Night of the Demons 3
Starring: Larry Day, Amelia Kincaid, Stephanie Bauder
Writer: Kevin Tenney
Director: Jim Kaufman
****Mild Spoilers ****
Holly and Abbie break down on the side of the road while on the way to a school Halloween dance. Along comes a poorly established “bad ass” group --Reggie, Nick, Vince, Lois and Orson-- in a van, promising to take them to their destination. They stop off at a convenience store for cigs and after Reggie tries to buy beer with his older brother's ID, shit gets shitty. Said shitty shit gets even shittier when a couple of cops show up, resulting in a shootout that leaves Reggie bleeding like a stuck pig. Back on the road, running from the law and low on gas, they decide to hide out at Hull House. Meanwhile, a lieutenant on the lookout for the teenage perps is tipped off that an officer doing a routine check at Hull house hasn't reported in for awhile. The lieutenant only has a few hours left before retirement. I usually love movies where the lieutenant has a few hours left before retirement, but shiiiiiiiiiit.
Someone stuck their hand in the Hull house cookie jar one time too many.
First off, while I appreciate that the animated title sequence appears to be a nod to the incredible intro from the original, it's still really fucking tacky. It's the same premise; a bunch of ghouls rising out of graves, clamoring towards the windows of Hull House. But it's not drawn animation. Go grab a Nintendo 64 game with the absolute worst graphics, and it probably schools this shit. I remembered while watching it again that previously I had thought it was pretty neat, but unlike the first film's title sequence, this one hasn't aged well. And the fucking music... generic horror sounding orchestral synth with a bass line laid over top of it that has a swingin' dick 70's porn sound. It's awful. What?
And why change the look of the house? One of the finest elements about the first two films was how dark, disgusting and fucked up looking Hull House was. In NOTD 3, the walls are all a perfect painted white, there's flawless wood finish on the stair case, it's even properly furnished. I expected Angela to be holding a wine tasting party for a bunch of rich assholes, or for Mtv Cribs to bust through the front door. The outside of the house looks nice, too. What the fuck? I wasn't scared of the original look, but it did have an eeriness about it. That is all but gone, here. Hull house looks livable. Fail.
Now, I respect changing up things a bit in order to keep from going stale, but damn, I missed the party theme! It was just expected. And even if NOTD 3 has something different, it still finishes up feeling like a tired sequel. The beginning sections with a convenience store shootout was a nice change of pace and it was an attempted clever new approach for the series. Unfortunately, it only worked for how ridiculous it was. Seriously, the teenage group consists of 1 bad boy and 1 dropout that don't get along, 1 pushover guy, 1 kinda nerdy black dude, 1 kinda punky girl (girlfriend of one of the bad boys), 1 cheerleader type girl (whom has a crush on the dropout) and her geeky sidekick friend (whom has a crush on the bad boy that is already with the kinda punky girl). Let's erase the fact that most of them look like they've been out of high school for at least 5 years, because, let's face it... that is a noticeable flaw in many of our favorite horror films containing “teens”. Alright? Moving on to why aforementioned shootout is ridiculous.
The bad boy and the dropout look guilty of nothing more than ditching school to smoke a couple of joints, maybe egging a house or even beating up a 12 year old if they're feeling really rebellious. ****Spoilers Begin→Yet, out of nowhere, the dropout is slingin' a switchblade and later, the bad boy is snatching a shotgun away from the convenience store cashier with ease.←Spoilers End**** They're like a couple of fucking seasoned criminals. I mean, if you wanna go this route, that's fine. But maybe cast some people that can make it feel a bit more authentic next time, otherwise some asshole like me is only gonna dig it because of the stupidity. Furthermore, the use of slo-mo and cameras zooming in on people came off kinda corny. However, I'm not looking for believability in a horror film; especially not in a second sequel to Night of the Demons, so it's ultimately forgivable --not to mention I like many films that have shit that's equally stupid, or worse, but enjoyed for one reason or another.
There's not a whole lot to awe at in terms of camera direction, either. We get a few neat angled shots outside of the group's van looking in, but even these instances are shit on with awkward character closeups. One shot I did like was a low camera sequence creeping up onto a car hood until it moves in on the police lieutenant in the driver's seat. Other than that, I can't think of anything else rising above the standard. Cinematography may attempt to be a bit more stylish than what NOTD 2 gave off, but a couple of angled shots don't make this a better movie, at all. Also, stock footage from the first film, again? It didn't work in part 2... definitely not here. Angela looks vastly different, and the house is all luxury and shit, so when the stock footage pops in, it's way fucking out of place. Bah.
Kevin Tenney's writing isn't all bad, but like I mentioned in my review of the last film, I'm good without all the comedic one-liner bullshit. It's worse here, and Angela isn't the only demon with a case of the unfunny-funnys. Devil head looking demon has some obnoxious as shit dialogue. Even after throwing the bitching about demon comedy to the side, what the fuck is up with all the “Your Momma is so fat” jokes? Hah, really? They seem dated and elementary, even for 1997. They're not funny. I almost felt embarrassed for the actors plagued with spitting those shits out. Eh, whatever.
Onto acting. Amelia Kincaid is knowing her Angela role like the back of her hand at this point, so no worries, there. She's noticeably older this time around, with a “soccer mom that all the other soccer moms dare not talk to” look going on. Vlasta Vrana is really good as Lieutenant Dewhurst; so good he almost seems out of place. Is it kinda hammy? Shit no, it's completely hammy, but you can tell Vrana wants it to work. Loved the whole “pick a card, any card” part at the Quickie mart.
Other acting? Gregory Calpakis plays Nick, the high school dropout. His eyebrows have more presence than he does. Kris Holden-Reid as the main group dude baddie, Vince. I dunno, man... I wasn't convinced. Christian Tessier as Orson, the pushover. Eh, he kinda does alright as the nobody trying to fit in. Later, he tries to morph into a tough guy and I was like “Whaaaa?” ****Spoilers Begin→Totally fucking annoying demon voice, too.←Spoilers End**** Joel Gordon as Reggie, actually one of the better performances. Tara Sloan plays Lois, Vince's girlfriend. I enjoyed the bitchy attitude, and damn, she looks good nekkids. Stephanie Bauder fits into the cheerleader persona of Holly really well, making me believe she was a goody two-shoes with a desire for bad boys (too bad she gets a crap interpretation). And waalaa! More nudity, with some chesticles and a butt shot, but I'm kinda convinced that her nude scenes were stunt boobs, as I don't recall ever seeing her face in the same shot. However, she does spend the last half of the film running around dressed as a genie/belly dancer (undecided), and I am a fan of her tummy. Lastly, my favorite lass of the film, Patricia Rodriguez as Abbie. She's the nerdy girl with insecurity about her body, and looks up to her friend Holly for her beauty. No need to feel insecure, love, honest! ****Spoilers Begin→Her transition from geek girl to demon harlot is fantastic, had my eyes glued! More nekkids, of course... in a cat outfit, at that! Meoooooowwww!←Spoilers End****
Side note: smart movie to infuse so much naked flesh and sexy stuff in the middle of all this mediocrity. It's actually the film's main saving grace. ****Spoilers Begin→And wow to the pistol blow job. Easily the most memorable moment.←Spoilers End****
****Spoilers****
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Steve Johnson is not present for SFX and it is highly noticeable. Angela's makeup looks weird, and the rest of the demons leave little to be desired --even cat girl, after the full transformation. For what it's worth, there's a decent tongue coming out of the back of a dude's head after being kissed by a demon, a kinda cool lookin' demon cop, Angela playing with her own guts after being rammed into a tree by a cop car, a heart being ripped out, a great bullet to the eyeball and a bloody shootout scene towards the finale. The use of CGI is fuckin' terrible. First off, when people cross over the underground streams onto the surrounding land of Hull House, we get some public access interpretation of what it looks like when people enter Stargate. Why? The mirror demon from the first film is also shown with computer effects, but it's shown too briefly to get really pissed about it. Worst of all, the CGI transformations from human to demon. One being with a guy wearing a red devil mask, the other being a snake sock puppet that comes to life on someone's arm. How could someone not think they were milking an empty cow when thinking this shit up. Gah, disappointed.
****Safe to read****
While I already shat on the song that plays over the animated sequence, I gotta say it's all bad. NOTD had a great score, accompanied by some damn memorable soundtrack songs for dance scenes. The second film's score was pretty bland, but played low enough to where it wasn't an overall hindrance. In NOTD 3, the shit is all up in your head bitch slappin' your eardrums. Aside from score, everyone in this film listens to shitty music... even Angela! ****Spoilers Begin→Ahh, it kills her dance scene, turning what could be erotic greatness into... crap. At least I got a panty shot out of it.←Spoilers End****
Sorry to be drinkin' the Haterade, but NOTD 3 largely disappointed me.
****slides contain slight spoilers and nudity****
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