Film Review: NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988, Kevin S. Tenney)

Stars: 3.5 of 5.
Running Time: 89 minutes.
Tag-line: "Angela is having a party, Jason and Freddy are too scared to come... But you'll have a hell of a time."
Notable Cast or Crew: Linnea Quigley (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, SAVAGE STREETS), Lance Fenton (HEATHERS, HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN), Hal Havins, (SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA, ALF), Allison Barron (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE, the INXS video game from 1992), Billy Gallo (PRETTY WOMAN, WHO'S THE BOSS), Jill Terashita (SLEEPAWAY CAMP 3: TEENAGE WASTELAND, TERMINAL ENTRY).  Directed by Kevin S. Tenney (WITCHBOARD, WITCHBOARD 2).
Best One-liner: "Festering fuckwads!"

Welcome to NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, a palace of adolescent, blockheaded delights, a 1980s horror classick that probably doesn't have a single original thought in its brain, but that really doesn't matter––it's a charming ode to scares and fun and teenagers making bad decisions while exclaiming things like "Count Dingleberry!" and "I never made it in a coffin before!"

From its imaginative, animated opening sequence (set to some nice, prog-rockin' Goblin-style grooves composed by the director's brother) to its spooktacular finale, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS is the generic, 1980s Halloween party movie that we deserve.

First off, I must say that I really enjoy the tag-line, which taunts much more well-established horror franchises FRIDAY THE 13TH and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.  That's ballsy.  This movie is a scrapper.  I think that's why I like it so much.

So the plot involves a group of teens who make the ill-advised choice to host their Halloween party at a cursed, abandoned funeral parlor.



They manage to hit every last note of the "teens in a haunted house" genre, and soon the festivities ("All right, dudes and dudesses, let's party!") give way to a magical totem

(in this instance a haunted mirror)

which unleashes evil spirits faster than you can say "Necronomicon."
 
In fact, it's very EVIL DEAD, right on down to the Steadicam shot of a demon spirit roaming corridors and flinging open doors just before it possesses an unsuspecting teen.



And, yup, that's Linnea Quigley, from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4, and the like.  Usually, whenever you hear her name, it's prefaced by "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley.

There's a lot to be enjoyed here. For instance, a pervy convenience store clerk (Clark Jarrett) hams it up like a poor man's Bill Paxton:

On the right, obviously 

and we get a classic, dickish performance from Lance Fenton (of HEATHERS fame, as one of "my dead, gay son[s]!"), who made it his business in the 80s to play those jocks you love to hate.

There's an extended, interpretive dance (by Amelia Kinkade) for no discernible reason, aside from padding the run-time. 



It feels like an outtake from THE HUNGER, and is, naturally, set to a Bauhaus song.  But I love it––I love this aimless, Goth freestyling, and I wouldn't take it back for the world!

Later Kinkade glides around the halls in an eerie display which may very well be the film's most iconic image.

On that note, cinematographer David Lewis (who also shot PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE and multiple LEPRECHAUN films) delivers the perfect spooky imagery


and it all ends with a fun zinger involving a gleefully crabby old man (Harold Ayer) who intends to "get back at those meddling kids" by putting razor blades in their Halloween treats.

The gruesome payoff is essentially unrelated to the movie as a whole, but completely entertaining.

It's a classic, offbrand horror flick–––it might as well be called BOO! THE MOVIE or THE TEENS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE.  It's not quite a masterpiece, but if you're in the right mood––and this is certainly the time of year for it––it'll charm the hell outta ya.

––Sean Gill

2015 HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN

1.  SCANNERS (1981, David Cronenberg)

2.  MICHAEL IRONSIDE: MENTAL SABOTEUR (2014, Karen Stetler)

3.  NOMADS (1986, John McTiernan)

4.  THE STUFF (1985, Larry Cohen)

5.  THE BEACH (2000, Danny Boyle)

6.  CHILD'S PLAY 2 (1990, John Lafia)

7. ...

Film Review: SAVAGE STREETS (1984, Danny Steinmann)

Stars: 3 of 5.
Running Time: 93 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Linda Blair, John Vernon, Linnea Quigley (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4), Robert Dryer (CYBORG 2, THE BORROWER).
Tag-lines: "An eye for an eye."
Best one-liner: "Welcome home... ASSHOLES!"

I generally go in to a Linda Blair flick intending to yuck it up at her lack of talent and the fact she, at 24, looks like an odd middle-aged woman with a baby's face, but, invariably, I end up feeling kind of bad about it. See ROLLER BOOGIE.

Now, SAVAGE STREETS is the kind of 80's revenge flick that certainly hits all the right notes, but doesn't hit them loudly, obnoxiously, laughably, bafflingly, or Italian-ly enough to become a bona fide trash classic. There's a lot of good stuff, though: John Vernon as the trash-talking a-hole principal ("Go fuck an iceberg!"),

Linda Blair cackling with a crossbow and swiggin' peach brandy, extreme close-ups on crotch grabs, gang gals voraciously devouring ice cream, and the exchange: "Too bad you're not double-jointed!" -"Why?" "Because if it were, you'd be able to bend over and kiss your ass goodbye!"


There's a lot of great unanswered questions, too, like: Where did Linda Blair get bear traps?; If the gangs have no problem murdering and raping and axing people, why do they show up to class?; Why do Linda and her friends yell for her DEAF sister when they can't find her?; Why are there bizarre homages paid to GREASE?; and After all of the mayhem, destruction, crossbows, explosions, murders, and whatnot do the cops show up only at THE END? Ordinarily, a top-notch flick of this genre, like SWITCHBLADE SISTERS or CLASS OF 1984, would take those questions and commence shoving them up your ass, but here, in SAVAGE STREETS, they sort of linger in the air like the rotten leftovers of ROLLER BOOGIE and EXORCIST II.

And, I'm sorry, when your director's greatest credit is FRIDAY THE 13TH V: A NEW BEGINNING (for the non die-hards, yeah, that's the Jason movie WITHOUT JASON)... well, nevermind. I have no follow-up. I guess I just wanted to get that out there. There shoulda been more John Vernon, though, so, yeah. Three stars.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: DEAD HEAT (1988, Mark Goldblatt)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 86 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Treat Williams (HAIR, PRINCE OF THE CITY, MARATHON MAN), Joe Piscapo (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, SIDEKICKS), Vincent Price, Keye Luke (GREMLINS, the #1 son in the 30's CHARLIE CHAN movies), Darren McGavin (THE NIGHT STALKER, RAW DEAL, A CHRISTMAS STORY) , Lindsay Frost (COLLATERAL DAMAGE, Shannon's stepmom on TV's LOST, THE RING), Professor Toru Tanaka (THE RUNNING MAN, PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, DARKMAN), Shane Black (here, in a cameo, writer of LETHAL WEAPON, LAST ACTION HERO, KISS KISS BANG BANG).
Tag-lines: "These cops are on the biggest murder case of their lives... their own." or "You can't keep a good cop dead."
Best one-liner: "Lady, I'm fuckin' dead!"

You have to wonder about the siblings Terry and Shane Black. Shane's first screenplay to get produced was LETHAL WEAPON in 1987. Terry's was DEAD HEAT in 1988. They share a similar meta sensibility, a penchant for witty banter, and a love of the absurd. Only the thing is, LETHAL WEAPON made twice as much in its opening weekend than DEAD HEAT made in its entire run, and Terry just went on to write a few episodes of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, while Shane got a slew of A-pictures.

Shane, here in a cameo as a Patrolman.

But it doesn't matter, because DEAD HEAT is a fine achievement in and of itself. It's a lower budget LETHAL WEAPON infused with equal parts ROBOCOP and DAWN OF THE DEAD, and the result is a whacky ride that continually ups its psychotic stakes. Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo are our cops, Piscopo playing the unhinged Neanderthal jokester and Williams the sensitive straight man. Unlike, say, Mel Gibson in a similar role, Piscopo forgets to make the role likable.

He's SUCH a dick, though, that it still manages to work, even if unintentionally ("You are under arrest. You have the right to remain disgusting."). Williams, as always, is stellar, and as the film progresses, he undergoes a transformation into slick, punk, Bill Paxton in NEAR DARK-esque one-liner dropping tough guy.

Then we got several minor horror icons from Darren McGavin (THE NIGHT STALKER) to Keye Luke (GREMLINS), all culminating with an appearance by the legendary VINCENT PRICE.

Just when you think you know where the film's going, it throws completely maniacal twists at you...I don't want to give anything away, because half of this film's charm is its ability to induce spit-takes in the viewer as the madness exponentially increases. But still take note of the film's point of no return, which pits our cop buddies against a horde of viscous, undead Chinese food.


If you're at all a fan of Shane Black or the buddy cop genre, you really do owe it to yourself to check this one out. Five stars.

-Sean Gill