Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Perhaps 10 stars is a bit overrated for most viewers, but I liked what they did and tried to do. Scream Queen Linnea Quigley who made the original "Night of the Demons," the horror classic it has become, returns to us in her famous ballerina costume and gives us an encore bow. Three girls go to a Halloween Party at a haunted mansion. They enter the mansion with swagger music from Concrete Blonde's Vampire Song. The infamous lipstick scene, which made the first movie a classic, is re-enacted. The original sexy dance is replaced by Shannon Elizabeth deep throating a bottle and dancing with another girl. Unfortunately there is no love making in a coffin, a classic scene from the original. There is gratuitous sex and nudity and a British bad guy with the stereotypical name Nigel. It is not as good as the original. I will say that it is better than many of the horror remakes of this age (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street. Last House on the Left etc.). Personally I would have loved to have seen Linnea Quigley in a larger role. Simulated sex, simulated oral sex, nudity,the f-bomb, and some decent rave music. The plot is simple. We get a bunch of drunk kids in a haunted mansion. The cops stop the party. A core group stays behind, but then gets locked in. Eventually they make it to the basement and discover a secret room with skeletons. Angelina sticks her finger in one of the skeletons and gets bit. She becomes infected, (demon bites are apparently like zombie bites)and you know the rest.

I haven't watched the original NIGHT OF THE DEMONS yet so I can't comment on this film's status as a remake, but what I can say is that it's a pretty poor and entirely ordinary horror movie. The storyline is a predictable one, with guests at a party finding themselves possessed one by one by demons, so that means the execution is going to have to be pretty spectacular for this film to be a success.Well, it isn't. The directorial style is a disappointment, the film made in such a way that it already feels more dated than many an '80s production. Half the running time seems to be made up of bimbo characters running around in next to nothing, and the other half sees characters in cheesy demon masks attempting to menace the viewer. There isn't as much gore as you'll expect, and virtually nothing to remember the film by.I admit that I got a kick out of seeing Edward Furlong in this movie. He's clearly a guy who's suffered hardship in real life, but I found his performance a surprisingly sensitive one. He's the best thing in it. Bobbi Sue Luther and Shannon Elizabeth are entirely convincing as the bimbo characters although I'm not sure whether that's really a compliment. Linnea Quigley's cameo is just wrong although the actress playing the main girl (sorry, not sure of her name) isn't too bad. Still, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS is a bland remake, nothing more.

The original Night of the Demons (1988) was a trashy, low budget B-movie horror in which a coherent plot and decent direction proved far less important than its cheapo monsters, gore, and titillation courtesy of scream queen Linnea Quigley, and babes Jill Terashita and Cathy Podewell. This remake opts for the same lowbrow approach, but manages to be much more fun thanks to slicker (and sicker) special effects, a decent pace, better performances, a willingness to get nice 'n' twisted, and even hotter women (Diora Baird, dressed in a basque and fishnets as a sexy cat, is stunning, while Bobbi Sue Luther's breasts steal every scene they are in).The film starts off in cracking form with a sepia-toned flashback in which Evangeline Broussard, the owner of a New Orleans mansion, gives herself a bit too much rope to hang herself, her head popping off as a result. The action then shoots forward 85 years to the present day, where hottie Angela (Shannon Elizabeth) has organised a debauched Halloween party in the Broussard house. After the police raid the place, Angela and a few of her friends are left trapped in the house where, one by one, they become possessed by seven hideous demons: cue face ripping, breast tearing, doggie-style demon sex, disembowelment, tentacled titties, an outrageous new take on the original's 'lipstick in the breast' gag, and rusty nail/shotgun carnage.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

I found this surprisingly enjoyable with pretty decent directing and cinematography. As an example, notice how the flashback hanging scene was filmed. Notice also the peculiar angles chosen and the transitions between characters at the party. This was not just standard-TV movie quality with minimal effort. The acting was nothing to write home about but I found Edward Furlong (the kid from Terminator 2) really looking and acting the part of the messed up, desperate, drug dealer-addict (how much acting was involved is another question ;) The girl playing Maddie was fine and I found the goth hostess of the party, Shannon Elizabeth, pretty appealing and seductive. I even felt a bit sorry for her.The plot itself involving demons having to corrupt and possess several people on Halloween night in an enclosed manor was serviceable, and had a few nice twists, and a few bad ones near the end as well. I found the make-up effects on the demons rather good, especially for the girls. I can't say I was ever really scared, but there was suspense. Pretty fun B-movie fare with above-average directing, yet once the survivors got in a room protected by spells, things started going badly. Badly as in illogical or very convenient things happening that shattered my sense of disbelief. I kept asking myself how could this happen (demon hands through walls), why the demons acted this way or just didn't do anything (when someone climbs down a rope), why this character did these stupid, unnecessary things (going out to shoot demons and what comes afterwards). Seems to me the writers painted themselves in a corner with that protected room and had to start "cheating" so the rest of the film wouldn't just be boring waiting. I would have given a 6 (good), perhaps more, for the movie until that room and 4 (poor) for that part after. I suppose it averages to 5.Rating: 5 out of 10 (average)