Putting the fun in infernal! Or…infun…you get what I’m going for.
I’m proposing a new subgenre. “Party Horror”
There’s an untapped wellspring of automatic-art-esque films unique from the rest of horror, not just films centered around parties but around a mentality. Films where the wind-up is minimal, the characters are put on the slab immediately, and the outcome is a movie fueled entirely on party vibes rather than technical skill or being terrifying. A film that is pure “horror” without the shackles of worrying about being good. Just two imperatives: to party, and to survive.
And what movie is the gold standard for this school of horror filmmaking? None other than 1988’s Night of the Demons.
For the uninitiated, the film follows the “friends” of Angela Franklin, a goth outcast and the blueprint for Nancy from The Craft, who invites her classmates to the haunted Hull House for a Halloween party. When the group tries to make a party game out of a mirror séance, the slew of stock character teens end up unleashing a demonic spirit and its cohorts that hunger for human hosts.
This film has one of my favorite negative reviews of all time. From the Washington Post: “Demons’ sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom and plays like it was conceived in a vacuum.” And while it’s completely accurate, that’s what makes it so endearing. Truly, there are so few horror films that give me the vibes of being at a Halloween party like Night of the Demons. The entire film, frame to frame, feels like fistfuls of candy corn, fake blood, and ultra-cheap costume fabric. It’s low-grade, and it knows it.
Demons ‘88 doesn’t get wrapped up in the snares of trying to make itself look slick or badass; it doesn’t dwell on how bad it might be. It just does what it does; it simply is. It’s the essence of cheap schlock and a place where the rule of cool is to be as uncool as possible. This is the major failing of its abysmal 2009 remake, which tries its hardest to be stylish in a way that’s admirable instead of a way that’s fun; with more than three times the budget, they couldn’t even muster a fifth of the entertainment. The original understands the ethos of a good horror b-movie: if it’s not fun, why bother?
There’s a cartoonish-ness to the onscreen evil foreshadowed by the quaint intro of paper demon cutouts flying around and synth-rock. We get not one but two scenes where a character unironically tells a scary campfire story about the mansion’s demonic origins, one with a flashlight under his face. It’s a borderline parody in the best of ways.
This film also proves you can have poorly written characters moved by lame acting and still enjoy yourself because the fun they’re having in making the film is palpable. They’re ultra-memorable because they play directly into the genre’s cliches and wear the archetypes they’ve been assigned like a badge of honor. There’s Judy, the heart of gold final girl who must rise to the occasion; Sal, the Italian greaser stereotype that was about 20 years out of date; Rodger, the one superstitious person of color with any sense of self-preservation; Suzanne, the bubblegum valley girl with Psycho Goreman levels of hunky boys’ obsession; and Stooge, the fat, drunken lout who is too misogynist even for the ’80s.
The stooge of the group is quite literally named Stooge, how can you beat that?
But the film’s standout is Amelia Kinkade, the one and only Angela Franklin. Outside of being goth and instantly getting possessed, she has nothing but vibes and puns to offer, and she still works this movie for all it’s worth. Her burlesque scene in front of the fireplace to the industrial metal tune completely blows Trash’s graveyard dance from Return of the Living Dead out of the water. Yes, it’s that good. She also steals the show in Night of the Demons 2 and carries over the spirit of the first film, where the sequels and remake flounder.
Director Kevin Tenney effectively cut together the equivalent of an NBA highlight reel of every convention, cliché, and corny moment that was at the heart of cheap 80’s horror. The camerawork is full of homage to the Evil Dead films, particularly in the tracking shot that happens when the demon is released. It lacks the bite and genuine terror those films could evoke but uses the inspiration they provide to create something completely on the opposite of the tonal spectrum with improvised flamethrowers, coffin sex, and demons that like wordplay.
Is it the best or scariest of the horror movies from that decade? No, not in the slightest. Is it the best of that year on a technical level? Also no, The Blob remake beats it out by a little. But it is the perfect example of how good-bad horror can be when you abandon all reason and let the mood of a film take control. When you engage in the cinematic equivalent of high energy, fun-above-all-else party.