User Reviews

The acting was cheesy, the make-up and hair were too excessive, the plot was mindless, and the music was funky, but hey - it was the 1980s.

This is another 80s horror flick- about ten teenagers who party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night. They encounter a demonic force, and they turn the teenage kids' party into a living nightmare. What results are some more of the usual screams, chases, and gore.

The creatures were quite creepy as a matter of fact and will give you some nice scares. Not much of a plot to the movie - just lots of running and screaming, but it's mindless horror fun for Halloween, so don't take this movie too seriously.

Grade B-

IF you're looking for a typical slasher, horror flick, this is a good choice. Don't expect a surprise ending or even witty, interesting dialogue. You will get some screams, some gore, some pre-mortem nudity and some laughs. The point is, don't expect too much.

This one's for the real 80's horror fiends out there. Trashy, tacky, cheesy, greasy, gory and campy. A must-watch during the Halloween season!

Linnea Quigley is a true 80's horror staple!

I can't in good conscience sit here and give director Kevin Tenney's 1988 opus "Night of the Demons" great praise or my highest recommendation. I can't tell you it's a must-see film or that it's an expertly crafted thrill-ride. Nor can I say it was well-acted and breathlessly paced. Because the honest truth is... it's a complete mess. It's dumber than a box or rocks, trashier than an episode of "Maury," and the execution is patchy and sub-standard at best.

But you know what? Those are the reasons why I love it!

Yes, the one thing I can say is that if you're a fan of B-movie schlock and sleazy exploitation like I am, you're definitely going to get your money's worth here. Its faults are also the source of its charm, and it's chock-full of everything you'd want out of a dumb 80's horror flick. There are bared-breasts aplenty, and enough gooey gore to keep you glued to the screen. It's stupid... oh, it's stupid. But it's stupid in the right kinds of ways.

It's Halloween night and a group of teens have decided to hold a party at the infamous Hull House- an abandoned mortuary with a troubled past. Among them are the adorkable Judy (Cathy Podewell) and the wild social outcast Angela. (Amelia Kinkade) However, things take a dark turn when the party-goers decide to hold a séance... unwittingly unleashing demonic spirits that begin to possess and pick-off the teenagers one-by-one! Now, Judy and the others must fight for their lives as they try to survive the night of the demons!

To the film's credit, I will say that there are some pretty good things going for it. As silly as it can be, I found the bulk of the visual effects to be really well-executed. Particularly of note was a hilariously insane sequence involving a woman's nipple and a tube of lipstick that was wonderfully disgusting. And the demons were all suitably frightening. I also really enjoyed the bulk of the cast, even if they weren't the strongest actors. Podewell makes for an enjoyable and likeable protagonist, and Kinkade is a ton of fun as the weird, gothy Angela, who is quickly possessed by the demons and becomes the main adversary. She's just a blast in the role. And of course, we have a great turn from scream queen Linnea Quigley in a small part... Quigley is one of those actors that's not very good... but she's always really entertaining to watch as she chews the scenery.

Where the film falls flat is in its execution. While I'm not too familiar with his work, director Tenney seems over-his-head with the material. Many shots and sequences feel oddly paced, and some of the choices in camera angles and compositions are really wonky. The editing can also feel patchy and inconsistent, with the earlier scenes in particular dragging. And then there's the script by Joe Augustyn. And it's... not great. It feels really trashy at times, the dialogue is laughably on-the-nose and the general tone is all over the place. Quite frankly, it's just plain stupid.

But like I said... that's kind of the fun of the film. It's not a very good movie. But I don't think it's trying to be. It's just trying to be dumb fun. And in that respect, it succeeds. I can go alone with the silly plot and the badly written characters because they exist to get us to good stuff- the boobs and blood! And I can live with the poor editing and direction because that's not really the point. The movie exists to entertain. And entertain it does. At least provided you like this sort of silly movie. And it gives a lot of the films faults a certain perverted charm.

This is one of those cases where it's hard to give the film any sort-of numerical score. If I were to judge it based on its actual quality, this is at best a 3 out of 10. As a movie, it just isn't very good. But if I were to judge it by its entertainment value, it's easily a very solid 7, because it has enough nifty effects and bouncing bosoms to make it a fun watch. You know what? I think I'll go ahead and just average those out, bringing us to a sloppy but very watchable 5 out of 10. If you like a good-bad horror movie, you'll almost certainly get a kick out of "Night of the Demons."

'Night of the Demons' is a dodgy slice of 80s horror boasting a terrible script, some excruciatingly bad acting and lousy direction from horror hack Kevin Tenney.

The derivative wafer-thin plot sees a bunch of obnoxious teens spending Halloween partying in a derelict spooky house; one-by-one they become possessed by the evil spirits that dwell there.

Tenney tries desperately to emulate the visual style of The Evil Dead and the punk attitude of The Return of the Living Dead, but only manages to deliver a dull, tedious crap-fest that doesn't even manage to entertain on a 'so-bad-it-is-good' level. Tenney has nearly all of the ingredients necessary for a B-movie classic—monsters, naked chicks, and gore—but is missing the most vital one in order to make it all work: talent.

The badly paced film takes an amazingly long time for anything noteworthy to happen and after 50 minutes of irritating 'crazy' shenanigans from the 'wacky' teens, I couldn't wait for them all to start dying.

The special makeup effects from Steve Johnson are actually pretty good when they finally happen, but they are wasted on such a lousy film. Particularly impressive is a scene in which 80s scream queen Linnea Quigley pushes a lipstick into her breast and also rather good is a juicy double eye squish.

Also worth mentioning are the lovely ladies who strip off during the course of the movie, making the experience slightly more bearable. The aforementioned Miss Quigley bares all for the camera (as usual) and lovely Jill Terashita gets her best attributes out for the lads. Gorgeous Cathy Podewell only manages a brief glimpse of her bare backside and a bra shot, but I'm not complaining—with such a dull movie, I was grateful for anything that might liven it up.

'Night of the Demons' spawned two sequels, which are on my pile of DVDs-to-watch. Wish me luck!

Two sequels and a lame remake doesn't do anything to diminish the fun of this original film wherein a diverse group of high school seniors attend a Halloween party being thrown by 'weird' Angela at the deserted supposedly haunted Hull House. After staging an impromptu séance, demons come out to show these boys and girls how to really party.

I'm surprised with how well this movies has held up. Yea there's a bit of dated 80's humor but for the most part it still works surprisingly well. Plus they just don't make Scream Queens like Linnea anymore, she's awesome in both this and 'Return of the Living Dead"

Eye Candy: Cathy Podewell shows her butt; Jill Terashita goes topless; and scream queen Linnea Quigley goes full frontal

This is one of those franchises where I had seen the sequels and even the remake before the original film. From that, I had an idea of what I was going to get. Maybe it's a grower, as I wasn't particularly blown away, yet Kevin S. Tenney's "NIGHT OF THE DEMONS" for most part, remains a fun, twisted 80s low-budget Halloween-based horror. The opening animated credits were imaginatively done, as it did a great job setting up the mood.

One thing that stood out, it does spend quite bit of time fooling about, before the party literally goes to hell. Most of the characters are loathsome, but the humour comes off. At least Linnea Quigley can make a scene in more than one way, from her pun-riddled dialogues, or flaunting her underwear and giving us a party trick (involving her lipstick) that's out of this world. Not to take anything away from Amelia Kinkade's seductive dance number either. What it does show, is that the set-pieces, along with the macabre makeup effects and grisly gore (courtesy of Steve Johnson) were more memorable than the formulaic narrative and bubblegum performances.

The setting of the party in an abandoned funeral home with a horrific past, adds a nicely creepy and isolated vibe that works a treat once it becomes a disorientating demonic party-bash. Taut thrills and lively camerawork follows, where the possessed party guests start toying with each other in a chase format. It ends on a disappointedly staged climax, yet the gimmicky ending was a nice touch.

And you know why? Because they thought (or at least made horror fans think) that a bunch of obnoxious, foul-mouthed, screaming teenagers, some stupid demons (Where do they come from? What is their purpose? Who knows?) and a dark mansion are all you need to make a horror movie. Needless to say, they were wrong. You also need a script, some logic, some rules, and some invention. This flick DOES have one scene that lives up to its reputation (the lipstick scene, of course), and a couple of funny moments (the kid brother's description of his mother's cookies, Linnea Quigley's "don't look at me" scene). It also has more profanity than any movie I've watched since I last saw "Reservoir Dogs". Literally every fourth or fifth word is a "f***" or a "b****". Then again, when a movie begins with FOUR false scares in its first 5 minutes, you know not to expect anything resembling good filmmaking. (*1/2)

I could never remember if the film was actually any good because a lot of films back then I have fond memories of but now in recent viewing I see that they're not actually that good. But my fears were quickly put to rest when I saw this bad boy of an 80's classic. How hard does it rock? It rocks all kinds of ass. It owns the 80's movie. It is what I think about good 80's horror.

Script wise...it's perfect. It's tightly written, funny as hell, has great characters,a great plot and an interesting take on the haunted house set up. But best of all this film isn't just a horror movie... it's a freaking comedy for the first act set in the world of a horror movie. The humor comes naturally and isn't forced and is never too cute for it's own good. The writer knew what kind of film he was making and so he kept everything to make it fit in it's own tone. But best of all the film has a timeless and never feels dated. This film came out about 18 years ago and it's still freaking fun as hell. The jokes still keep me laughing and I've seen it a bunch of times since. I laugh out loud ever single time. Hell, the lines in this film are so damn catchy and the actors deliver them with such life that I can't help but to love them. Man, the script is so well done that I actually know them by heart. I can repeat every catchy line from the film out of the blue and they still make me laugh. I love it. What makes it so great it has a perfect mix of laughs and pure horror. This film is for fans of the genre and they give the fans what they want... but better then that they actually deliver a great film along with the gore and blood. This film captures an era where horror was fun and wasn't scared to try new things while still delivering a good film. It's a classic.

Cast wise...everyone is spot on. They all know how to deliver their lines and they know how to keep their characters alive and fun. First let's start off with our lead... Cathy Podewell as Judy" the good girl virgin". You know what...I love her performance. That's it. I love her in this film. She's really sweet and I love her acting... or non of there of.lol. You know what I know what I mean. She's not really a great actress but she's on that boarder line of being wonderfully bad. A lot of people won't like her but I love her. She's adorable and cute. Then there's Billy Gallo as Sal and Hal Havins as Stooge. They both are funny as hell have some of the best lines in the film. They are a blast. That's it. I love both their characters. But it's their acting and personalities which makes us like their "jerk" characters in the film. They're both jerks but fun jerks. Everyone else is great to in our group of teens.

Directing wise... I love director Keven S. Tenney. I love his directing on this film. I adore it, I study it and marvel at it. It's amazing. For the first 40 minutes it's mostly a comedy but he shoots it in a very interesting way. He has kick ass angles, camera moves and I just dug everything he brought to the table. The man knows how to make a cool looking film. I love his shots. I can't start to even tell you. This film not might be the most original type of 80's horror movie but it is very original looking. You watch this film and you know you aren't getting some low budget horror movie. No, the style here makes this film feel bigger then what it was meant to be. I loved how the camera seemed to just follow and move. Man, I just trip out on this film because every time I see I catch something new about the directing. There's always something new to spot. There's always some cool shot... or cool camera move that you never noticed before. So I love this film for that too. Not only that but Kevin doesn't let his style speak for him... he also crafts a great horror film. He knows how to bring real terror and fright into this film. But still it fits perfectly with the first part of the film. But I was also happy to see that even in the horror part of the film he never lost his flair for style. I love the floor shot looking up at Demonic Angela as she seems to float above the air... and if you watch the film with the insightful commentary then you've get a bigger treat when you find out just how they did it.

Okay, so you got a clever script,fun cast and an amazing director... so what else do you need? Well, how about an even better score. I love the music for this film. It was done by Dennis Tenny, the director's brother, and he creates some of the most unforgettable music for a horror film ever. I love his score. It's got balls and is original. I never heard a score like that before and haven't heard one since. I also loved the music they used in this film. They didn't just use the latest popular songs(like today's horror movies) or songs from a current popular bands or rappers(like they did in the 80's). Nope, they used music that they picked for the film and would fit in. The music is great and what I loved more is the songs that Dennis Tenny wrote for the film. I love "Computer Date".

I have watched this 1988 movie once before, but must admit that I have entirely forgotten the storyline, and thus I opted to sit down and watch it again here in 2023, as I had the opportunity to do so. I should say that the demonic face on the movie's cover does come off as being very memorable.

The storyline in "Night of the Demons" is pretty straightforward, and very archetypical for a late 1980s horror movie, for better or worse. I have to admit that I am a sucker for movies like this, and found the 1980s to be a great decade for the horror genre. So yeah, I enjoyed what writer Joe Augustyn and director Kevin Tenney delivered with this 1988 horror movie. It is a an entertaining storyline, though I guess some people might consider it a bit slow paced to start out with. But writer Joe Augustyn was good at setting up the premise of the demonic infestation.

The acting performances in "Night of the Demons" were good. It wasn't famous actors and actresses, though. But the cast put on good performances in portraying their characters and the demonic entities.

Visually then "Night of the Demons" was good. Sure, this was a late 1980s movie, and the effects show that. But I enjoyed that, because there was attention to detail, and the demonic entity designs were actually interesting for what they turned out to be. It was funny, however, how the demon in the black dress sounded very similiar to Dr. Claw from the "Inspector Gadget" cartoons when it was speaking.

I have also watched part two, but don't think I ever got around to watching part three.

The 1988 movie "Night of the Demons" is an enjoyable horror movie, and it is well-worth watching. It is, in fact, a movie that still is very watchable today, 35 years after it was released.

My rating of "Night of the Demons" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Many people don't appreciate dated or lower budget horror, but in my opinion you cannot be a true horror fan without at least a respect for the B-movie. This movie is enjoyable in only that way that 80's campy horror can be enjoyable. It doesn't take itself too seriously and you really shouldn't either. Often overshadowed by the slasher movies of the 80's, this one is a classic. Amelia Kinkade plays Angela. Watch for her creepy dance sequence. It's pretty memorable and what happens right after elevates Amelia's character, Angela from B Movie character to a horror powerhouse like Freddy and Jason. But unfortunately the 2 sequels that followed are inferior and wound up botching her character. Linnea Quigley does something very interesting with a tube of lipstick. And the gore effects are pretty cool.

This movie is by no means a thought provoking kind of horror movie, where you are supposed to question the existence of humanity or anything like that. This is a horror movie with lots of drinking, sex, and drugs, and many many moments of "oh my god did she just?! Did they just do?!" Honestly as a shock value horror flick very few movies surpass this one. I'm probably a bit nostalgic for it, but only slightly I think a lot of the shock moments in this movie will get more people than most of the ones in "Saw" or "Hostel". The director had a really good feel on what would appeal to an 80's teen (and 90's teen in the near future.) Hull House is by far the best environment for a movie like this. The music is the greatest horror movie music ever! Far surpassing that of "Nightmare on Elm Street's". It throws a lot into the atmosphere of the movie.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Fun-loving teens decide to have their Halloween party at the haunted Hull House and are possessed by bloodthirsty demons.

Rightly remembered with fondness by 80's horror fans, Night of the Demons might not be a life changing film, but it keeps the audience entertained incredibly well for around 90 minutes and features some jaw droppingly impressive special effects work and tons of Halloween mood. Just wait until you see what one of the female partygoers does with a tube of lipstick. You'll never be the same again.

Night of the Demons is a great movie and an excellent example of how good low-budget can be. Sure, much of it is fairly predictable, but somehow it's still much more enjoyable than the crap we see these days being passed off as "Horror". I give the gore a solid 9, and the Demons' one-liners are actually funny. I'm still creeped out by "Stop looking at me!" The soundtrack is well done, I was surprised to hear "Stigmata Martyr" from Bauhaus! There is also some very nice T&A on display, as well as some hella good make-up effects. The second film in the series is pretty good too, but avoid the inferior third one. Night of the Demons may be dated, dark, and low-rent, but it still has a lot of potential. It's definitely worth a rental at least. Give it a chance tonight, just stay away from any old makeup! (you'll understand when you see it!)

I'm not a big fan of doing things for kitsch value, and I usually cringe when people claim that something is so bad that it's good. But this movie really is. The imdb quotes page for Night of the Demons cites a couple of real gems, but there are literally dozens of groan-inducing one-liners in this flick. What more can you say when a screenwriter's idea of snappy banter is, "Shut up and drive, b****"? The gore is cornier, the doomed couples are hornier, the bit players are stupider and the cliches are funnier than the rest of the genre. I can't in good conscience recommend that you pay money to see this movie, but I really enjoyed it.

I am a connoisseur of bad horror movies from the 1980s, but this one is sadly lacking even by those standards. The dreary dialogue, made worse by appalling acting, with everyone grimacing and grinding out their lines by rote like automatons, were simply too much to bear. These performances are of the quality you might find in a high school drama production.

Even worse, it lacked action, ignoring an unwritten rule for this sort of film: there simply must be a killing, maiming or supernatural occurrence during the first ten minutes. That doesn't happen here. The early scares are limited to silliness such as someone's little brother popping out of a closet shouting "Boo!" If you're 12 years old and willing to watch almost anything on TV while babysitting for your next door neighbors, you might find this acceptable. As for me, I tried to watch it but had to turn it off after 10 minutes. It was so stupid I couldn't stand any more.

This movie took me by surprise. The opening credit sequence features nicely done animation. After that, we're plunged into a semi-cheesy production, betraying its low budget. The characters, typical American teens, are introduced slowly, with more personal detail than is usually found in movies like this. By the time the shlitz hits the fan, we know each one of the characters, and either like or hate them according to their distinct personalities. It's a slow uphill set-up, kind of like the ride up a slope of a really tall roller coaster. Thankfully, once the action kicks in, it's full blown old school HORROR! Steve Johnson's make-up effects are awesome. Equal in quality to much bigger budgeted films. And the scares are jolting. Kevin Tenney delivers his best movie ever, with heart-stopping surprises and creepy suspenseful set-ups. The tongue-in-cheek, sometimes cheesy, humor marks this film as pure 80s horror, as opposed to the sullen tone of earlier genre fare like "Night of the Living Dead" or "Hills Have Eyes." But for true horror fans, this one is worth checking out. Play it as the first entry on a double bill with the 1999 remake of "House on the Haunted Hill." The set-up and character dynamics are so similar that you really have to wonder what film they were actually remaking?

Somehow I was expecting something like Demons (Demoni)from Lambert Bava. Once you have seen that you just can't accept a movie like this. One reviewer even argued that "Night of the Demons" was better than Evil Dead. Well,that is just ignorance and sacrilege. "Evil Dead" is a horror classic. And almost everything that happens here is a direct copy from "Evil Dead". There is one scene where you will see the demon's viewpoint roaming through the house. The way the camera is used is the exact same way it is used in "Evil Dead" when deadites try to enter the cabin only not as impressive. But I don't mind if they use the same techniques,effects or even storyline as long as the movie manages to entertain you. And here starts the problem. "Night of the Demons" has a far to comedic approach to events. The acting is so bad (obviously) done on purpose that it removes all sympathy you might have for the characters. Also when something scary happens it just doesn't have the effect it should have. There are two or three scenes that really could have been scary if the acting at that time was truly serious. "Demons" from Bava showed a fine balance between,camp,humor,gore and thrills. "Night of the Demons" is more like a parody. I am sure that there is an audience for this movie. But if you are looking for thrills you are better off with classics like "Demons" or "Evil Dead". Do pay attention to the "twist" ending which is hilarious. It has nothing to do with the whole story but still makes more impact than the whole movie did.