Night of the Demons (1988)

Night of the Demons (1988) 

Director: Kevin Tenney

Night of the Demons did for demon-possession movies what Return of the Living Dead did for zombie movies. Both took a well-worn horror genre in the late '80s and injected it with a youthful punk vigor and rock-n-roll party attitude. And both starred Linnea Quigley getting all kinds of naked!

SYNOPSIS


It's Halloween night, and goody two-shoes Judy (Cathy Podewell) is convinced by her boyfriend Jay (Lance Fenton) to ditch their plans to attend a high school party and instead celebrate Halloween with brewskies and tunes at Hull House, an abandoned -- and allegedly possessed-- mortuary. They are joined by a motley crew of obnoxious yet charming punkers, jocks, and pretty girls including horny Suzanne (Linnea Quigley), meat-head Stooge (Hal Havins), and witchey Angela (Amelia Kinkade). While turning a seance ritual into a party game, Angela accidentally stirs up evil demons that posses some of the teens and proceed to terrorize and mutilate the others. Trapped in Hull House, Judy and her friends attempt to survive until morning, but every one of them that dies returns as a possessed corpse out for their blood. Night of the Demons doesn't break much new ground in the genre, but it's an endearing and energetic dark fantasy with plenty of gore, gratuitous nudity, and excellent makeup effects courtesy of Steve Johnson. From its animated opening sequence to its slate of quotable one-liners ("Eat a bowl of fuck!"), Night of the Demons carries itself with a restrained sense of camp and doesn't take itself too seriously, yet it delivers some serious Halloween horror fun and outlandish visual effects.

Rating: 4 / 5 Stooges

IS IT SHOCKING?

Before we talk about the blood and guts, I was honestly shocked by how much I enjoyed all the teen characters in this film. Sure, Cathy Podewell has the line delivery of a 10th grade drama student. Sure, they're broadly drawn 80's stereotypes, but every young actor breathes some unique life into their characters. They're obnoxious, as teens can be, but they're endearing, especially Stooge. He's part Animal House, part Bill and Ted, and park Bulk from Power Rangers fame. Night of the Demons wouldn't be half as fun without this group of young actors, memorable characters, and nubile young starlets. 

Bleeding gums. A clear sign of gingivitis.

But yes, Night of the Demons brings the gore. Carnage doesn't kick off until almost half-way into the film, but the buildup satisfyingly sets the stage. Once the demons start going for blood, they don't stop. Flesh ripping, eye gouging, impaling, and a disappearing lipstick nipple trick that needs to be seen to be believed. Night of the Demons isn't a meat grinder film, but there's plenty of painful deaths and fantastic demon makeup. In fact, several gory scenes were cut from the film but can be seen reintegrated on the Anchor Bay DVD release.

A demon's face on Christmas morning

IS IT SEXY?

More than blood, when you think Night of the Demons you should think boobies. In the spirit of its juvenile energy, there's plenty of bare boobs, bums, and a bouncy bounty of the female form. Linnea Quigley, in particular, spends large sections of the film with her fanny in the camera, even going bottomless. It's lowbrow nudity for nudity's sake, but it's all done in good fun.

If you wake up nude in a coffin, bed head is the least of your problems.

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On Tuesday, December 7th, Horror in the Hammer is screening the 2009 remake of Night of the Demons at Fright Night Theatre. Although I've come to the 1988 film later in life, the original Night of the Demons now occupies a proud place on my DVD shelf and I see why it's maintained a cult following. It's definitely entered my staple of Halloween-time films. I'm now curious to see how Night of the Demons has been updated.

Will the remake stand up? If you're in the Hamilton area Tuesday night, come check it out for yourself.

Horror in the Hammer's Fright Night Theatre: 

Night of the Demons

 $5.00 Admission 

	Tuesday, December 7 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm
	Staircase Theatre (www.staircase.org) 27 Dundurn St N Hamilton, ON

Screamwave #16: DARK RISING

“BRING YOUR BATTLE AXE”

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Jenn returns to join Aaron and Kris for a discussion of the sexy horror-comedy Dark Rising (2007) starring Brigitte Kingsley and Landy Cannon.

 

We also have the recorded Q and A from Fright Night Theatre's screening of MEDIUM RAW: NIGHT OF THE WOLF, moderated by Aaron from the Screamwave horror podcast. Listen to Medium Raw actors Brigitte Kingsley, Landy Cannon, Sandi Ross, and Ron Sparks talk about the making of the film and address audience questions. (minor spoilers).

FANGS ON FILM: Barbara and Aaron talk about the vampires in 30 Days of Night (2007)

EARTH AND BEYOND: Parents find their baby, declared dead, alive in its casket. Also, information about the infamous Fox sisters who sparked a popularity in spiritualism before denouncing spiritualism as a sham.

Feedback

206-350-7019
screamwavepodcast@gmail.com

www.horrorinthehammer.com

Show Notes

• Dark Rising: Official Site
• FanExpo
• Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf
• Baby Wakes Up in Coffin
• The Fox Sisters: Hoax Mediums
• Slugcast

Interview: Cast and Crew of LONG PIGS

I recently did a review with the cast and crew of LONG PIGS, a mockumentary about two struggling film-makers documenting the life of a cannibalistic serial killer. I talked with co-director Chris Power, actor Anthonly Alviano, and special effects artist Chris Bridges about the making of this film. 

 

INTERVIEW: Long Pigs cast and crew.
Interview by Aaron Allen

What does human flesh taste like? Chicken or pig?

When Horror in the Hammer brings the film Long Pigs to Hamilton on June 17th, horror fans will have a chance to find out for themselves. Long Pigs is a Canadian mockumentary from directors Nathan Hynes and Chris Power about two struggling filmmakers who decide to document the life of a cannibalistic-serial killer (played by Anthony Alviano) [ TRAILER -- SITE]. With special effects created by Chris Bridges (Diary of the Dead, 300), Long Pigs promises to deliver a gruesome and creepy yet darkly humorous twist on the horror mockumentary genre. To whet your appetite for the savory texture of long pig (i.e. human flesh), Horror in the Hammer put the filmmakers of Long Pigs on the grill to find out more about their experiment in cannibalistic cinema.

THE BIRTH OF A CANNIBAL

What exactly brings two independent Canadian filmmakers together to make a mockumentary about a cannibal serial killer?

“Well, there are two parts to that answer,” says co-director Chris Power. “When we were still in our early 20’s, [co-director Nathan Hynes] and I were looking to write a horror story based on actual events. Nathan (who’s originally from Newfoundland) had heard about a strange case that possibly involved ritualistic killings, and [we] actually contacted the murderer in prison – that evolved into a documentary in which we broke every journalistic rule in the book and made every mistake imaginable. Cut to many years later: we were gearing up to do a slick $100,000 ‘calling card’ short when someone contacted Nathan about investing in our company. Of course, this so-called investor was actually just looking to bang one of Nathan’s co-workers, but it got us thinking high concept / low budget. We knew we had [actor Anthony Alviano], so I pumped out the first thirty pages overnight, and within a week we had the script for Long Pigs.”

Since developing the script, the road to production on Long Pigs has been a long one. Although Long Pigs is being released in 2010, it began production in 2003. Throughout production, Chris and Nathan have embraced the independent nature of the production all the way. “In the past we’d tried to have a more graphically-designed, classical approach to film making and realized that if you don’t have good performances you don’t really have anything,” says Power. “One of the goals in making Long Pigs was to never sacrifice a good performance take because of a technical glitch and the bumbling nature of the filmmakers’ camera, and the rough editing style [of Long Pigs] allowed that to happen.”

Naturally, people are going to draw comparisons to other horror mockumetnaries that have since been released such as the metatexual slasher film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. “We weren’t aware of Behind the Mask,” notes Power, “but certainly we were both fans of Man Bites Dog,” a Belgian film about a film crew documenting the life of a murderer. “I don’t want to say what makes Long Pigs unique, but I’ll say that I’m most proud of our actors’ performances and Chris Bridges’s amazing special effects.

Perhaps the most talked-about actor in Long Pigs is Anthony Alviano who plays the self-named cannibal Anthony McAlistar. Much to the relief of his cast mates, Anthony didn’t approach the role as a method actor, but he did say that he and the filmmakers “created the character in a naturalistic way, so he evolved as we shot. While some of the scenes followed the script, at other times I was reacting to the situation that the character was in, and the questions that were thrown at me.”

BLOOD, BONES, AND GUTS

No doubt these situations often involved the grisly mutilated remains of Anthony’s human ingredients – all special effects props created and designed by Chris Bridges. Bridges – whose past jobs includes work on films like Mimic, Diary of the Dead, Jason X, 300, Silent Hill, and Blade II – was brought on to Long Pigs to redo some special effects. “For me,” he says, “the most exciting effect was the male corpse. It was not technically difficult, but it took the whole day to shoot. The body was quite simple, Tony and I jumped in at every cut and applied blood, bone and guts so that it looked as though the body was anatomically correct. I am so happy about how it turned out.”

Speaking of  blood, bones, and guts, what kind of effect does working with severed limbs and bloody corpses have on the minds of the actors and special effects crew?

Anthony Alviano, who plays the lead cannibal, found it easy to get in character around such gruesome props. “This was my first experience with extensive SFX. The quality of the physical effects allowed me to easily ‘be in the moment’. Working in such close quarters in that basement for so long allowed me to get used to it in the same way that the character had grown used to it.”

And what about the man behind the effects? Has he grown desensitized to gore on-set and when watching other films? “I think that’s fair to say that I am desensitized to gore,” admits Bridges. “Most of the time it looks like an ‘effect’ to me, and it’s hard not to be critical. I really appreciate great films that suck me in to the story, when that happens I stop being so critical and really buy into the effects." Dealing with realistic gore effects and cannibals would be a harrowing experience for anybody, but co-director Chris Power has his own share of horror stories from taking Long Pigs on the unpredictable independent film festival circuit. “The festival thing is tricky,” Power tells us. “There are numerous festival highlights – but let’s face it, the gut-wrenching lows are more entertaining. . . . We got off the plane for our World Premiere to find us incorrectly listed in the main festival program for 10:00 AM instead of PM! Four of us hustled our asses off handing out postcards with the correct time for over a week, and when the night of the premiere finally came around, we were delighted to see a huge lineup at the theater. Unfortunately, that theater was also premiering 300 on the same night. We played to about 53 people including our parents.”

Dealing with realistic gore effects and cannibals would be a harrowing experience for anybody, but co-director Chris Power has his own share of horror stories from taking Long Pigs on the unpredictable independent film festival circuit. “The festival thing is tricky,” Power tells us. “There are numerous festival highlights – but let’s face it, the gut-wrenching lows are more entertaining. . . . We got off the plane for our World Premiere to find us incorrectly listed in the main festival program for 10:00 AM instead of PM! Four of us hustled our asses off handing out postcards with the correct time for over a week, and when the night of the premiere finally came around, we were delighted to see a huge lineup at the theater. Unfortunately, that theater was also premiering 300 on the same night. We played to about 53 people including our parents.”

Ouch, that is pretty bad. But Power isn’t done yet: “Another festival had a packed house full of people laughing and loving the movie. With 10 minutes to go, the film suddenly stops and begins to rewind. The projectionist gets the film back to the same place – it stops again. Basically, the guy who had transferred the festival’s program tape had fallen asleep and not seen that the tape ran out before Long Pigs finished. With no other playable format the lights just came up and the crowd was apologetically asked to leave.”

What’s success without a little bit of tribulation? Seven years after production began, Long Pigs is finally available on DVD in stores and online retailers such as Amazon. Chris Power and Nathan Hynes are very thankful to have their film off the shelf. Since the 1970s when Canada was producing such early slasher films as My Bloody Valentine and Terror Train, the Canadian film grant system and tax syatem has become increasingly bureaucratic. “Because we were totally unknown, there was no way we were qualifying for anything,” Power says. “Our investors were private citizens who just happened to like the script, and if it weren’t for them Long Pigs wouldn’t have been made. No studio would have touched this in a million years and certainly not the Canadian government . . . . For now we’re just happy people are able to even see Long Pigs after it came so close to sitting on the shelf forever. Thank goodness for horror fans!"

And what about actor Anthony Alviano? Now that people will get to see him play cannibal Anthony McAlistar, how will audiences compare his character to other famous horror cannibals? For example, if Anthony McAlistar and Hannibal Lecter where to face off in an episode of Iron Chef with human flesh as the secret ingredient, who would win? Anthony stands by his character: “I would say the Iron Chef judges usually reward originality – and I think Hannibal Lecter would stick to classic dishes whereas Anthony would be more adventurous. I’d be close, but McAlistar by a nose."

Horror VHS in the Digital Day?

An interesting post over at HorrorBid (generated by a debate on their forums) poses the question: Is it better to watch horror films on VHS or on DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

Let me be honest. I don't own ANY horror VHS tapes from the 1980s and 1990s. None. It's not a video format I'm a fan of.

For one, VHS looks terrible on my modern wide-screen TV. The picture does not line up properly when I play from my budget VHS / DVD combo. Therefore, my VHS / DVD combo spends most of the time stored away so I can watch DVDs and streaming video via my Xbox 360 because it has an HDMI cable. Primarily, however, I don't own a lot of VHS horror because when I was old enough to spend my own money the VHS had already given way to the DVD revolution. I've watched and rented a lot of horror films on VHS back in the day, but even now I own fewer films than I've actually seen. I still love VHS horror box art as an art form (you heard me -- an art form!), and that is largely why I've started this blog. I just never occurred to me to buy VHS tapes.

Even back in the day, I wasn't a fan of watching VHS films despite my love for their packaging. Until I saw the films on DVD as an adult, I never really experienced the value of many classic horror films. Take for example Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. When I rented the original Evil Dead VHS, the picture looked something like this.

Only darker. Grainier. A nauseating ride of visual sea sickness. I spent most of the time just trying to figure out what was going on. Even the parts that were clear were still grainy and hard to see. For years, I enjoyed Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness better only because their VHS copies were less stressed. It wasn't until about four years ago that I finally got to see Evil Dead on DVD and realized it was legitimately one of the best and scariest horror films ever made. It quickly became my favorite of the series (putting me in a minority, I know. Let's save that debate for another day.)

Therefore, when people ask me if I've seen 'this horror movie,' or 'that horror movie' from the age of VHS, my usual response is, "Sort of." Based on the quality of the VHS films I rented in my youth, one can hardly say I saw the films at all. 

Picture and sound quality aside, renting a VHS movie often resulted in misadventure and heart break. For example:

Rosemary's Baby on VHS: Rented three or four times from different stores only to have video stop or break on each occasion.

Gods and Monsters on VHS: First attempts to rent the film resulted in me receiving a mislabeled copy of Pierce Brosnan's Grey Owl and, once, a copy of Steven Segal's On Deadly Ground that was itself mislabeled as Grey Owl.

These are just two of several memorable examples of VHS-related snafus. I could have sworn someone was fucking with me on purpose. Never mind all the VHS tapes that suicided into my VCR by barfing spools of tape into the machine, killing itself and the machine in the process (not unlike a very lethal bee).

One the one hand, I see the appeal of watching VHS horror. I do miss the gritty, worn look of a film print when those films are still visible on screen. I don't miss popping in a film to see nothing but the VCR work itself into a heart attack trying to tame the wild tracking.

If you ask me, the best way to watch a horror film, regardless of VHS or DVD, is in a small, intimate theatre with a like-minded group of horror fans.

This intimate screening is exactly what we offer through Horror in the Hammer. Horror in the Hammer is a group of writers, artists, filmmakers, and fans based in Hamilton, ON who host and sponsor horror-themed events. Each month, we do a film screening at the Staircase Theatre (27 Dundurn St. North) called FRIGHT NIGHT THEATRE. This month we screened Korean vampire film Thirst. Next month, we're screening Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge. Come check us out if you like variety in your horror and an intimate horror movie experience. Don't worry, I won't try and cop a feel -- unless that's what you're into.