Hell Night (1981)

Fresh and Exciting

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Very little about the premise makes any sense in this 80s slasher, apart from the fact that it is a perfect setup for a slasher movie. From the beginning it is rather predictable who will survive, so it wasn't as suspenseful in that sense. The dialogue was also sub-standard, and the acting wasn't that great. Despite this, however, the film was great fun and actually quite enjoyable.

.....Then the film has failed in it's goal.Before being able to join Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity and its sister sorority, four students must spend the night in Garth Manor, twelve years to the day after the previous resident murdered his entire family. Some, however, say that one member of the Garth family survived, and still resides somewhere in the now-deserted mansion.....If like me, your a horror fan, and haven't seen this film before, it's a shame, because it's nothing more than a 'stay the night in a haunted house' film. No that it's a bad thing, but so many have been made since, this has nothing to offer, even though it was made before these became more popular.Obviously the selling Point is Blair, still quite fresh from The Exorcist, and for a while, she did try her hand at being a 'Scream Queen', but Laurie Strode had already beat her.So we begin with the big boys of the frat locking the contenders in the house, the boys getting frisky, and Blair brushing of her intended. Because after all, she is dressed as Red Riding Hood, a virtual metaphor for purity and not straying off the path.So the big guys have set up speakers in the house which feature maniacal screams and laughter, until what we all know would happen eventually.It's not scary in the slightest, but at least the deaths are inventive and quite visceral.It's not surprising that it never became as big as other horror films made at the same time, because it's just that little too flat, but it passes the time, and never really gets boring.

College kids (ie: killing fodder) locked in a spooky house where they need to stay as part of their initiation into their fraternities/sororities. Nice premise, now where could they have gone with the story? They could have been presented it as a straight ghost/haunted house flick which they didn't. They could have did it as a whole-hog over-the-top slasher gore fest which they didn't. They could have presented it as a parody which they didn't.What they decided to go with was a TV style, watered down lame excuse for a horror movie. I mean come one, Freddy, Jason and Michael were slashing up the screens in Hollywood during the 1980's and this is the best they could do?There is no suspense build up, the kills are quick and unsatisfying. We all know the elements of good horror/slasher movies. So let's do a recap of what Hell Night had:Scary? - No. Gory kill scenes? - No. Creative death scenes? - No. Suspense? - No. Great last scene where the protagonist has to rise from the brink of death to defeat the killer? - No. Gratuitous nudity? No. Sorry, this movie has none of the usually elements needs for a good horror/slasher film. The action was slow and plodding, you could tell Linda Blair just was there for a paycheck. If you want to see a good horror flick, keep looking as this isn't the one.

Four teens are going to sleep in a manor with terrific stories about it.Yeah,very original for the time.The acting is good,except Linda Blair.I especially liked the Vincent Van Patten performance,and Suki Goodwin is good in her role of bad girl.There isn't much blood and the murders aren't original.The special effects are poor and we didn't see breast and there the scenes in bed are very innocent.The setting is amazing and one of the best settings in the horror story!!I give it a 5 and not a 6 or a 7 because the killer back story isn't clear and that's upsets me.Megamagdaleno's mark:5'2SPOILERSThe favorite kill:Peter,who is cornered and pierced by a scythe.Then,the Peter's flashlight falls into the floor as we hear the killer's grunts