Night of the Demon - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

Ok, this one took me several attempts, stops and rewinds.  Maybe I've got terrible concentration today and I'm very aware this is a late one from me, or maybe it was just that mind numbingly dull.  Sadly since anyone I know who has seen this movie seems to have enjoyed it, it seems it's my own personal taste this time.  So why didn't I enjoy it?



The basic premise of the movie surrounds the threatened exposure of a satanic cult, led by the enigmatic Dr Karswell.  The original investigator, Professor Harrington, threatens to do just that but promises to stop all investigation if everything involving the cult stops.  So soon in the movie, we have our first death.  That of Dr Karswell as he crashes into a telegraph pole and is electrocuted by fallen lines.  This happens whilst he was fleeing from none other than a demon.  I have to add that the demon is something that could have appeared at a child party and not caused much of a furore.  Oddly enough, to start with, the demon is shown in the distance as an almost silhouette, surrounded by a bright light.  This vision works and looks pretty good for the 50's, but sadly they had to bring him right to the forground, causing much mirth (which I'm sure was not the intended reaction for the scene in question).


So, I've already said the demon was pretty shabby, but worse than that... why show him at all?  Surely it would have made more sense to keep the viewer in the dark and guessing for the entire movie.  Instead we know whats what right from the start of the movie, which was a major boo boo in my opinion.  I found it very difficult to maintain an interest for the rest of the movie.

Exit Professor Harrignton and enter Dr Holden, his colleague.  The investigation passes to the reluctant and supernatural cynic Dr Holden, although his interest lies in discovering what happened to his colleague.  In the course of his investigation, Dr Holden meets Dr Karswell, who offers to allow him to read his copy of a book which appears to be missing from the museum library.  On this meeting, a curse is placed on him, stating he will die in just 3 days time.

The rest of the movie follows Dr Holdens attempts to discover if there really is a curse (which we know there is, thanks to the first scene in the movie), dispel his cynicism and out smart Karswell to save his life.

On paper this movie read quite well and the ending was kind of cool, but most of the movie to me was too dull to 'get into'.  It took too much concentration, straining to hear every word in a horrid clipped tongue and of course staying awake.  This may be a great movie, but if it is, it should have concentrated on leaving out most of the padding, needless script and got down to business.  Avoid!