Night of the Demons
It's Halloween Night, and a group of teenagers are getting ready for a party they'll never forget. One of their misfit peers, Angela (Mimi Kinkade), is throwing a party in abandoned Hull House, a mansion infamous for its horrible past. Many years ago, an entire family was murdered by one of their family members (similar to what is stated in 1981's Hell Night). Also, the area the house was built on (an underground stream) already had a bad reputation some time before with Indian tribes who called it "unclean," possibly for its inhabitance by demons.
Despite all of the bad things they've heard about the house, the teens enter the dark, rundown place. Of course, they're loaded with '80s cheese music, lots of beer, a strobe light, and more, so they begin to P-A-R-T-Y!
Although, when the batteries die in the tape player, the teens result to having a past-life sèance in front of a mirror they find within the house. Just when it's starting to work, someone screws up the sèance. When one of the teens looks back, she sees a hellish sight, but nobody believes her when she goes into hysterics.
While standing around, the teens start to experience a cold chill and strange smell, while they're unaware of an unseen presence stalking them (after dashing throughout the house in Evil Dead fashion). While one of the teens, Suzanne (Linnea Quigley), is putting on her lipstick, the invisible demon inhabits her body via mouth. Suzanne starts to act very strange, even kissing Angela at one point. What the others don't know is that Suzanne and Angela have already been possessed by the demons believed to roam Hull House.
As the teens browse the house, they eventually split up and terrifying things start to occur. The demons run about the house, possessing the teens' bodies and killing others, leaving only Judy (Cathy Podewell) and Rodger (Alvin Alexis) to fight against the demons. Will they escape the house with their lives, or will they be transformed into demons as well? The party's just begun...
Always a big favorite of mine since I was very young, I've always found this one to be very frightening. Of course, there's the occasional bad acting and cheese, but what do you expect for a 1988 horror movie? Night of the Demons is from the same people who brought us another great supernatural thriller, Witchboard, with Kevin S. Tenney aboard once again as director.
The film is made even more enjoyable by the fantastic special effects by Steve Johnson, who was once wed to one of the stars, scream queen Linnea Quigley, who he also worked with on A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. One scene involves Quigley sticking a lipstick tube all the way into her left nipple, which is very realistic. Also, the demon makeup can stir up more than just a few scares in audiences.
The main and most frightening demon, Angela, is the most gruesome of them all. Before having her face hideously mutilated, Angela performs a bizarre dance to Bauhaus's Stigmata Martyr, which was made well-known by fans of the film. All of the demon voices were provided by James W. Quinn, which are pretty hard to imitate without getting a sore throat!
Followed by two more installments, the first sequel being surprisingly good, the film still holds up to be just as effective to me this day. I still cringe when the scene in which demonic Angela sneaks up behind Rodger plays! If you're a big Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland fan, you might spot Jill Terashita who appears as Frannie and gives a real head-turning performance (excuse the pun)! Definitely recommended if you want a lot of good scares. aka Halloween Night
