Review of Night of the Demons (1988) by Vince K — 26 Oct 2010

In actuality, this only deserves about 3 1/2 stars, but it gets 5 just based on sheer principal. Night of the Demons is one of those great cult-classic B-movies that came out in the '80s - back when horror movies MEANT SOMETHING. The make-up effects are flawless, the bad cinematography sets a good dark tone, and the actors seem like they were hired right out of film school. And the best part about it is that my 12-year-old DVD copy looks like I'm playing an old VHS. High-def would ruin this type of movie.

And when it comes to a GREAT horror movie, Night of the Demons has it all. 10 teenagers on Halloween trapped in a haunted house together that they can't escape from, possession of characters complete with deep-sounding demonic voices, good '80s metal, party game seances, and most of all - lots of pornographic full-frontal nudity and sex. I was 10 when this came out. Once I got over my fear of horror movies and became obsessed with them, I realized that I wanted to see the nudity as much as the blood and guts. Eighties horror films were chock full of sex and violence. Back then, a little kid might not have been able to rent porn, but they were definitely always able to get their hands on an R-rated horror movie. You just knew what your friends were up to when they wanted to "borrow" your copy of it. It's kind of sad how easy it is for kids to get porn on the internet these days. Because blood and guts, to me, was always an important part of it.

And on another note - great characters. Goth party-chick Angela ends up becoming the villain of the sequel, the black guy has such good common sense that he ends up being a survivor (which is anti-cliche), the badboy jerko mook ends up being somewhat of a hero, and even the womanizing fat hog guy has a hilarious personality ("Shut up and drive, bitch!" LOL). The spooky floating demon head is wildly creative and I hate when people call shit like that "cheesy". So what if it looks like it was made out of paper mache, it still looks totally fucking awesome. And the finale with the neighborhood "cranky" old man getting his comeuppance is killer. Plus the sweet '80s metal power ballad that plays during the credits is like the icing on the cake.

When it comes to '80s horror movies, Night of the Demons probably won't be counted among the greats, but if you look twice - you'll find tons of elements of horror in it that are sorely lacking in today's cinema. Everyone should take notes.