The opening animation sequence and retro music is the best part, after that, it goes downhill. The New Retro Wave music trend is based on this exact sound. So I guess it's timely for me to be watching this now?
Where do I begin to describe/ review Night of the Demons (1988)? The plot is pretty common. A group of teenagers spend Halloween night in an abandoned funeral home ~ called Hull House ~ with a tragic history, they perform a seance and most of them get possessed by a demon and kill each other. The end. (I wish.) It reminds me of so many other movies... just to name a few...
They have to stay overnight in a haunted house, similar to Waxworks (1988) where some teens with bad dialog and terrible acting get invited to a wax museum, and end up becoming part of it. At least in Waxworks (1988), there's some nice blood splatter, and it's fun to see what character gets matched with each model. Yes, I think Waxworks (1988) is a better movie.
When the audience first lays eyes on Hull House it looks like a still from Scooby Doo...
The Hull House from Night of the Demons (1988).
Haunted Mansion from The Mystery of the Haunted Island in The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1973).
As far as camera style goes, Night of the Demons (1988) has a similar camera movement to the original Evil Dead (1981) when the camera moves fast to show the perspective of the demon. In reality, it saves money so you don't have to show the demon on film. This technique was perfected by Sam Raimi as shown below.
Also why is the demon in Night of the Demons (1988) only a floating head? They probably couldn't afford much else. The demon looks like a dragon head.
Am I wrong? It looks like a dragon.
As far as dialog in Night of the Demons (1988), an Indian burial ground is mentioned. It sounds a lot like Pet Semetary (1989) or Poltergeist (1982).
All the demons in Night of the Demons (1988) sound the same and the makeup reminds me of the vamps in Fright Night (1985).
Angela in Night of the Demons (1988).
Jerry in Fright Night (1985).
I'm sure there's plenty more, these were just off the top of my head!
The acting and dialog is bad, so bad it's funny. Much of it is sexist, don't get me wrong, that's not funny the funny part. I don't think any of the actors had stand out performances in this except for Linnea Quigley that got typecast for showing her boobs. My question is why did she shove her lipstick into her nipple? This is the part of the movie speaks to me. I have so many questions and should this be considered a "spoiler alert"? She still acts today ~ understandably so ~ who would do a scene like that? She has a ton of horror movies under her belt. I dare say she's a scream queen, and can often be seen on the Horror Convention circuit. Oh and she also did a workout video. No I'm not joking.
Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout (1990). This is only an excerpt.
Even with the inclusion of Stigmata by Bauhaus paired with an overly long dance sequence this movie cannot be saved. That being said Angela's dress is the best part of the movie.
I give Night of the Demons (1988) a solid 2 out of five fudge logs. The movie could have been shortened to an hour.
Here's the trailer, notice they play up the boobs and butts because it's all that it has going for it.
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