There aren’t many horror movies that I’d genuinely pass out for Halloween as party favors, but “Night of the Demons” is one of them. It’s low key one of the top five Halloween horror movies of all time. It is set on Halloween night, revolves around a disastrous Halloween party and even ends on a completely pointless but fun scene involving razor blades in candy. Kevin Tenney’s horror production is known for being a cheapie production that was constrained to filming in one setting and one setting only. Kevin Tenney is talented enough to where we can barely tell the difference turning the house that the whole movie is set in in to a veritable cauldron of pure terror.
Judy is a virginal young girl whose boyfriend is pressuring her to sleep with him, and figures out if she wants to lose her virginity, as she ventures out for Halloween night. Her friend and local Goth Angela is throwing a private party with her friends at the abandoned haunted Hull House. Within the creaky halls and dusty rooms, Angela and friends accidentally invoke a demonic entity that begins possessing the party goers one by one, and the vicious demons are making a play for virginal Judy for sinister plans.
There’s a lot that Tenney manages to squeeze in to barely ninety minutes, from the establishing of the house, the general concept of the demons that lurk within, a ton of gnarly possession sequences, as well as some fascinating mythology for the demons. Tenney also manages to establish one of the more devious eighties villains with Angela, a demonic snake like monster who delights in tormenting her victims. The cast just do a bang up job here including Amelia Kinkade as the aforementioned Angela, and Linnea Quigley. Quigley really does dive head first in to one of her most iconic roles outside of Trash from “Return of the Living Dead.”
She’s not only self aware and funny, but insanely sexy, to boot. “Night of the Demons” is filled with so many surprises and fun sequences that Tenney stages with raucous chaos. There’s a great dance sequence featuring Kinkade, a bizarre scene involving lipstick, and how can you not love the animated opening sequence? “Night of the Demons” is just a pure party movie, it’s a horror gem sadly overlooked when mentioned in the breath of great Halloween movies.
Since “Night of the Demons” celebrates its 35th Anniversary this year, Scream Factory carries over the same series of supplements as the previous Blu-ray release. However, they include a few new segments and surprises for this 4K UHD edition, all of which are exclusive to the 4K UHD disc. Included on the 4K Disc is an Audio Commentary with director Kevin Tenney and producers Jeff Geoffrey and Walter Josten. The second commentary included has director Tenney talking with actors Cathy Podewell, Hal Havins, Billy Gallo and makeup effects creator Steve Johnson. Finally, the third audio commentary features Tenney chatting with stars Linnea Quigley and Phillip Tanzini and casting director Tedra Gabriel.
The new 4K Exclusive “See you in Hell” is a thirty five minutes interview with writer and producer Joe Augustyn. The new 4K Exclusive “Contortions and Coffins” is an eighteen minutes interview with actor Jill Terashita, and the new 4K Exclusive “The Perfect Punk” is a nine minutes interview with special effects artist Nick Benson. Finally there’s the 4K Exclusive “International Cut” of “Night of the Demons” which clocks in at ninety minutes. This version sadly comes in standard definition on the disc. On the Blu-Ray, there are the aforementioned audio commentaries, the previously released “You’re Invited” a long look at the making of “Night of the Demons.”
The twenty three minutes interview with Amelia Kinkade, and “My Demon Nights” a fourteen minutes interview with the iconic Linnea Quigley. There’s the work print for “Night of the Demons” when it was titled “The Halloween Party,” as well as the four minutes alternate opening title sequence with “The Halloween Party” title. There are the Alternate R Rated scenes, as well as “A Short of Night of the Demons” which is a six minute promo version for distributors. There’s “Allison Barron’s Demon Memories” clocking in at four minutes and wrapping up the final features there is the Promo Reel, a Still Gallery, and vintage trailers for Kevin Tenney’s film.