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A little while ago, I reviewed the 2009 remake of NIGHT OF
THE DEMONS. As I stated then, I ordered
the blu ray thinking it was the original ‘80’s version. I was immediately disappointed when I
realized what it was. I almost didn’t
watch it because by the look of the case, it was just another cheap, crappy
remake that I never knew existed. But
the scrappy little indie won me over with its heart and enthusiasm, so I gave
it a pass. It still pales to the
original, I thought. The thing is, I
finally got around to rewatching the original.
Guess what? It’s terrible. It has its moments, good make-up effects, and
a crazy performance by Linnea Quigley, but it’s so uninspired. Kids sneak into a spooky abandoned house for
a party and they start getting possessed by demons. They run from one boring room to the next and
scream a lot. That’s about it. Anyone who’s seen THE EVIL DEAD knows that a
basic plot doesn’t have to mean a dull movie, as long as the other elements are
strong enough. NIGHT OF THE DEMONS
just wasn’t strong enough. So yes, the
remake is better than the original, in my opinion. Sorry for doubting you, remake. You may now hold your head high. The real surprise, however, is that the 1994
sequel I’ve been ignoring forever turned out to be better than both.
The Capsule:
A group of witless teens sneak out of their strict Catholic school
for a little Halloween partying. Most of
them are harmlessly obnoxious, but Shirley has a real nasty streak. Along with a couple of reprobate friends, she
lures her school mates to Hull House, the abandoned funeral parlor rumored to
be haunted. This is especially traumatic
for Mouse, because her sister Angela disappeared from Hull House years ago
after a Halloween massacre. Turns out the demonic Angela is still knocking
around the old place. When one of Shirley’s
twisted pranks sends everyone running back to the school, Angela tags
along. Soon, kids are getting possessed,
heads start flying, and car seats are giving phantom handjobs. Angela kidnaps Mouse and hauls her back to
Hull House to be sacrificed. Nice girl
Bibi, her rock stupid boyfriend Johnny, and demon obsessed nerd Perry, all head
off to save her. Leading the way is
righteous ass kicker Sister Gloria. She’s
a rosary whipping, holy water bombing supernun.
But all the holy water in the world might not be enough to stop Angela
on the (Second) Night of the Demons.
My biggest problem with the original NIGHT OF THE DEMONS was
that I was stuck in a single location with a bunch of annoying characters for
almost the whole time. The good kids
were whiny and useless. The bad kids
were obnoxious and also useless. There
was no one to root for. The sequel is a
huge step up. Most of the characters are
still annoying, but the things that happen to them are more entertaining. One character in particular, though, steals the whole show.
For a School for Troubled Teens, not many teens seem to be that
troubled. Not many of them seem like
teens, either, but that’s a separate matter.
Angela’s sister Mouse clearly has issues, and Shirley is a hellion, but
everyone else seems like a typical over-privileged suburban kid (in their
twenties). Christine Taylor, as Shirley, is playing a
prototype of her mean girl from THE CRAFT. She can be sneering and catty, but she never takes it too far. She's just a spoiled brat. I like that Rick, Shirley’s douchey
boyfriend, actually calls her Marcia, and this is a year before she got the
part in THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE. Maybe this is what inspired her to go for it. 
Kurt is a typical
bullying jock. He becomes much more
interesting when demonified, playing basketball with his own severed head. Perry is the occult obsessed nerd. He even has a copy of the Necronomicon (4th
edition, Penguin Press). It’s funny,
because he’s completely oblivious to why Father Bob disapproves of his
hobby. He doesn’t seem to get that the
occult has anything to do with religion.
He’s coming at it like a science experiment. I would be surprised if he didn’t have a
survey prepared for the demons he’s trying to summon. 
Bibi is clearly established as the final girl in this
equation. She hangs out with Terri and
Shirley, but disapproves whenever they pick on Mouse. Unfortunately, she’s the second blandest
character in the movie, topped only by her young Michael Biehn looking
boyfriend, Johnny. She spends most of
her time moving slowly and looking scared, but she gets one decent scene, at
least. After she escapes from the
sexually predatory Z Boy, who was bad enough in human form and worse as a
demon, she lobs a holy water filled balloon right into his monster crotch. She and Johnny also get to go against the sex
= death trope. They get it on in Hull
House (Angela isn’t great about dusting but insists on fresh bed linens,
apparently), and they are never punished for it. I guess blandness is punishment enough.
The true hero of the movie is undeniably Sister Gloria (Jennifer Rhodes). It’s a fantastic subversion of expectations. Normally in a movie like this, the nun
character would be a humorless sadist, going out of her way to degrade and
punish. Sister Gloria seems this way at
first. She’s very strict and prudish. When she catches Shirley and Kurt fooling
around, she bans them and innocent spectators Bibi and Johnny from the
Halloween dance. She seems like perfect
demon bait. Then, bit by bit, you get to
see her playful side. She practices
fencing with her knuckle rapping yard stick.
When Shirley tries to embarrass her in class by asking a question about fellatio,
Sister Gloria skillfully turns it around and makes Shirley look like the
fool. She’s the one who steps up when
the demon shit hits the fan, staring down Angela and forcing her retreat. After Angela kidnaps Mouse, Sister Gloria is
the one who leads the rescue. There’s a
great sequence of her suiting up like she’s an action hero, only with a habit
and rosaries instead of a head band and a bandolier of bullets. She opens a drawer that has a set of yard
sticks precisely lined up like swords.
She’s prepared for this kind of shit.
Even though the movie is partially based in a Catholic
school, it plays the religion pretty light.
It’s obviously satire, but doesn’t become derogatory or
sacrilegious. I like that Sister Gloria
stays true to her character even after becoming a demon ass kicker. For her, it’s more about saving the kids than
it is about destroying evil. She is a
bit corny, using lines like “save room for the Holy Ghost” when keeping the
students from getting too intimate (the gag pays off nicely later). She genuinely cares about the kids, though,
and is willing to sacrifice her life if need be. But she’s also ready with a holy water filled
machine gun if opportunity arises.
The demon effects are much more creative than in the
original (or remake). There’s a talking
head in the toilet (always welcome).
Demon Shirley’s boobs turn into hands to grab and burn up her lunkhead
boyfriend. Holy water makes them dissolve
into green ooze and blood. In one
fantastic scene, the entire floor is covered in sloshy demon guts, flopping
limbs, and Father Bob’s torso stuck in the middle. He’s like a moving GI Joe melted down on a
skillet. They do the silly but
appreciated gag where a decapitated body shuffles around spurting blood for several
seconds after his head drops. The most
ambitious effects are at the end when Angela transforms into a giant
snake monster. It’s marred a bit in HD
because you can see the cables that make it whip around, but it’s still an
impressive visual. 
My biggest complaint with the NIGHT OF THE DEMONS remake was
that they over explain things. There
had to be a reason behind everything, even if the reason made no sense. The original was the opposite, it didn’t
explain much of anything. Why are there
demons running around? Because it’s
Halloween, demons love Halloween. NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2 is nicely balanced. It does
explain a few key parts, like how Angela is able to escape the underground
stream barrier that kept her in Hull House (it involves a clever, and gross,
use of Linnea Quigley’s lipstick from the first film). Other times, the movie lets you figure it out
on your own, like why some demonified people can be purified by holy water
while others are destroyed by it. My
explanation may be different from the filmmakers (if they even had one), but
that is part of the fun. A lot of it is
left vague. We know Angela will gain
power through sacrifice, but we never know how much power or what she plans to
do with it. My money is on evilness, but
who knows. Maybe she just wants to
renovate Hull House into a quaint bed and breakfast. She clearly enjoys playing hostess.
Incidentally, I wonder how Angela and her demon pals got
back into Hull House, since it was still surrounded by the underground
stream. Far be it from me to suggest a
low budget horror movie sequel would have plot holes. It must have been in a deleted scene.
All of this is brought to us by the wonderful Brian
Trenchard-Smith. Smith was an early
Ozpliotation director, unleashing insane Australian films like DEAD END
DRIVE-IN, TURKEY SHOOT, and THE MAN FROM HONG KONG. He was in his prime during the mid ‘70’s to
‘80’s. By the ‘90’s, he was working
mostly in the US and his style of gonzo filmmaking had ebbed. I either forgot or never knew he did this one
before I watched it, so it’s off-kilter and clever approach was a nice
surprise. He went on to do a couple of
LEPRECHAN sequels after this, neither of which I have seen. I should give them a shot sometime. There might be a bit of mad Aussie magic
hidden in them, too.
C Chaka
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