something might be coming up cause flickers and spits would start to appear on screen as a forewarning nudity or teasing of some kind was imminent because the tape was worn a bit. 

Before I start the review for this incredible Scream Factory version, I’ll share a story, I might have done already years ago on another review. Walking along in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s with my mum and dad, we found a WWF Wrestling tape, Summerslam ’88. Brilliant, we used to watch a lot of Rasslin’, hadn’t seen that one. Back home, it was fun, then suddenly, the flickers and spits began — Miss Elizabeth tore off her skirt and paraded around to distract the heels. My word the tape was really worn down. Previous owner would have an extremely muscular wrist. 

Anyhow, Night of the Demons, seeing it for the first time since the late’ 80s (this was one my folks hired out) as a 48-year-old, it hasn’t fared well, but it’s fun. The acting, from loud line delivery to ominous pauses before some sentences, to basic emotional response, does grate across the screen. Nevertheless, the music and effects are cool.

After a turdy title sequence with funky animations, we’re straight into three of characters driving along Return of the Living Dead-style on their way to Hull House, an old derelict funeral parlor that’s creepy as hell. Amongst the trio is the obnoxious, Stooge, played by Hal (Witchtrap, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama) Havins who wears a pig nose for Halloween and is a dick throughout the whole duration. His girlfriend and his long-suffering buddy are by his side. Roger (Alvin Alexis) is timid, but cowardly, and of course he’s black. So far, the stereotypes rain on down. These two actors must have had dreadful agents, neither are bad, but neither got a good break through other than minor TV roles mainly. 

Stooge torments a traditional old guy in the street, who takes his anger out on the virginial main character, Judy (Cathy Podwell who also ended up in TV limbo). The cranky old codger has a mean-spirited plan that night for any trick or treat kids. Judy is going out with handsome, Jay, who rings up whilst she’s changing. Cue the first quick tape wear out moment! Though Judy is innocent, so we just get her bare bottom. Then we meet her shitty younger brother, plus Sal, her ex-bloke. He’s a bad boy that’s likely going to be at Hull House, incidentally, Jay has convinced Judy to the party. 

Next up, we have Angela, the host of the party, and she’s stealing from a store whilst her pal, Suzanne (Linnea Quigley) is bent over showing her panties to the two clerks — yeah, it’s another of those tape wear out scenes. In fact, I recall this was shown in either Fangoria or Gorezone at the time, so those ‘80s lads would be ready to snap the tape and their penis! Suzanne is obsessed by her make-up and pocket mirror, both of which come up later in the movie. Linnea really isn’t playing this role well. To be honest, Suzanne is a shallow character, existing only for nudity and demonic possession so she probably phoned it in. 

Slowly but surely our waif and stray cast (including Sal) arrive at the foreboding monument of terror, Hull House. We learn of it’s past, plus why there’s a significant plot device stream underneath the walls around the building. 22-minutes in, horror movie metal ‘n’ punk blasts out; the party is on! Suzanne dances around the guy, Jay is tempted, Judy pouts, Angela acts weird, Stooge is a shit, but that music rocks. The song, Computer Date is outstanding. 

Trouble is coming as the batteries die on the ghetto blaster and Angela decides to play a spooky game in front of a tall Hull House mirror. It’s not due to a book this time, it’s a broken mirror, but we have the same demon POV camera zooming around and into Suzanne’s mouth. (The zip around camera was prominent in the Evil Dead knock off trailer). She’s first one possessed but soon passionately kisses Angela so she can transfer the darkness and not feel so lonely. 

Roger and Helen decide to leave, but naturally there’s no way out. The rest of the gang go off exploring and making the beast with two backs. It’s Amelia Kincade as Angela’s turn to wear out a tape because she shows her undies whilst dancing, then bites off Stooges bottom lip. He’s now possessed, and Angela has yellow contact lenses. Not to be outdone, Suzanne pushes her lipstick into her breast, flashes her pussy, then gouges out Jay’s eyes (later we get a Freddy style quip about him being Judy’s blind date …oh my sides).

It isn’t long before our cast has been whittled down to bare minimum and the house is full of demons. They range from oatmeal on the face with big teeth to downright brilliant floating along corridors (there’s a nice severed arm to). Our last two desperate survivors run around being chased Scooby Doo-style by Angela (Amelia is outstanding by the way), Stooge, fucking everyone else, and it all gets gory. 

As truly simple and stupid Night of the Demons is you cannot take away the sheer entertainment and nostalgia elements. It’s a laugh, a reminder of just how the MTV era horrors were. Freddy was dominant remember? Fast-paced editing plus bloody deaths were huge. Many cashed in, aiming at youthful audiences worldwide. My Partner in Gore, Willow, and I had fun. She enjoyed the effects mainly. Nowt like the 1980s.

Amelia played Angela twice more then didn’t do much more in films. Linnea Quigley of course became the longest reigning talent. Everyone else kind of floated around TV land mostly. 

Among the decent sized FX team, there’s Steve Johnson, who was married to Linnea for a couple of years. He also worked on Predator, Elm Street 4, The Stand, Suburban Commando, and Spiderman 2, etcetera. Kevin Tenney, the director, helmed a few Witchboard flicks, plus that video shop constant, The Cellar. 

Shout Factory, under the Scream Factory heading released a superb presentation of Night of the Demons. This is a Blu-ray and DVD combo, with the sound magnificent to our ears. The picture has slight grain but that’s welcome for atmosphere. They went all out on the extras. There is over an hour of the making of. Interviews with cast and crew, it’s genesis as Halloween Party, ego tensions, and such. Amelia Kincade gets her very own interview extra, as does a couple of others. For me personally, my fav had to be the giant display of behind the scenes plus special effects stills. 

This is a great purchase for anyone who loves golden era cheesy trash horrors. As the 1990s loomed, spunky shit like this was soon to become a thing forgotten mid way as newer digital stuff were either too serious or parodies. I don’t know, perhaps I’m being too merciless on the genre, but The Silence of the Lambs removed a lot of harmless gory nasty laughs. By the mid-‘90s, aside from a handful of popcorn throwing flicks, it was all too po faced. 

AKA: Halloween Party, Demon Boogie, La noche de los demonios, Demonios en la noche de brujas, A Noite dos Demônios, Нощта на демоните, La nuit des demons, Demon house, Nyxtes ton daimonon, Νύχτες των δαιμόνων, Démonok éjszakája, La notte dei demoni, 悪霊たちの館/呪われたハロウィンパーティー, La noche de los demonios, Una noche endiablada y tenebrosa, Noc demonów, A Noite dos Demónios, Noć demona, Ночь демонов, 魔神之夜,

Directed by: Kevin Tenney
Written by: Joe Augustyn
Produced by: Joe Augustyn
Cinematography by: David Lewis
Editing by: Daniel Duncan
Music by: Dennis Michael Tenney, Bauhaus
Special effects by: Roger George, Steve Johnson, Kevin Brennan, and more
Cast: Amelia Kincade, Cathy Podewell, Linnea Quigley, Hal Havins, Lance Fenton, Alvin Alexis, Billy Gallo, Allison Barron
Year: 1988
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 30 min
Studio: Paragon Arts International

Distributor: Scream Factory

BLU-RAY SPECS:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 16:9 1080p MPEG-4 AVC
Region: Blu-ray – A, DVD – NTSC 1
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
– Commentaries with director, actors, and FX artist
– Making of Night of the Demons
– Interviews
– Promo reel
– Theatrical and Video trailer
– TV and radio spots
– Still galleries