Night of the Demon (1958)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I like Dana Andrews. Then, I like these type of pictures where there are ancient writings, curses and things we don't understand so we mock and dismiss them until they come a calling. Well that is what happens here. All investigators for the paranormal start out as skeptics until they have an experience they cannot explain. Here, you can explain it and be glad about it as it applies to you unless it wants to know you better. The Demon does a great job of scare-doom tactics and doesn't bother anyone until it is summoned usually for bad reasons. What I find interesting that you have a set of rules under which it comes and if not followed can backfire and if followed someone ends up having a real bad day. This movie covers that and more too. It moves at a steady pace and yes there is a pesky woman, séances, warnings and for 1957, this was to be part of a double feature. Watch this because it is a....

Curse of the Demon ( aka Night of the Demon, which was released in the UK ) is an under-the-radar horror film but definitely not to be overlooked. Starring Dana Andrews,an underrated actor, as Prof. John Holden, who travels to England to attend a parapsychology symposium and to expose a devil-worship group led by Dr. Julian Karswell (played by Niall MacGinnis, who also played Zeus in Jason and the Argonauts). Dr. Karswell tries unsuccessfully to get Prof. Holden to desist, and subsequently invokes an ancient curse upon Holden, where in two weeks time he will fall victim to a horrible death at the hands of a frightening fire demon. Fear of the unknown is the central theme of this film, and is masterfully employed by director Jacques Tourneur. Tourneur builds upon Holden's impending doom throughout the film and slowly Holden's skepticism turns to anxiety of his fate. The film is well-acted by Andrews and MacGinnis primarily and the terror builds as the film progresses. This film would be an excellent candidate for a remake with today's special effects and CGI. One of the better horror flicks of the fear-laden 50s.

Night Of The Demon its a British films that deals with subjects such as witchery, satanism, skepticism and more, the film relies on suspense and its chilling atmosphere rather than having a monster killing people , actually the monster appears at the very beginning, many people say that they showed it too early, but I think that it makes the movie better, because for the rest of the film you are waiting for him to appear at the final act and the payoff its great.The movie its actually very chilling at some points, I am not scared of any movie but this one make me cringe a bit at the very end, when the demon looks kinda of real for a second.The film says a lot about superstitions and skepticism, subjects I found to be very interesting.Overall, the film works at many levels, it shows the monster at the beginning but it actually uses that to its benefit, the characters are very likable, the acting its great and the effects are great too.Definitely recommended.

Fascinated with his magical abilities, a man's investigation into a performer's past leads to a world of the occult and the supernatural, eventually leading to the discovery that a strange monster is on the loose looking for him and his only chance to escape lies in the strange man he's investigating.This one was one of the better examples of the style around. What really makes for such a good time here is the actual build-up of mythical powers he displays, which are not only quite fun but also certainly worth of such a great powerful villain. The early build-up here comes along at its best with the confrontations in the library where the first threats are uncovered, the disclosure of the previous knowledge in the meetings between the two before the actual events began and the continual drops of knowledge here that he knows more than he lets on in the meeting at his house where he conjures the storm to fully expose his powers and interests quite clearly which are not only the really overt display of powers but also makes for a chilling setup for the enjoyably chilling story here. Not just being great scenes but furthering the death-curse enabled by the practitioner makes for an even better time here as there's a solid foundation of action scenes throughout here, from the opening scene here of the demon appearing from the smoke-screen and fire effects chasing after the guy through the woods, the demon-cat attack in his personal library and the absolutely startling attack at the end where the train-car scenes bring about the full extent of his new-found knowledge which is then turned around on the practitioner as he chases the parchment into the foggy night where the reappearing demon begins the big chase and eventual appearance that makes for a really grand and exciting scene which gives this some really exciting and fun sequences. The fact that there's a lot going on here gives this part of a lot of great parts within here as there's a ton to like here with that, and coupled with the effective and chilling monster creation which is truly haunting and chilling to be completely worthy of the fear it instills in others all gives this one a lot to overcome the few minor flaws on display. The biggest one here is the fact that the skeptical disbeliever angle employed here that has to undergo such an extreme amount of activity against him he cannot disprove rationally that at the end he has to believe in the story is such a tired cliché that really recycling it is such a cop-out rather than anything really interesting to the story as a whole. There's so much thrown in here that he should've been a believer long before, and some tension in how to defeat the curse with how much occult knowledge he has would've been quite fun here. The only other small flaw here is the unnecessarily long and pointless scenes in the conference where they go back-and-forth for several minutes with the hypnotized guest which just makes no sense at all by confusing what is already known and merely wasting time before leading to the grand climax. These here are all that's wrong here.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.