I only discovered after watching Night of the Demons (2009) that it was a remake. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and I had a spare moment to watch the 1988 original. It’s still kind of a bad movie, but it is scarier than the remake. It’s also a horror comedy, but the emphasis is a bit more on the horror here. A group of ten high schoolers go to Hull House, which used to be a funeral home, for a Halloween party. When the power goes out they decide to have a séance. Unbeknownst to them, however, there is a real resident demon. This demon gets passed on through kissing, and it animates the kids who’ve been killed along the way. Although the final girl is pretty clear from the beginning, in a usual twist the only surviving guy is African-American, the son of a preacher.
The concept of demons here is explained as entities that were never human. This is the explanation Ed and Lorraine Warren used, often without making reference to fallen angels. Since the demons are using the physical bodies of the kids, they can be stopped by locked doors, but killing them doesn’t really help, since they keep coming back. It seems that there’s really just one actual demon, a dragon-headed entity that lives in the crematorium. Rodger, the Black man, brings the element of religion to the story. He objects to the séance in the first place, and suggests that they pray as he and Judy, the final girl, are attempting to escape.
In-between all this is sandwiched the gore and violence that make it pretty typical horror. The humor involved, however, makes it less intense than a typical slasher. Although I didn’t walk away thinking this would be a favorite movie, I could see why it’s garnered a cult following. As is often the case, the original is better than the remake. For one thing, it understands that religion seasons horror quite well. Demons are, by definition, religious monsters, at least traditionally. And the two “good kids” who survive are uncomfortable with messing with spiritual forces to begin with. Judy just wants to go to the dance, after all. The movie went on into sequels as its cult fandom grew. If I ever do a sequel to Nightmares with the Bible I’ll need to include this franchise, I guess. For a sleepy weekend afternoon, there are worse bad movies to watch.
