Night of the Demons (1988)

Night of the Demons (1988)

Starring: Cathy Podewell, Mimi (Amelia) Kincaid, Alvin Alexis

Writer: Joe Augustyn

Director: Kevin Tenney

****Heavy Spoilers****

Gothy hottie Angela is throwing a Halloween party at Hull House, a rundown funeral parlor with local stories of necrophilia and mass murder. The perimeter is encircled by an underground stream, which is said to keep the evil within from crossing over. Ang has invited a seriously diverse group of classmates to boogie down, most of which wouldn't be caught taking a shit in the same school bathroom. Whatevs... the party commences. Youngsters be gettin' their drink on, start dancing, feelin' a little frisky, then the boombox says "fuck you guys" and cuts off. Booooooo... Angela brings the idea of a past life séance up into the mix and after the attempt is an overall failure, the Halloween party turns into an evening of several “Oh shit! Oh noes!” hellish festivities!

It's about 25 minutes into NOTD before any demony goodness comes about, and Kevin Tenney uses this time --along with his crew-- to his advantage by providing some truly fucking epic camera work. It all begins after a damn amazing animated title sequence that finishes off with a devilish looking jack-o-lantern --which is where the animation transitions into live action-- tied to the top of Stooge's car. Actually, allow me to back up and praise this title sequence, because it owns faces. It contains several little bits and pieces of ghouls and ghosts flying into Hull house, chimed with an excellent horror score provided by Kevin's brother, Dennis Tenney. The theme song is hella catchy, very synth and all up in your eardrums without invitation type shit. Once the animated specters whisk into a window on the second story of Hull house, the music gets appropriately quiet, only to attack you again without warning. The title sequence --along with the score-- is the stuff that Halloween is made of. It brings to life the true atmosphere of October 31^st, at least in the sense of how you remember the holiday as a kid. You simply couldn't ask for a more appropriate opening.

Now back to camera direction... Tenney used a long lens for shots outside Hull house, such as an early scene in Judy's room --with high lighting--, to help create a flattened, condensed look. The same effect is used for exterior sequences later in the movie. But within the possessed house, short lenses were used for more depth, making it look larger than it really is. And holy shit, there is some truly excellent camera work inside the house.

The dance scene: not the infamous Angela dance, we'll get to that later. This is a perfect example of Tenney using lack of horror in the beginning segments to his advantage; mother fucker just sits a camera on the floor in a far corner of the room to capture the group of youngsters cutting a rug in strobe lighting to a bad ass song called “Computer Date”. Granted, the dancing is laughable; the scene still fucking rules.

The broken mirror shot: after the attempted past life séance goes to shit, one of the teens sees some fucked up demon in a mirror they are using for said séance, gets spooked and knocks the sum' bitch over. The shattered mirror spreads all over the floor with each member of the group being seen per broken piece. This was achieved on a fake floor with a makeshift ceiling above the character's heads, all at a tilt so the lighting would show everything correctly. It took roughly half a day to do. Damn ballsy with a tight filming schedule and budget, but it's way easy on the eyes. I love you, Tenney.

More eye candy goodness: POV sequences of the entity coming out of an incinerator and zooming through the hallways are awesome, very Evil Dead-ish. There's a brilliant 360 panning shot of the teens talking about demonic infestation --think That 70's Show, only possessed--, looming low angle views outside the front entrance of the house, the extremely creepy scenes of Angela hovering down the halls --which was achieved by Mimi Kincaid standing on the camera dolly while the operator sat in a wheelchair ahead of her aiming up for more low angle goodness. Other sequences that show Angela gliding through the house were made by Kincaid putting on a pair of rollerskates and being pushed--, and one of my favorite camera tricks in general... the dolly zoom --done with the camera focusing in while the dolly goes in reverse. Fucking epic, especially in a make out scene with Mimi Kincaid and Linnea Quigley!

Angela's dance scene: demoness erotica at its finest! Kincaid choreographed all the dancing herself to the sounds of Bauhaus. While I don't really think it's greatly organized, it's hot as fuck for sure, especially when Kincaid starts spinning in circles showing some leg and buttocks. The dance sequences are shot with crane cams, and there are quick and various zoom angles of the boombox when it comes on by itself. Then, when the strobe light kicks on there's jump cuts in Angela's dance, making it look like she's rifting through time. It's actually a pretty damn creepy effect, helped by the quick flashes of bright light.

Acting is not great by any stretch, but it's basically what you'd expect. A large portion of the teenage group is teeming with generic-ism character-wise, but there are a few likeables. Stooge (Hal Havins), Rodger (Alvin Alexis), Sal (Billy Gallo), Judy (Cathy Podewell) and Angela (Mimi Kincaid, now an animal communicator) are my personal favorites. Linnea Quigley is also on board as Angela's bestie for the restie, supplying shots of her butt, boobs and velcro love triangle.

Steve Johnson provides make up effects, and there's some great shit to dig on in the unrated edition. Lots of extensive work going on during the finale, but here's a short role call: burning hands (which Mimi Kincaid gelled up her own hands and stuck them in the fireplace... girl was a fucking beast!), eyeball popping (full on prosthetic head, I might add, because I never noticed the head was fake until Tenney mentioned it in the commentary), a fake arm grasping a leg, burnt demon makeup that is fucking mind blowing and last but not least.... the lipstick scene! One of the moments that kinda defines NOTD, really.

As I mentioned earlier, Dennis Tenney's opening theme song is fantastic, but the entire score is pretty damn awesome. The intense chase scenes are elevated by a frantic and sporadic bombardment of controlled chaos, and sometimes the notes seem like they struggle to find themselves... but ultimately it all fits. The devilish ditties are running at a dangerous pace and when the music comes to the stop it's like slamming the brakes while driving 100mph. Fuckin' love it.

Random:

Judy's brother is spectacular with the “Bodacious boobies, sis!” and “Sun dried poodle turds” analysis. Love him. Almost wish he would have followed Sal to Hull House.

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Old asshole dude sucks but rules at the same time. But overall, he hates Halloween, so fuck him.

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What the hell moments:

1) Is there anyone on the planet over 7 years of age that would mistake a fucking incinerator for a crawlspace exit?

2) Who in the shit carved this jack-o-lantern?!?!?

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I had a lot of love for NOTD anyway, but after listening to the highly insightful commentary provided by Kevin Tenney, Walter Josten (executive producer) and Jeff Geoffray (producer) my appreciation for the film leveled up times 5. While it may take a while for the horror to show its face, there's still a lot of nifty style to feast on beforehand. The animated intro I mentioned at the beginning of my review captures the spirit of Halloween more than the actual film does, but even with that being said, this is essential viewing for me every year.