Night of the Demons (1988)

Plot Outline: On Halloween, a group of teenagers decide to throw a party in an old funeral parlour named Hull House, rumoured to be haunted. During a séance in front of a mirror they find there, the teenagers awaken some evil force which begins to take over them all one by one.

The Review: Ah the innocent 80s, so full of mindless harmless cheapo horror flicks which the critics hate with a passion but fans of the genre like myself just lap them up one by one. Night of the Demons contains everything you could possibly want from an 80s horror flick: gore, babes, skin, scares, comedy and plenty of cheese. It doesn't take itself seriously right from the start with a cheap but fun animated title sequence then proceeds to introduce us to the stereotypes. Hell even in 1988 they were stereotypes: the innocent girl, the token black guy, the goth chick, the slutty one, the big dumb jock, the pushy boyfriend et al. There's nothing to distinguish them from each other at all during the film (with the exception of a genre-classic moment involving a tube of lipstick and Linnea Quigley's chest) and the actors are pretty lousy at trying to give any of them some originality. Angela (Amelia Kinkade) would return in the two sequels as well to provide nothing more than really tacky Freddy Kruger-esque one liners. Even Freddy wouldn't stoop this low to get a giggle though! The film does have a great sense of being located inside a haunted house though with some great location work, some creepy lighting and some obscure camera angles - some of the dimly lit scenes with the demons stalking their victims are great. It's the sort of effect other films try to go for and it's unfortunate that it's probably wasted her in this film. The demon effects are pretty good too with some gory moments to go along with the crusty make-up and masks.

Final Verdict: Night of the Demons is a fun 80s horror flick that does exactly what it says on the tin. They don't like them this anymore unfortunately - completely harmless horror.

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