Jill Terashita

(In French, On Cable TV, March 2020) While not the best horror movie of the 1980s, Night of the Demons is in the running for the most representative of the 1980s horror films. A rather charming blend of teenage characters, demonic possession, creepy setting, amusing dark humour, synth soundtrack, violence and nudity, it exemplifies a spirit of fun that’s been hard to recapture since the early 1990s. The story is dirt-simple enough to allow for multiple tangents—a group of teenagers decides to celebrate Halloween in an abandoned mortuary, and you simply won’t believe that there’s a demon just waiting there to possess and kill them all. Having ten teenagers around to have sex and summon the spirits ensures that there’s not only enough cannon fodder to go around, but enough variety to please a variety of favourites, further highlighted by the costumes they choose to wear. (Sure, Cathy Podewell is the designated all-American final girl—but I’m more of a Jill Terashita fan.) Don’t look for deep social themes or personal character growth or any of the niceties of the latest “elevated horror” here—it’s all about gratuitous nudity, gory (but not that gory) deaths, grotesque makeup (whew, that lipstick scene), teenagers foolishly getting into trouble and viewers having a good time. Toning down the gore is a wise choice; the over-the-top demonic possession of Night of the Demons is more fun than the realistic-ish threat of slasher psychos, and the knowing dark comedy from the filmmakers will find a ready audience among horror fans. You know who you are, you wonderful fellow degenerates.