After reading different reviews online and in magazines how most people are trashing this as a piece of shit, I'm here to offer a little love for this remake, in name mostly. Any body expecting a cast of great thespians, thought provoking dialogue or a life changing experience needs to read that title again. This is no Citizen Kane, people. Night of the Demons, the whole movie takes place over the course of one night, Halloween. No time to expand on the character developments, it's all about getting the bimbos and the assholes into that mansion as quickly as possible so we can watch what we want to see, and that is people turning into demons and the imaginative ways of going about doing so.
The film opens with a flashback to the year 1925. In a sepia tone film stock, we can hear and see the scratchy music coming from a gramophone, yet this is supposed to be a silent picture. A young woman, Evangeline Broussard is seen slipping a hangman's noose around her neck as a man tries to stop her. Inter title cards appear on screen reading that he is Louis Devereaux and he loves her. Another card reads " No you're not" then she proceeds to jump from the balcony , ripping her head off from it's body. I was a little intrigued by this set up as it presents a mystery and asked the following questions. Who are these two people? Are they or Aren't they lovers ? Why did she kill herself ? Through another flashback and some narration,later in the film we eventually fill in the missing pieces to this puzzle.
Eighty five years later, Angela ( Shannon Elizabeth ) is planning on making some easy cash by charging admission to a Halloween party she is hosting. We are then introduced to a trio of busty bimbos , the high light of their intelligent conversation is one of the girls needs to rub aloe on herself because she just received a Brazilian. Two others who are planning to attend the party are a couple of crack smoking losers, who are amusing themselves pelting a sixteen year old kid with a paint ball gun for stealing children's candy, " No costume, no candy" as they riddle him with colourful spheres of paint.
Linnea Quigley who probably had the most memorable and talked about scene from the Kevin S. Tenney ( 1987 ) original, puts in a cameo handing out candy to a couple of trick or treaters. We are treated to a peek of her goodies as she bends over. Edward Furlong is also along for the ride as a sleazy drug dealer on his last legs to turn over a profit, or else as threatened by the cool as a cucumber Nigel, who doesn't even flinch as he is getting some lip service of his own.
Once we get Angela, the three bimbos, the two crack heads and Furlong's character Colin inside the mansion, the usual teen hi jinx pursues sex, drugs and rock and roll, which I personally don't have a problem with. After Angela welcomes her guests the party is reved up into high gear, MTV style editing follows. This consists of fast and quirky cuts that gives the picture a jittery look, it gives the impression that much alcohol and drugs have been consumed. This doesn't put a hindrance on the film, but is just over done to death in many of today's horror movies. The soundtrack is in your face loud and a different breed from the 80's pop culture music of the original.
Shortly the party comes to an end as the police crash the festivities and force everyone to vacate the premises. Now with the mansion vacated , all but the aforementioned seven who has eluded the police remains behind . This is where the real fun begins, six skeletal remains are discovered in a concealed room in the basement. Angela is bitten by one as she tries to remove a gold tooth from a skeleton's mouth. Soon after Angela is not quite the same any longer as we catch small glimpses of her hands and face morphing into that of a demon. Playing that good old party game favourite spin the bottle,Angela very seductively kisses one of the bimbos boyfriend, Dex. The bimbo does not take too kindly to this and needs to talk to him now... in the bedroom. While the two are getting their groove on Dex is transformed into a demon, shortly his partner will also change. The transforrmation to a demon can apparently happen with the exchange of bodily fluids like saliva from a kiss ,or doing the horizontal tango. This can be taken as a metaphor for A.I.D.S. or a kind of sexual infection, these kids are quite promiscuous. Actually they are more like thirty year olds.
Now that three of the seven have become demons, we are treated to a round of demon menage' trois, the best gag here is one of the females performing fellatio on the male's...wait for it....horn protruding from the top of his head. Other special effects highlights include a face that is sliced clean off from it's skull,a pair of demon breasts that sprout tendrils that surely would make Lovecraft smile.
Once the action starts going, the pace rarely slows down until the end credits roll. Inspired no doubt from the energy of such films as Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, Lamberto Bava's Demons and Michele Soavi's The Church. Please note that I said energy and not the style of these films, these three films are IMHO considered classics while NOTD won't reach that status ,it is not the steaming pile of doggey doo that some people claim it to be.
My Thoughts : There is some good stuff here, but like a buffet it's not to all tastes.
My Rating: 2 and a half Go Go Girls out of 5
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