Night of the Demons 2010

Seems as though the new Night of the Demons is making the rounds amongst the horror blogging community right now, and I watched it recently so I may as well throw in my 2 cents. Even though the Batcave isn't strictly a horror blog, I know there are so many of you out there whose movie watching hinges solely upon my recommendations and/or condemnation (which is totally a word, I looked it up).

I have to be honest, I think I've seen the original Night of the Demons once, maybe twice in my life. My absolute favorite of the series has always been NotD2, I've seen it numerous times. So as to how closely this new one follows the general plotline of the original, I can't honestly say one way or the other, though judging from what I've read, it is similar in setup only. My one and only intention with this film was to have fun for about 90 minutes, and watch Shannon Elizabeth simulate fellation on a champagne bottle. In both of those regards, this film is a resounding success.

Night of the Demons isn't going to do much to challenge your meager intelligence. It's pretty much a Halloween flick, that should probably only be watched around that time of year for maximum enjoyment. The plot is pretty paint by numbers, Angela (Shannon Elizabeth) has rented a mansion where years ago a seance was held, and 6 people were murdered, to throw the mother of all Halloween parties. Not long into it, the cops show up and party goers flee the scene, save for, you guessed it, 6 people who stumble upon the bodies of the 6 people murdered there before, unleashing the demonic curse that turns them one by one into horny hellraisers. Once all 6 are turned, the demons can escape the mansion and wreak havoc on the rest of us.

First off, let me say that Angela's was my kind of party, with my kind of people. If it were an actual real event, I would've been the first in line to get in. I had a lot of fun with this movie, it's light on scares and heavy on creature make-up and gore, there are quite a few laughs, and nobody involved seemed to be trying to make it anymore than what it was, a Halloween flick for people who love Halloween. The cast is pretty forgettable performance-wise, but there are lots of recognizable faces. I've already mentioned Shannon Elizabeth, who is starting to show her age a bit in this one, but Diora Baird (TCM the Beginning, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days), Edward Furlong (T2, Brainscan, lots of things that sucked), and Monica Keena (Freddy vs Jason) also round out the cast of people that I had seen before in other things. Also look for super cool cameo appearances from scream queens Linnea Quigley and Tiffany Shepis.

I know I sound like a broken record in all these reviews, but again, this one it what it is. In the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty awful movie. It's light in tone, substance, and pretty much all other redeeming factors when it comes to cinema. But Night of the Demons certainly plays to a specific audience, and that audience will likely have a blast watching it in a room full of like-minded individuals. Alcohol may or may not need to be present in order to enhance the fun. As for you elitist horror snobs, people who can't just sit down, turn your brain off, and have fun with a movie, there's nothing for you to see here, move along.