Eat a bowl of fuck! I am here to PARTY!
It’s Halloween night and a group of teens are ready to party. And when I say teens I mean actors in their mid 20s to 30s. The one who sticks out is none other than Angela (Amelia Kinkade), dressed as a gothic teen witch, a look that I’d guess was the inspiration for Nancy in The Craft (1995). Linnea Quigley is also here, all ready to distract the desk clerks by showing off her skinny ass in a pink princess Peach skirt so that Angela can steal some beer. Now, off we go to the old Hull House (and no, that was not a typo).
This Hull House, or mansion if you will, is a dusty rundown abandoned Victorian funeral parlor next to a cemetery, of course. And no, this is not the home of the Crypt Keeper, but where the owner killed his entire family before killing himself. OoOo, spooky… Couldn’t be a more perfect spot for a Halloween party. This place was shot on an actual location, by the way, that was also reused in the sequel before it was demolished and replaced by a Ralphs supermarket.
After settling in, amping up the delicious spooky atmosphere with candles and lighting the fireplace in the living room, someone has a great idea: let’s have a seance and conjure the demon that’s trapped in the crematorium chamber in the basement. But here’s the big question: what’s actually the difference between a ghost and a demon? Hmm… Angela, the true occultist that she is, has the answer, in the most serious, matter-of-fact way possible, and performs as if she has spent a whole weekend to finally learn the next few sentences by heart. Listen to this:
Ok, if you say so. I can also already say that the acting here is hilariously bad. It’s something between a porno and a high school play where Claudio Fragasso would pick the actors for his next movie. They summon a demon skull head through a mirror who first possesses Suzanne (Quigley), who then spreads the possession by making out with Angela, and so on. Lesbian tongue sex, yeaahh, far-fucking out! Trivia: According to screenwriter Joe Augustyn, the original script had a gay couple ready to kiss, but it was deemed too radical by some of the producers, as well as the director. Or because this was after all the 1980s where the worst thing you could be on planet Earth, aside from being a nerd, was a homosexual male. Anyway, the real party starts when Angela and Suzanne turn into something that looks more like deadites from The Evil Dead and hunts down the rest around the house in slasher fashion.
The tone and 80s greatness is already clear from the delightful animated opening with the catchy synth score, a tribute to the ‘Night on Bald Mountain‘ sequence from the 1940 Disney film Fantasia. The film is way sillier than I remembered it to be. The overall cartoonish vibe, the pure steamy 1980s schlockness, the goofy acting and stiff, delayed dialogue delivery is the comedy here, intentionally or not. And mixed with the fun they most assumingly had making the film, adds a special cute charm to it. It could very easily be set somewhere in the same universe as The Return of the Living Dead (1985), only here we have demons instead of zombies. And instead of a graveyard dance you have, of course, a wicked demon dance with the tunes of Stigmata Martyr, performed by the party host Angela herself before losing herself into full possession mode. She also choreographed the scene by herself. Impressive. The demon voice was dubbed over by veteran voice actor Frank Welker.
Then you have the classic cinematic moment where Linnea Quigley shows us a fascinating magic trick that includes a lipstick and her left boob. A weird combination, you say? Oh, just wait, cuz this will actually blow your mind. This scene is called “infamous“ for whatever reason, where a cast of her breast was made by FX artist Steve Johnson to do the lipstick effect. Aside from that, there’s a quick blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Quigly flashing her unshaved pussy. A middle-finger to the censor bureaucrats, I guess. The kills aren’t that special, even though the practical and make-up effects by Steve Johnson, as mentioned, are great. Tongues get ripped off, someone is missing an arm, and of course, eye-gauging. The demon-look of Angela, showcased on every movie posters, is iconic on its own.
Night of the Demons gets a bit formulaic during the last thirty minutes or so, but it’s overall a fun n’ tasty Halloween romp with the kind of spooky, dusty haunted house atmosphere that could only come out of the 1980s. A good time. There’s also a fun little side plot about a grumpy get-off-my-lawn type of neighbor who gets a pretty unexpected karma. Trick or treat, sucker!
Director: Kevin Tenney
Writer: Joe Augustyn
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: Hal Havins, Allison Barron, Alvin Alexis, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Donnie Jeffcoat, Cathy Podewell, Karen Ericson
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093624/
