Night of the Demons III (1997)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Weak followup to NOTD2, with Angela back for one more go-round, this time versus a bunch of young punks who rob a store and shoot a cop. They take refuge at Hull House, which they will soon learn to regret. Some decent nudity, sexy situations and actually more special effects than in the first two flicks combined, but weak on everything else. I am glad Mimi Kincaide got to play Angela in all three movies, even though she was getting noticeably older and heftier by the time this second sequel was made. I imagine the filmmakers must have been very tired of the franchise by this point, and it shows. Not a scare to be had.

Few things are more depressing when it comes to movie sequels to see the series come to such a poor end. Another B-Horror series that comes to mind is Subspecies. The first four films of that series (including Vampire Journals) were all beautifully executed with substantial budgets, rich photography, and wonderful scenery. Then Subspecies IV came to "close" the series with a god-awful, hideous looking film with a severe lack of production values. Night of the Demons 3 is a nearly identical case.Night of the Demons 1 & 2 are classic B-horror films. The first film had all the ingredients of a perfect Halloween fright film. What part 2 lacked in tension and scares of the first, it made up for in wonderful photography, rich production, a larger scale story, and the classic fun feel of the first. Night of the Demons 3, sadly, fails in many ways.It might be correct to attribute the film's failings to the severe lack of budget. The values seem to be merely a fraction of the previous movies. The script and dialog are very reminiscent of parts 1 and 2; ridiculous and over the top insults peppered with childish vulgarity: check! Crazy camera angles and cheap nudity shots: check! Surreal/sexual WTF moments: CHECK! But, sadly, it all falls flat and lacks the charm present in the other films.It's apparent that Kevin Tenny authored this, the story has the same feel as the first film. This time, unlike part 2, there are some would-be creepy moments and tension. The end of the film has a real sense of closure, but the viewer will protest that such a poor film would be the final piece.I really did like the story to this one. It saddens me to think of what this movie could have been; given the right budget and production values. Sadly, it's a very, very pale shadow of what should have been a classic B-horror trilogy.

"Night of the Demons 3" is a serviceable entry in the series with a lot to like about it.**SPOILERS**Traveling to a party, Nick, (Gregory Calpakis) Lois, (Tara Sloane) Reggie, (Joel Gordon) Vince, (Kristen Holden-Ried) and Orson, (Christian Tessier) come across Abbie, (Patricia Rodriguez) and her friend Holly, (Stephanie Bauder) stranded on the side of the road. After a trip to a liquor store goes horribly wrong, they all head out and try to hide out from the situation. When they come across a house in the middle of nowhere, they realize it's the infamous Hull House, but ignore the warnings about it being haunted and stay there anyway. Coming upon Angela Franklin, (Amelia Kinkade) who lives in the house, they decide to come up with a way to escape. When they realize that they're being killed off one-by-one, their plan to escape gets even more desperate as the demons try to prevent it from happening.The Good News: This one here actually wasn't all that bad at all. The film's best point, like all the other entries in the series, is that the special effects here drive the film. From the rather fun and interesting looking demons, which here still have the distorted faces, large red eyes, fang-lined mouths and demonic-scales all over them which manage to impart them with a fantastic look, to how the humans and demons are killed to the powers that they demonstrate to terrorize the others around them, there's plenty of special effects in here which look really great. There's a great scene where they all change into the various versions of their past lives, complete with the bloody wounds that were inflicted before their death yet transformed into the demon make-up and it's overall a great scene. The kills in here are just as memorable, with there being a hand punched through a chest and pulling a heart out, a police badge thrown into the face, having a chest scratched up, a forked tongue shoved into the mouth and explodes out the back of the head and having a car run over them, among others. There's also the demon's deaths, which are again accomplished with the usual holy-water-that-melts-the-skin technique that really produces some messy scenes. The confrontations with the demons in here are also really great, and the last-half hour of the film is just really great as there's just a never-ending series of confrontations and chases through the house. From the Satan-masked demon that chases them through the different levels to the main one from down in the basement up into the main part of the house and out into the front yard where there's the great demonic confrontation, it has a whole lot of great parts that are just plain fun. The last best part of the film, though, is that there's plenty of nice cheese in here. From the action to the make-up to the really nice nudity and the romantic scene in the middle of the chase, it feels really cheesy and definitely a lot of fun. These here are all that make the film really enjoyable.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot to this one that doesn't work. The robbery angle here is the main thing which doesn't make much sense at all. This is completely handled the wrong way, since it puts every single one of them in danger from the police, based on what they find on the surveillance tape yet at the end the survivors are told that there's no evidence of them being on it. This indicates that they had seen it, yet the actions that would've been caught by those who were on it don't deserve the police following them, and yet the film throws in the segments with them doing all the wrong things to make it go on, which is really the biggest part of it all. The film's rather large cheese factor is something else here, but the misstep over the cop angle here is the biggest problem.The Final Verdict: A really enjoyable and impressive entry, if just not up to the level of the other entries yet still being good on it's own. If you've liked the others then there's nothing that should stop a viewing, and those who enjoy these kinds of films should as well, while those who aren't big fans should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity and Graphic Language

The first in the trilogy was good. The second was very good. This is just bad.The plot has to do with Angela looking for more victims. A group of desperate teenagers obliges. However, they are truly unlikable. We need to have someone to cheer for, but we don't care if any of the characters survive.The effects are good enough as is the direction. But the characters and the plot are lacking. How could they have screwed up such a good thing? Best to watch the first two and skip this one.The only redeeming part of this movie was recognizing one of the actresses and trying to figure out who she was. A fun game, but not worth an hour and a half of your time. (If you're curious, Tara Slone is a Canadian singer.) There! I gave it away. Now go watch Part 1, then Part 2, then Part 2 again and call that the trilogy.