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...
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