I’ve decided to subject myself to 31 days of horror films for the month of October. It will be a mix of rewatching stuff I haven’t seen in a while and brand new things. Day 22:

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988)  – Kevin S. Tenney

Horror movies often fall into two categories: 1. You become extremely attached to the characters and want to them to survive. 2. They are awful and you root for them to die horrible and gruesome deaths. NIGHT OF THE DEMONS falls in the latter category.

Kevin S. Tenney has assembled such a group of horrible high school kids that I was wishing death on everyone within the first ten minutes.  At one point, the little brother of the female lead pops out of her closest to scare her and remarks on his sister’s “sweet tits.” It was horrifying and not the only time he brought them up.

The plot is simple, weird goth girl has a party an abandoned haunted funeral and inadvertently summon some demons that possess them and kill off the teenagers one by one. What makes the film standout is the cinematography and editing of the film are far beyond what I would have expected. There is a shot of the kids all in broken pieces of a mirror that I am still wondering how they set up.

It’s typical 80’s slasher schlock but a fun one at that.  I watched it with a group of people and had fun throughout the entire film. If you’re a horror snob, you’ll get a kick out of the film but it definitely is not for everyone.  It has some definite moments of creativity and genuine horror that are worth it.