Night of the Demon (1957)
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins & Niall MacGinnis
Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
Rating: ★½
Another horror film from the vault of ‘classic’ cinema, considered one of the most ‘terrifying’, is Night of the Demon. You may not have heard of it, since it isn’t as famous as my other three Golden Oldie horror films, and there is probably a reason why. This ‘quaint’ British horror film is low on scares, devoid of tension, and empty of any real frights.
In fact, just like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it is perhaps just as famous for its troubled production history as its central monster, but unfortunately, just like The Haunting, it’s also pretty weak.
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| A film in which being a skeptic results in your horrific death by a giant fire demon... |
An adaptation of M.R. James’ story Casting the Runes, the movie is about American psychologist John Holden (Andrews) visiting England to discover what happened to his colleague, Professor Harrington, who has died under mysterious circumstances. Actually, they aren’t mysterious, because the movie opens with a huge demonic fire monster appearing in the sky and pushing the Professor into a power line.
Anyhoo, Holden bumps into the Professor’s niece Joanna (Cummins) and Dr Karswell (MacGinnis), the leader of a satanic cult. Dr Karswell is a bit of a shit really, as he is the one who placed a runic curse on the Professor because he dared say that the supernatural didn’t exist. I’m pretty sure that this is definitely not a justification for murder, but he certainly proved his point. Unfortunately for our hero Holden, who is also a sceptic, Dr Karswell places the exact same curse on him for the exact same reason, and pretty soon strange supernatural things begin to happen to him too, such as a tornado in the middle of the English countryside.
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| You should be worried Holden, because Dr Karswell means business... |
In the end it all comes down to a piece of parchment, and Holden must give this to someone else, without them knowing, to remove the curse from himself and shift it onto them. I wonder who that is? Regardless of the obvious (but thoroughly satisfying) conclusion, this leads us into the best part of the entire film- when the demon comes out of the sky for the second time and kicks the crap out of the evil doctor. He completely deserves it, and it serves him right for meddling with forces of evil and for cursing people to die for disagreeing with him.
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| Karswell's cat turns into a Jaguar or something at some point. It's pretty silly... |
Martin Scorsese ranked Night of the Demon as the 9thscariest film of all time, but trust me when I say that it isn’t scary. And no offense to the great Scorsese, but he ranked The Haunting as the scariest film of all time- so he clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to horror movies. The ‘set up’ is interesting, but the film is awkwardly slow paced and painfully dull, even after we’ve seen the horrific fire monster demon in the first five minutes.
And speaking of the titular demon, ironically it was this creature that made production on the movie hell. Originally, there was no intent to show the demon, because it was going to be ‘psychologically’ thrilling rather than a monster movie. Thankfully, producer Hal E. Chester went against the writer, director and star of the movie by realising that, like The Haunting, people don’t want to see a horror movie unless it has an actual monster in it, unless it is exceptionally well directed, which, as we know, The Haunting isn’t. And neither is Night of the Demon.
Chester had serious issues with director Tourneur, as he wanted to take the film in a completely different and non-psychological direction. He also trimmed the film down, retitled it in the U.S. as ‘Curse of the Demon’ (which, in my opinion, is a better title) and inserted the monster in at the beginning and end, as it wasn’t originally included. Because he hated the idea of adding a monster so much, the director refused to shoot these scenes, so Chester had to hire someone else to do it for him.
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| Holden and Joanna meet during an uncomfortable airplane journey... |
Ironically, Night of the Demon is now considered a classic in the horror genre because of the addition of the demon. This is because the moments with the monster are the only interesting parts in the entire film. The movie is one long, slow, bland and boring snooze-fest, until the bit at the end with the scary clouds of doom and the giant fire monster that rips the doctor to shreds. This is one example where executive meddling paid off.
If the demon wasn’t added to the beginning of the film, then there would be no tension throughout it. As it is, there is barely any anyway, but knowing that the demon is real and will kill our hero adds an extra level of urgency that, without the demon, there wouldn’t be. If you hadn’t seen the demon at the beginning then to be honest I probably wouldn’t have watched the film to the end, because it would have been rubbish. Also, without the demon, the film has nothing going for it. The demon is pretty horrifying and the special effects when it comes out of the sky are fairly impacting. No one would want this thing coming after them, and that is why the monster works.
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| It may look like a model, but it's still a very frightening one... |
All in all, regardless of the hilariously horrifying but completely deserved twisted ending, I feel like I have once again wasted my time watching a so called ‘classic’. Night of the Demon is way too tame for modern audiences, and ultimately, isn’t a horror film because it isn’t scary. The idea is strong, but the delivery and execution of it are not.
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