Movie review of Hell Night

Horrorphile

follow this blog

1043 followers

3405 daily readers

rank of 1

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Hell Night

April 10th 2007 00:35

The title of this early 80s slasher flick refers to the party night that American college students partake in as part of their pledge to the fraternity and sorority campus life. Generally it involves a lot of drinking, practical joking, making out, and all round mischief.

Hell Night (1981)’s premise has four pledges having to spend six hours (until dawn) in spooky Garth Manor, where supposedly the youngest mongoloid son of the ill-fated Garth family still hides out. Twelve years earlier Raymond Garth murdered his wife and two kids, except for young Andrew - who was forced to watch - and then supposedly offed himself.

Marti (Linda Blair), Jeff (Peter Barton), Seth (Vincent Van Patten) and Denise (Suki Goodwin) are the game pledges. And a-hunting we will go. But frat president Peter (Kevin Brophy), the practical joker has some elaborate shenanigans aimed at scaring the bejesus out of the pledges, and he’s helped by Scott (Jimmy Stutevent) and May (Jenny Nuemann). Ghostly lighting apparitions have been rigged throughout the house, despite no internal electricity. It’s all frightfully silly.

about as close to sex as this slasher gets

This is most definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. The “acting” is uniformly dreadful, the dialogue not much better. There is precious little in the way of bloodletting (although there’s a neat and swift decapitation), and despite the lusty antics going on between Seth and Denise, there is no nudity whatsoever (rather absurdly they cavort about with boxers, bras, panties and suspenders on). Just who was the intended audience director Tom DeSimone had for this movie? But what Hell Night lacks in graphic detail it compensates with some genuinely tense stalking scenes and several well-executed frights.

I hadn’t seen this film since I was about 14 or so, my memory of it being that it was pretty darn scary. Well, the “Boo!”s still worked a treat, much better than most of this period. The scenes in the tunnels under the mansion and in the garden maze around the manor are directed with deft skill, creating a truly palpable atmosphere of fear. This works especially since the audience doesn’t really see the killer until well into the movie’s second half. When hulking Andrew looms over Denise sleeping in the bed (Seth is having a slash), it makes for a superbly ghoulish and nightmarish image.

But the best sequence in the whole film has Jeff sitting by the bed with Marti lying close, the two of them conversing, while in the background the carpet slowly rises into a humanoid shape. I distinctly remember the first time I saw it, everyone in the cinema gasping at that moment (ahhh, the Sunday horror double features at the now demolished Plaza Cinema in Wellington, New Zealand, those were the days …)

Young Linda Blair was Regan in The Exorcist (1973) and The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). In Hell Night she’s all grown up, all heaving chest and pudgy-faced and can barely act her way out of a paper bag. Mind you her talent comes across as positively thespian compared to the cardboard performance of Peter Barton (inexplicably he’d have his own television show the following year; The Powers of Matthew Star, while Kevin Brophy played a teenager raised by wolves in the show Lucan). Vincent Van Patten was the son of Dick Van Patten (TV’s Eight is Enough). Sexy unknown pom Suki Goodwin did sweet little else. But I’m not surprised any of these actors had an illustrious career.

Hell Night isn’t in the big league of slashers, but it’s by no means awful. It makes for good Sunday evening popcorn fodder. A few dull moments scattered about, but it’s livened up and given a handful of sharp shock injections with some neat horror grabs. And at least it wasn’t completely ruined by an even cheesier and dire sequel.

103

Vote

subscribe to this blog

follow this blog on Orble

start your own blog

[ Link ]

Posted By: Bryn - Category: No Category

Related Posts:

Relate This Post

[ Previous - Intruder ]

[ Next - Horror QUIZ #9: Pick the odd one out ]

Comments

5 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

April 10th 2007 02:41

Film & TV on DVD

I remember seeing this on ratty VHS back in the 80's but I havent revisited it since. wasnt very impressed at the time but as a guilty pleasure i am sure it has its moments.

Linda Blair really had no choice but to become a horror icon did she?

Comment by Cibbuano

April 10th 2007 02:56

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

guilty pleasure, eh? No nudity - that's odd for a horror film...

Comment by yoda76

April 10th 2007 03:33

The Tube Blog

Looks classy.

;o)

Comment by KylieW

April 10th 2007 06:09

Celebrity Obsession

I think I remember seeing this flick.....very vaguely. After finally seeing Exorcist, I hunted down other flicks Linda had been in.........and quickly realised why there weren't too many of them. Damn that girl could not act!

But it looks like it could be worth revisiting. I love a horror movie that makes me laugh at how bad it is.....while also scaring me.

Comment by Bryn

April 13th 2007 05:20

Horrorphile

Hey guys! Yeah, this is one of the better guilty pleasures ... what it lacks in gore and acting, it makes up for in atmosphere and frights! worth checking out, or revisiting ... (Linda's bust does a better performance than herself!)

[ Previous - Intruder ]

[ Next - Horror QUIZ #9: Pick the odd one out ]