Unseen Terror 2019: Days 11-13

Hey, it was my birthday weekend. I'm not slacking off...yet.

Anyway, let's dive right in. You may notice a trend with the past three days' worth of flicks.

For the day of my actual birth, I made the lazy decision to cheat. That, and I realized several things when deciding on what to include for this year. The first was that every time I've tried to include something from the year 1985 for the eleventh entry of this yearly marathon, my options were becoming a lot more limited. That might have been a glorious year for cinema, but in the realm of horror, I had seen damn near everything of importance. The second thing I noticed was that I had not sat down to watch Lamberto Bava's splatter classic Demons in nearly ten years. Hell, the receipt from when I purchased it was still inside of the case (side note: I apparently purchased Phantasm, Godzilla: Final Wars, and C.H.U.D. during the same transaction). Seeing as how I expected that most of the time during my birthday would either be spent working, having an expensive dinner, or drinking enough to kill an elephant, I felt like a cheat day was earned. It also means that I won't be fully required to write a lengthy explanation as to why you should not only watch Demons, but own it too.


As expected from most Italian horror cinema from yesteryear, Demons' plot is completely bizarre. A number of people receive mysterious invitations to attend an early screening for an unnamed movie. Without giving away too much, the actions of one of the patrons (Geretta Geretta of Shocking Dark fame) and some eerie, surrealistic moments in the feature itself leads to the crowd slowly, but violently turning into psychotic creatures hellbent on nothing but killing and "converting" anyone in their path. That strange premise carries over into the absolute madness that follows, and Lamberto Bava (son of famous Italian filmmaker Mario Bava) directs this wonderfully wacky bloodbath with a very "rock and roll" attitude by adding in as many shocking moments as he can while giving you a feeling that nothing is off limits. If you're a fan of practical effects and gore, especially of the absurd variety, I think it'd be very difficult to hate Demons. The sequences in which one theatergoer's teeth and nails begin to fall out or warp are pretty revolting in the best way possible. These absolutely horrendous moments are usually accompanied or preceded by a rollicking heavy metal-led soundtrack, which features cuts from acts like Saxon, Accept, Motley Crue, and some original compositions by Goblin's Claudio Simonetti. The inclusion of the latter is most likely due to his relationship with producer and coworker Dario Argento, who while primarily known for his giallo works, does seem to lend a hand in helping Demons feel like an otherworldly fever dream at times.


I've always found it difficult to nitpick pictures that I truly love, but I suppose that I should bring up something before I move on: Demons, despite its twisted, fun nature, does have a tendency to not make much sense at times or throw in some stuff that ultimately amounts to nothing. There's a very striking character who gives the audience a vibe that indicates there may be something sinister behind those eyes, but it turns out to be a red herring with no real answer given in the end. I'll also add that the very end of the flick is kind of a middle finger to the audience, but it doesn't detract from the overall experience.


Not sure what else I can add here (plus I do have two more films to cover below). Go watch Demons if you have a strong stomach and/or are in the mood for something fabulously zany. Grabbing a physical copy of this can be a bit of a pain (my DVD from Anchor Bay isn't too expensive though), as the Blu-Ray from Synapse Films is now out of print, and the Blu-Ray from Arrow Video won't work on most players available in the U.S. As luck would have it, streaming service Shudder has both Demons AND Demons 2 available to watch whenever you'd like, so hop on that if you don't feel like spending in the double digits.



Speaking of Demons 2, let's dive right into that one. And much like my review for Halloween 5, there may be a small amount of spoilers here if you haven't seen the prior picture.

Following the surprising success at the Italian box office (fun fact: Demons outgrossed A Nightmare on Elm Street that year in Italy), filming began on Demons 2 only seven months after the first flick's theatrical release. Striking while the iron is hot wasn't entirely surprising, but this is both the sequel's strength and weakness, because while not lacking in the areas which made the first picture so beloved, its flaws are a bit more glaring by the time the film is coming to a close. This time around, the story seems to indicate that the events of the first Demons were possibly fictionalized, as there are several occasions where characters are watching portions of it on television. During a party in an apartment building, a young woman named Sally is transfixed by footage of the movie, and it leads to a demon emerging from a television set to attack and transform her into one of them. Afterwards, she proceeds to slaughter and infect partygoers and we ostensibly get most of what we saw in the first Demons: people getting torn apart, weird shenanigans, gruesome transformation sequences, a rock-inspired soundtrack (this time primarily comprised of post-punk and gothic rock bands like The Cult, Fields of the Nephilim, Gene Loves Jezebel, and the Smiths), and a LOT of gore.


Watching Demons 2 made me realize something that perhaps I pushed aside too often in regards to the first film: the characters are, for the most part, pretty vanilla in both of these pictures. Actor Bobby Rhodes is arguably the best performer in both pieces (playing a different character in each movie), and he is such a glorified scene stealer that you can't help but smile every time he pops up on screen. I'm sure that transitioning from a smooth pimp to a gym instructor certainly takes some talent, and even if he's dubbed over, he's so naturally charismatic that it makes you sad he never became a bigger star outside of his native country. As for the rest of the cast though, they're a real mixed bag. A very young Asia Argento makes her acting debut here, but she serves no purpose and her inclusion feels more like nepotism on the part of her father serving yet again as producer and cowriter. Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni on the other hand is pretty dang great as unofficial demon leader Sally, and I look forward to seeing her pop up on here again should I ever get around to watching Dario Argento's Opera. Those three performers are about the only ones worth mentioning for this sequel, because the rest feel just like corpses with an expiration date that's coming sooner than later or underdeveloped protagonists.


Though it does feel like a cash grab and makes even less sense than the first film, Demons 2 is also fairly entertaining and watchable, if only for the gore alone. These two Lamberto Bava films could make for an ideal combination to put on in the background at a party (depending on how long you want it to last). As I stated above, this is also available for streaming on Shudder, though unlike its predecessor, a Blu-Ray seems to be easier to obtain this time around. I've heard very good things about Synapse's release of this piece, but I'm not willing to spend much on this one....for now.




Now, I'm well aware that Demons and Demons 2 were originally conceived to be part of a trilogy by producer Dario Argento, but the writer/director for the third entry felt that such a film should be treated with more respect and of higher quality. Ultimately, a trilogy never came about, and we ended up with 1989's cult favorite The Church.



I am not going to be reviewing The Church. That film will make its way onto the marathon some other time.



Instead, I had to stick with the word of the day and ventured into the realm of horror remakes that you and I most likely forgot existed.

I've reviewed all three of the Night of the Demons films over the course of several Unseen Terror marathons (links here, here, and here), and though I do share an affinity for all of them in some sort of capacity, I would never exactly call the franchise sacred or untouchable. Angela might be a very underrated horror villain, but she isn't Freddy Krueger or even Pamela Voorhees. So when I was reminded of this film's existence, I felt like there was some sort of moral obligation to add it to my queue. And as it turns out, the 2009 remake of Night of the Demons is.....serviceable?


Plot-wise most of this remake stays faithful to the original. A bunch of youngsters.....erm, youngish people.....alright fuck it, human beings decide to attend a Halloween party thrown by the boisterous and strange Angela Feld, who has rented out a seemingly haunted house with a dark history behind it. Police eventually arrive and break up the rather loud gathering, but after everyone disperses, a small group reenter the house to find one friend who has passed out. One of the guests, a drug dealer named Colin, needs help finding something that he left behind, so he and Angela make their way into the basement. While perusing, they stumble across a group of skeletons, with one seemingly biting Angela when she attempts to remove a gold tooth from its mouth. Thinking nothing of it, they head back upstairs, but Angela begins to feel rather groggy, and things eventually take a turn for the worse.


One thing the remake of Night of the Demons does surprisingly well is satisfying your taste for blood. Though some of the kills are littered with lackluster CGI and peppered with stock "demon" sound effects, they are undeniably creative. There's a glorious face-ripping sequence which follows a seductive dance set to Type O Negative (this film's version of the Bauhaus scene from the 1988 picture), and they somehow manage to outdo the original's infamous "lipstick" scene by adding in a truly bizarre twist. The designs of the monsters themselves are also fairly well crafted with every single one of them having a different look. They also had the common sense to cast Linnea Quigley for a small cameo, and even give her the dress that she wore back in 1988. Kudos guys.


The negatives can't be ignored however, and they unfortunately bring down the overall fun factor. Considering all of the adoration I have for the 1988 original, this also suffers from the same problem of becoming quite stagnant after things die down for a minute or two. The third act of original series director Kevin Tenney's movie felt stretched out and there were periods where seemingly nothing happened other than people running around and freaking out while demons threatened them from hundreds of feet away. They try to sprinkle in some backstory of why these demons are doing what they do to keep things interesting this around, but it just leaves you kind of bored and waiting for things to get exciting again. It's also kind of a shame that some of this cast just isn't powerful enough to carry weak material or liven things up when it's sorely needed. Edward Furlong of Terminator 2 fame (who, and I'm gonna be eloquent, looks like total garbage here) seems to be barely awake throughout the film's running time and American Pie's Shannon Elizabeth is criminally underutilized considering that she seems to be relishing playing a villain for once. Major props have to be given to the casting director on nabbing Monica Keena for the lead role though. I've always felt like she was a very underrated final girl. Hell, she's survived both Jason Voorhees AND Freddy Krueger for crying out loud! Still, as solid as she is, she never gets a chance to shine or do anything of note until the final ten minutes of the movie. Boo. This version of Night also sports a very cheap "Redbox" look to it, with some of the accompanying audio effects and poor editing not exactly helping to dispel that argument.


Though nowhere nearly as terrible as its reputation may be (and that 4.7 rating on imdb is unnecessarily brutal), I don't expect to be revisiting the Night of the Demons remake within the near future unless someone asks me to. I do feel rather bad knowing that it bombed TERRIBLY (failing to make even a tenth of its budget back), so if you're still curious or just want to see some blood and boobs like the average horny horror fan, you can snag a copy on Blu-Ray or rent it through Amazon Prime for a few bucks.



Tomorrow, I'm taking a break from my demons (hyuk hyuk) and diving into some Blu-Ray action from back in the day!

Unseen Terror 2015: Day 13

Several years have passed since the slaughter at a boarding school that left many students dead, with the perpetrators purported to be demonic creatures possessing the bodies of the living. Regardless, policemen are now asked to be on watch at the spooky abode, in case anything truly horrible does indeed exist inside of the property. During one Halloween night, a large group of teenagers on the way to a party decide to stop at a gas station, but after an incident involving an attempt to illegally purchase alcohol goes south rather fast, the gang finds themselves forced to find shelter from the law. Thinking that nobody would dare to search for them at the infamous Hull House, they pull in for the evening, but all it takes is one small mistake to reawaken noted devilish being Angela, and the band of people will discover that the cops are the least of their problems tonight.



Quite a few days ago, I somehow gave a passing grade to 1994's Night Of The Demons 2. It was far from what you could call a good movie, though perhaps its primary antagonist and occasional cooky moment (its opening comes to mind) kept me from being completely disappointed. Ultimately, I didn't regret spending my time watching it, but I felt like it just lacked a certain amount of charm that the 1988 flick had. So, after hearing that original Night madmen Kevin S. Tenney and his brother Dennis were returning to the fold as writer and composer, I thought that there was perhaps a glimmer of hope left for a decent sequel.


Then I remembered that both men's previous work came from yesterday's godawful Pinocchio's Revenge. And I sighed. Then cringed. Then sighed again. This could be either a redemption story or another trip down the fecal waterslide.


One sin that Night Of The Demons 3 commits right out of the gate is the liberal reuse of multiple shots and scenes from the original film, a trait and fact that I failed to mention in my review for the previous installment. Yes, I'm aware that my own problem with this is hypocritical considering that I own (and enjoy) movies like Godzilla On Monster Island, and there have even been entire pictures released that were composed of nearly nothing BUT stock footage (1961's Valley Of The Dragons is a prime example). Still, this is no excuse for a movie series that started out with such promise and is brazenly taking from its own nearly ten-year-old predecessor. And speaking of its forefather, the question of how Angela (played once again by future pet psychic Amelia Kinkade) is even alive after violently perishing in movies one and two is never answered. For that matter, as small as the town is that claims Hull House as its own, you would think that perhaps more people, be they officers, civilians, or even paranormal agents, would be wise to Angela's wrongdoings and the establishment's supposed connection to the gates of hell. Eh, maybe I'm looking into this a little too much.


If there can be any semblance of praise that I can give this particular motion picture, it's that it was nice to hear a remix/more bombast version of the theme heard from the first film. There's also one Ms. Kinkade, who despite working with some incredibly dull actors and actresses around her (Christian Tesser of Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and Kris Holden-Ried of The Tudors should probably try and erase this from their resumes), seems to be in good spirits throughout its ninety minute running time. Unfortunately, this time around she isn't given much in the way of interesting things to do (save for one oddly arousing, yet funny scene that I'm way too happy to post below this review), and even her choice for an "erotic" dance sequence in here is disappointing. Seriously, how does one go from Bauhaus and Morbid Angel to what sounds like a bad outtake from the 1990s-era of U2? Makeup-wise, most of the scenes of Angela and her minions in their demonic forms just look flat-out cheap, which might also explain why they chose to rehash so much of O.G. Night's spots. There's also the wonderful use of CGI, which outside of some of the works from James Cameron and the like, was still in that dreaded feeling out phase. If you thought that some of the computer effects in television programs like Reboot and movies like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation looked bad, well....they're still worse than this, but not by much.


For reasons unknown to me, Night Of The Demons was retitled and released as Demon House over in the United Kingdom. I can't track down a logical explanation from Kevin Tenney as to why this choice was made, but I would assume it was because they thought that there was more potential for extra money to be made by fooling a small chunk of its audience. Or perhaps the previous entries never saw great distribution overseas, flopping and killing any hopes for them to catch a glimpse of this (supposedly) final chapter? In the end, it doesn't matter a great deal since the finished product is such an underwhelming effort in a series that probably should have never been one to begin with. Tracking down a copy of this on VHS or DVD is akin to one's attempt to find cryptozoological creatures. It will cost you more than one person with employment should ever spend on something niche, and will likely leave you disappointed with the end results. Then again, at least there is scientific proof of this film's existence.



Oh yeah, I promised to post that one sequence, didn't I? Well, there's no real gentlemanly way to set up this gem. Enjoy, but keep it down if you're at work.

God I love you Amelia Kinkade, even if you're kind of nuts.




Tomorrow, we may or may not be taking a quick detour from cinema. But fret not! 1998's entry may actually be a nice, and potentially coincidental, trip down memory lane...

Unseen Terror 2015: Day 10

Six years have passed since the horrific massacre at Hull House that left multiple partying teenagers dead, and save for initial organizer Angela Franklin, authorities have recovered all of the bodies. Still, the rumor persists that Angela inhabits the abode, her soul having descended to hell and returned as a demonic entity. On the other end of town, the youngest of the Franklin children, Melissa, is staying at a Catholic boarding school, having been orphaned following her parents' suicide after her sister's disappearance. Despite having multiple nightmares about her sibling, Melissa is coerced by her more vibrant, and occasionally mean schoolmates into sneaking out and attending a Halloween party at the abandoned residence. Before long, the servant of satan resurfaces, expressing her intentions to leave and rejoin the land of the living, no matter what.



Two years ago, I was lucky enough to watch the beloved 1988 horror-comedy classic Night Of The Demons. In fact, should you have some extra free time, you can read my thoughts here. Without spoiling too much, I can safely say that it still stands as one of my favorite discoveries from doing this yearly tradition, and my gorgeous t-shirt from horror apparel fanatics Fright-Rags should be proof of that. Truth be told, had I gone back on my plan to watch the entire Leprechaun franchise (which indeed seems to be a reality), both sequels were on board as alternate picks for 1994 and 1997. Well, seeing as how I can only stand Warwick Davis spouting morbid limericks for so long, the final decision to take a look at the hideous demon Angela's return from hades was made.


And oh Angela, Angela, Angela. I could go on for days about much I love Amelia Kinkade as an actress, though it would most likely bore every single person who isn't well-versed in the field of scary movies. You can tell that she just relishes playing the antagonist of this series, combining camp, seductiveness, and idiosyncrasy better than most people would give her credit for. Heck, she even makes it a habit to dance to an obscure song choice for no reason other than to captivate you and get you spreading the gospel of Night Of The Demons (for #1, it was Bauhaus. For #2, it's Morbid Angel). It is a bit depressing to hear that she's distanced herself from these pictures over the years (mostly due to thinking that there's too much negativity in the world as it is), but at least she didn't go too crazy and become a pet psychic or something.

.......I have to learn to keep my mouth shut.


Anyways, despite being the face of this franchise, Kinkade isn't the main focus of any installment. Unfortunately, I believe that this is what sinks this particular sequel, leaving you wondering as to who was who (save for a younger Christine Taylor of Dodgeball and Zoolander fame), even when the body count starts to rise. Yes, most of the female cast sheds articles of clothing at a shockingly high rate, and Jennifer Rhodes portrays possibly the coolest nun in the history of horror cinema, but the rest of the cast is just so unbelievably bland (and look far older than any teenager you'll ever see), it makes the occasionally one-dimensional cast of the original flick look fleshed out in comparison. When they finally get a time to shine, attempting to show some personality, sixty minutes have passed, and they require the assistance of tools such as water balloons filled with holy water (something reused for From Dusk Till Dawn) in order to get over with the audience. Don't get me wrong, it leads to some funny moments and fun kills, but it felt a little cheap.


I could have predicted this even before writing anything down, but once I left the 1980s portion of Unseen Terror's "Dirty Thirty" iteration, the thought entered my mind that my choice in horror films this year was going to eventually hit a large, noticeable snag. Thankfully, Night Of The Demons 2 just barely scrapes by as a good enough time for when you have some spare time to kill. Had it not been for the niece of Rue McClanahan-turned-crazy animal lady and the final third of the motion picture, I don't know if I would have been so kind to this sequel. Still, if you have some extra cash lying around, it is available to rent on Amazon Prime for about $2.99, and can be purchased online from select retailers for assorted prices, though the Blu-Ray may be harder to obtain these days that it should be.


Tomorrow, good ol' Clint Howard makes a return to Unseen Terror, and it may be his most infamous appearance to date...

Unseen Terror 2013: Day 13

On Halloween night, an assortment of teenagers are invited to a party at the abandoned mortuary known as Hull House by high school outcast Angela Franklin and her friend Suzanne. Things are going rather well, until the power dies, and in order to kill time, the group decide to hold a seance. They unknowingly unleash a demonic entity from the house's crematorium, which possesses Suzanne, and eventually Angela herself. Naturally, things start to slowly go wrong, and the group finds themselves slowly being picked off one by one on the night where evil is allowed to run amok with no rules.


I can always rely on the 80s to bring me out of the funk that a barrage of bad killer creature features put me in. Well, okay, Grizzly wasn't really that bad of a picture compared to what was to come, but those fishies in the coming days sure did stink to high hell. Anyhow, for something that was mostly thrashed upon release back in 1988, Kevin S. Tenney's Night of the Demons has amassed a nice cult following (and two sequels he has nothing to do with) throughout the years, and I'm happy to finally have gotten around to seeing it. This has been on my "to watch" list for the past two years, but for various reasons never quite made it on (it doesn't help that Amazon.com has the DVD sale price listing at above fifty dollars).


The opening credits automatically gives me hope with a great synthesizer theme, an animated sequence, and the words "Linnea Quigley" being flashed at me. Night's cast of characters are pretty much your typical cast of horror cliches, but they are fairly easy to identify. There's the greaser, the fat guy who looks like one of the Nasty Boys from the WWF, the Asian girl, the black guy, Linnea Quigley (easy to identify since she does love to get naked), and future pet psychic Amelia Kinkade as Angela Franklin, the demonically-possessed villain of the film, among others. Outside of being Rue McClanahan's (The Golden Girls) niece, I think it's a shame that Kinkade doesn't seem to have much else on her resume acting-wise beside these pictures. She's got a certain kooky charm that we can never have too much of this field, and her now-infamous scene of dancing to "Bauhaus-Stigmata Martyr" is so odd, yet kind of enchanting, it really makes you wonder why she indeed didn't get (or at least take) any more offers beyond these projects. This might be one of the reasons as to why I'm so hesitant to watch the remake that came about in 2009, as I just don't think I can buy Shannon Elizabeth in a role like this. As for the aforementioned Quigley, she gets just as much time as Kinkade does, and I'd argue that the film is just as much about her as it is about Angela, but subsequent sequels don't seem to believe so. As time goes by, their "conditions" seem to worsen, and they play it up rather casually, which works well in a case such as this, since possession is usually much more subtle, but in several scenes involving Quigley and her lipstick, you'll end up raising your eyebrows a bit here and there.


Now, I don't want to make this sound like a perfect film by any means, because it certainly is anything but. While the slow build towards any first sign of blood is acceptable to me (I clocked it at fifty minutes), some gorehounds might get a little frustrated and cry foul. The plot is also not the most original either, sharing a lot of similarities to Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, but this was the 1980s, so it may seem customary for this be a common occurrence. Night of the Demons' final third also stretches itself out for quite a long time, which isn't necessarily bad, but you get the sense that writer Joe Augustyn just probably ran out of gas after a certain point and didn't want the film to be under ninety minutes, so he decided it would be best for the survivors to decide to explore and run around instead of doing anything more remotely interesting, like say, fighting. Angela's puns aren't exactly subtle either, making Freddy Krueger's look smooth. Still, as you can see from the poster above, he wasn't even invited to this party, so to that, I will quote the man from this film simply named "Stooge:"

Hey, I just needed an excuse to talk about how awesome that line was.


I believe Night of the Demons could work very well on a double bill with something like Return of the Living Dead (and not just because both films star Linnea Quigley). Both pictures have a very "rock and roll" vibe to them, as they've both been injected with songs from the punk and metal subgenres (and in the case of this film, assorted band stickers ranging from Exodus to TSOL can be seen in various scenes), don't take themselves too seriously, and are here to subtly remind you to have some fun once in a while. Plus, this picture ties in with the holiday of Halloween itself, which was a nice element that I legitimately didn't expect, but was a very pleasant surprise that only enhanced the good time. A solid recommendation.



Tomorrow, the women are still out for blood with AMERICAN MARY!