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HERE'S THE LATEST< BackNight of the Demons: aka "Halloween Party" | |
 On Halloween night a group of teenagers break into an abandoned funeral parlor to have a party and wind up raising hell-literally.
Genre - Genre Classics
Director(s) - Kevin Tenney
Writer(s) - Joe Augustyn
Cast - William Gallo, Linnea Quigley, Amelia Kinkade and Cathy Podewell
Blue Rider's Role - Producers
Distributor(s) - Republic Pictures , Paramount, Republic Pictures Home Video, International Film Marketing, Filmpac Home Video (Australia)
Release Date - 1988
Synopsis - On the night of Halloween, 10 teens decide to go to a party at an abandoned funeral parlor, formerly the home of a mass murderer and rumored to be built on an evil patch of land. While starting the party, the teens gather around a big mirror to perform a seance, but they awaken some evil force and find themselves trapped and taken over, one by one. Now it's a battle for who can survive and cross over the underground stream beneath the structure, before going to hell.
Boxoffice and Video Sales:
Night of the Demons, the second Jeff Geoffray-Walter Josten opus, cost $1 million, brought in $3,109,904 at the U.S. ticket window and sold 77,000 videocassettes.
Critics' Kudos:
Jack Sommersby, eFilmcritic.com: "Good gore and nudity, a lively pace and a giddy sense of undiluted fun make this comedy-chiller worth a look."
Arrow in the Head Reviews: "A group of teens are invited to a Halloween party by Goth dame Angela (Amelia Kinkade). The snag is that the 'soiree' is at Hull House, a place with a gruesome history. Faster than you can say 'cheese whiz,' teens get possessed, others murdered and lots of breasts pop out. My kind of party. Night of the Demons was such fun movie! It’s actually one of my top horror movies to slap on during Halloween parties.
"I've got to hand it to director Kevin Tenney: he infused the film with so much raw energy and insane camera movements that I couldn’t help but be totally grooving to this film. Night of the Demons didn’t pretend to be anything else than a sexy and grisly good time. The opening credits pulled me in with some morbid animation, and once the film began Tenney went hands-down ballistic. We were treated to lots of Stedi-cam shots (a la Evil Dead), stylish angles, a wonderful strobe light sexy dance sce...the damn works.
"Williams Gallo cracked me up. He came across as a dude I’d love to hang with. Linnea Quigley played the oversexed blonde ditz and I cherished every second she was onscreen, for more reasons than one. Alvin Alexis aced it and was probably the best actor here. Amelia Kinkade was better at acting possessed than at acting 'normal,' but then again she looked like anything but normal…CREEPY DAME! I LOVED HER!
"We get some hard-pumping alternative rock and an eerie score. I also cherished the sexy dance Angela performed with that Bauhaus tune in the background: 'Stigmata Martyr'...great stuff!
"Night of the Demons didn’t re-invent the genre but re-interpreted it with high energy, sly wit and razor style. It was an orgasmic exercise in nasty, trashy and messy. Trust me; you won’t regret attending this party!"
G. Noel Gross, DVD Talk: "Goth-gal Angela invites a gaggle of horn'd up teens to spend Halloween at a bedeviled funeral home where their night's amusements include anxious exploration of each other's no-no zones and, just for giggles, conjuring up the devil. A particularly daring pair even punches their tickets to H-E-L-L by copulating in a coffin! Sexpot scream queen Linnea Quigley goes from quizzing Quickie Mart clerks about their 'sour balls' to becoming chock full of demons who make her cram a tube of lipstick into her bare bosom (!?!) and gouge out her beau-of-the-moment's peepers, mid-diddle. Some shindig, eh? You betcha, thanks to the grue slingin' of Steve Johnson (the future former Mr. Quigley) and a remarkably perverse approach to the otherwise exhausted haunted-house formula. Four breasts. Eight corpses. Spirit cam. Wild driving. Fireside interpretative dance. Sapphic soul kiss. Demonic door slamming. Ol' razorblades in the apple gag. Tongue tumbles. Ledge dangling. Piezest arm. Flamethrowing (with immolation stunts).
"In the DVD commentary, director Kevin Tenney and producers Walter Josten and Jeff Geoffray extoll the cinematic power of roller skates and hint at on-set 'sexual energy.' Also, check out the innocuously labeled 'promo reel' for a nifty example of how flicks of this era were marketed."
Viewers' Ratings:
As of March 9, 2007, 67.3% of the 1,109 people who evaluated Night of the Demons at The Internet Movie Database gave it positive ratings (median: 7 out of 10). The demographic groups that liked it most were people aged 17 and younger (who gave it a 7.3 out of 10), women 45 and older (7) and women 18-29 (6.8).
Major Cast and Crew Credits and Awards:
Directed by Kevin Tenney (Brain Dead, The Second Arrival, Witchboard, Witchtrap, The Cellar, Peacemaker, Pinocchio's Revenge).
Written by Joe Augustyn (Exit, Night of the Demons 2, Night Angel).
Stars William Gallo (Crash, Pretty Woman, Against the Law); Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead, Still Smokin'), Amelia Kinkade (Road House, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Night of the Demons 2 and 3) and Cathy Podewell (Dallas, Beverly Hills Brats).
Cast includes Hal Havins (Life, Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama); Alvin Alexis (The Brother From Another Planet, The Wiz, For Love or Money, Mixing Nia, Sweet Liberty); Lance Fenton (Heathers); Allison Barron (Patriot Games, The Book of Love, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge) and Jill Terashita (Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, Terminal Entry, The Big Bet, Why Me?).
Executive producer is Walter Josten (Around the World in 80 Days, O Jerusalem; Emmy for The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie: 30 other films and TV projects).
Producer is Jeff Geoffray (Behind the Red Door, The Hollywood Sign, Slow Burn, 24 other films and TV projects).
Special Effects by Nick Benson (Dances With Wolves, Tremors, The Blob, Gross Anatomy, Bride of Re-animator).
Original Music by Dennis Michael Tenney (Leprechaun 4: In Space, Night of the Demons III, Witchboard).
Cinematography by David Lewis (UHF, Leprechaun 3 and 4, Chairman of the Board, Night of the Demons 2).
Film Editing by Daniel Duncan (Witchboard, Leprechaun 3 and 4, Tick Tock, Malevolent).
Production Design by Ken Aichele (Evolver, Leprechaun 3, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway).
The film features the work of master special makeup effects designer Steve Johnson (Nightmare on Elm St. 4, Fright Night, Poltergiest 2, Ghostbusters, An American Werewolf in London, Videodrome, Big Trouble in Little China, War of the Worlds, The Fog, Blade II, Eraser; won Emmys for The Stand and The Shining; nominated for Saturn Awards for Highway to Hell, Freaked and Species).
Factoid:
Polish title: Noc Demonów | 
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Links:
Internet Movie Database entry for Night of the Demons
A Night of the Demons Fan Site
Another Night of the Demons Fan Site
Web page for Hull House Mortuary/Collinsport Ghost Society
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