Author's Note: Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, whatever your circumstances might be- sadly, on my end, our usual extended family get together was cancelled, as our typical house host family (aka my aunt & uncle-in-law) have COVID. Hopefully, they recover soon, and things can get back to normal next year, but yeah, it's a pretty scary time right about now. (Edit: since I first started this article, several more of my extended family have come down with the virus as well- the danger is VERY real, y'all.) Hope everyone out there heeded the doctors' warnings and stayed home like my mom & I did- but, if not, I genuinely hope you emerge unscathed. 🙏
With this article, my franchise review is done. Next week, I'll be doing a Movie Round-Up (or maybe two: one horror, one everything else) to review some of the other stuff I've been watching over the last few months, then it'll be back to The Cronenberg Chronicles. The forecast for Xmas is looking mighty bleak- probably more of the same situation as Thanksgiving, but I'll try and do some Christmas movie reviews here and there, too, even if the holiday spirit is somewhat lacking this year. 😞
And now, the party concludes with a look at the 2009 remake of...
Shortly before the release of NOTD 3, another home video format arrived on the scene in late 1996: the DVD. As with VHS, the format didn't take off right away, in no small part because, like VHS, the price of both a DVD player and a DVD itself was pretty high. Having learned their lesson from VHS the first time around, Hollywood wasted no time in getting the prices of both down ASAP. By 2003, it was the go-to format of choice for home video consumers, and VHS would eventually be run out of business.
As a way of enticing customers in the early days, DVD took a nod from Laserdiscs and started offering up lots of bonus goodies, like documentaries, commentaries, trailers and so on and so forth. While, like Laserdiscs, DVD was essentially a collector's medium in the beginning, the lower prices of both the players and the movies themselves would eventually do the trick and sales took off accordingly.
One thing that did not escape notice from Hollywood was the fact that cult films, especially horror and sci-fi films, were strong sellers, with long out-of-print films selling briskly, with some obscure films even making their debut on the format. Cult film fans are a loyal bunch, and it didn't take long for Hollywood to notice that they not only would re-buy films that they already had on VHS, but that they would even buy films they'd never seen before, as well as re-buy
"special editions" of films that they already had on DVD if the distributors packed them with bonus features.
"special editions" of films that they already had on DVD if the distributors packed them with bonus features.
Night of the Demons was no exception, being released initially in 2004 via Anchor Bay, then again in 2014 via Scream Factory after Blu-Rays eventually became the next big thing. In the meantime, the in-between time, the brisk sales of various horror classics led Hollywood to go on a horror remake frenzy, including reboots of the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, When a Stranger Calls, Prom Night, The Fog, April Fools' Day and lots more where that came from. Few improved on their predecessors, but some weren't too bad, notably My Bloody Valentine.
As such, it was only a matter of time before Night of the Demons got a remake of its own, and sure enough, in 2009, that's exactly what happened. This time around, original director Kevin Tenney opted to produce the film, wisely letting someone else take the reins when it came to the writing. Don't get me wrong- Tenney's a decent director and I quite like the Witchboard series, all of which he wrote, but NOTD 3 was not his finest hour as a writer, that's for sure. But would the writers and director the producers hired do any better?
In the director's chair this time around was Adam Gierasch, who also co-wrote the film with frequent partner, and IRL wife, Jace Anderson. The two were then-hot off of Gierasch's directorial debut, 2008's Autopsy, which was fairly well-received on the horror circuit. They also wrote the fun creature features Spiders and Crocodile, both of which spawned sequels; and worked with Tobe Hooper multiple times, including, in addition to Crocodile, Mortuary (not a remake of the 80's horror cult classic) and The Toolbox Murders, which is indeed a remake of the late 70's horror semi-classic.
They also co-wrote the controversial Mother of Tears, the long-awaited finale to Dario Argento's The Three Mothers trilogy, which also included the classics Suspiria and Inferno. To say that the movie got mixed reviews, even from horror fans, is putting it mildly, but points for trying. From what I've read about the behind-the-scenes efforts, Gierasch and Anderson's original script took place right after Inferno and was very much in keeping with the other two, but Argento jettisoned a lot of their stuff and the end result was mostly his doing, so I wouldn't blame those two for it, assuming you weren't a fan. I thought it was okay, but nowhere near as classic as the first two.
The writers went on to collaborate again on Fertile Ground (part of the After Dark series) and Fractured, with Gierasch following that up with 2015's House by the Lake, which he and Anderson didn't write, but Anderson did produce, and a segment of the decent horror anthology, Tales of Halloween- his was entitled "Trick," which was the third story about the home invasion. The two have both been MIA since 2015, but give it time.
Instead, Louis conjures up seven demons, who promptly start to possess everyone, save Evangeline, who is able to run upstairs and jump off the balcony and hang herself before she is possessed. Since, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, the demons need to possess all seven- I guess to be able to manifest on Earth or something- the action nips their nefarious plans in the bud before they can begin in earnest. The house is subsequently boarded up and condemned.
In present day, a girl named- duh- Angela (Shannon Elizabeth), decides to throw a massive party in the long-since abandoned house. For the record, I don't think this Angela is meant to be the same one as in the original, as her surname is Feld, instead of Franklin. Whatever the case, the party doesn't last long, as the cops burst in and break it up, leaving a downtrodden Angela all by her lonesome. To add insult to injury, she was counting on the party to raise money to put a roof over her head- which was taken by her so-called friend Diana (Tiffany Shepis).
One of the partygoers, Colin (Edward Furlong), a drug-dealer, stashes his drugs in a grate on the way out, and circles back to the house to get it after the cops leave; while another, Maddie (Monica Keena), realizes her friend, Suzanne (Bobbi Sue Luther), who had been drinking a lot, didn't make it out, so she and her friends, Lily (Diora Baird), Dex (Michael Copon) and Jason (John F. Beach) also head back to the house. Together with Angela, that makes- you guessed it again- seven people.
While looking for his drugs, Colin stumbles upon a hidden room, where the gang finds six skeletons in a rough circle, one of which "bites" Angela when she goes in to grab a gold tooth from its mouth. Not unlike another Demons franchise, the cut causes Angela to feel out of sorts, and before long, she is indeed possessed by a demon, presumably Louis, as she seems to have inside knowledge on what exactly went on there back in the day. Suzanne also has some inside info, namely that only the maid survived the night in question, by barricading herself in one of the rooms and scribbling symbols and magic spells to keep the demons out- info which will obviously come in handy later.
The group inexplicably decide to hang out for a bit, playing games and drinking and the like. During a game of, of all things, Spin the Bottle- what are they, twelve? (okay, maybe not, judging by Angela's considerable wine bottle skills, as seen above) - Angela infects Dex with a kiss, which doesn't go over too well with girlfriend Lily: more so the kiss than the infection, which doesn't present itself readily. Dex runs after Lily to apologize and the two end up hooking up, during which we realize that the infection can also be passed via sex, so we get a cool scene where Dex turns into a demon while having sex with Lily, who then also shortly thereafter becomes a demon herself, all during the same sexual encounter. Pretty neat stuff.
Angela then goes after Suzanne, seducing her and infecting her in the process- she also does a sexy dance, just like the OG Angela, but not quite as good- though Elizabeth does have a dance background, so it ain't half bad, either. The song she dances to, however, is a straight up Halloween classic: Type O Negative's "Black No. 1."
In fact, this film easily has the best soundtrack of the entire franchise, including tracks from Concrete Blonde- another Halloween classic, "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)"- old-school punk bands T.S.O.L. and 45 Grave (of "Partytime" fame, from the classic Return of the Living Dead, who do the title track here); and other spooky groups like Ghastly Ones, Creature Feature, Zombie Girl, The Swinging Neckbreakers, Wednesday 13, The Death Riders, Psycho Charger and Goatwhore.
It's after this, with four of the seven fully infected as demons, that all hell breaks loose in earnest, as the remainder fight for their lives, attempting to escape the house both from the outside and through a tunnel in the basement, both to no avail. Eventually, they hide out in the aforementioned room with the symbols, which keep the demons at bay for the time being.
There, Maddie finds more writings on the wall that help to explain what exactly is going on here, which is pretty convenient. But you can't keep a bad demon down, so eventually the demons find a loophole and it then becomes a battle to the death- or till dawn, whichever comes first. Although even dawn may not put a stop to these particular demons- sort of. (You'll see.)
While fairly predictable overall- you shouldn't have any trouble this time around determining who the last one or ones standing will be- I'll say this: Night of the Demons, the remake, does a pretty decent job of restoring the fun vibe of the original. The characters are reasonably likable- the two main guys even avenge a bully that is terrorizing some kids for their candy at the beginning, with only Colin qualifying as a bit of an asshole. (Makes sense, given who's playing him- more on that later.)
I liked all the girls, and have a special fondness for Monica Keena, who I had a bit of a thing for at the time, and they even manage to sneak in a cameo from the first film's Linnea Quigley, which is cool by me. Quigley even recreates her infamous first scene, with the whole bent-over ballerina act, albeit for a decidedly different audience this time around. 😂
Indeed, let's take a closer look at the cast, starting with Keena. Born in Brooklyn, NY, the gorgeous actress made her feature film debut in the Sandra Bullock rom-com While You were Sleeping. She followed that up with a sexy turn in the indie Ripe, then tackled Snow White herself in the horrific take on the fairy tale princess, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, which also featured Sigourney Weaver as the Wicked Witch. It's pretty underrated.
Other movies include A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story (her overall debut- she played the titular role in the TV movie), The Devil's Advocate, All I Wanna Do, Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (another underrated one), Orange County, Bad Girls from Valley High, First Daughter, All I Want for Christmas, Man of the House, Fifty Pills, Loaded, Left in Darkness, The Narrows, 40 Days and Nights, Aftermath (also with Furlong) and The Ghost and the Whale.
However, she's probably best-known for her turn as the ill-fated Abby on TV's Dawson's Creek, a recurring role on Entourage, and especially, to horror fans, for her leading turn in the classic Freddy vs. Jason. She also had a leading role in the short-lived but somewhat fondly-remembered early Judd Apatow TV effort, Undeclared, which also featured a young Seth Rogen and Charlie Hunnam, of Sons of Anarchy fame.
Unfortunately, her career never quite took off and she only works sporadically these days, mostly on TV shows like the Law & Order franchise (she's been on two: the original and Criminal Intent), Without a Trace, CSI, Ghost Whisperer, Grey's Anatomy, The Closer, Private Practice and Castle. She's also done voiceover work for King of the Hill, Beavis & Butthead and Robot Chicken. She's got several movies in the pipe, though, including Manson Girls, Zombie Bride and Karma, also with Furlong.
She and co-star Edward Furlong became romantically involved IRL after this film and have dated off-and-on ever since, in what, by all accounts is a tumultuous relationship, to say the least. He's been arrested three times, in part for attacking her, apparently. Boo, Furlong! 😡 I suppose we might as well deal with him next, as he's one of the more high-profile actors in the film.
The California-born Furlong hit the ground running at the ripe old age of 14 with a starring role in the classic Terminator 2: Judgment Day, for which he won several awards, including a Best Breakthrough Role at the MTV Movie Awards. Soon after, the gifted actor was sharing the screen with the likes of Kathy Bates (A Home of Our Own), Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson (Before and After), Tim Roth and Vanessa Redgrave (Little Odessa) and Jeff Bridges (American Heart). None of the films were anywhere near the hit that T2 was, but they got him noticed as a young up-and-comer possessed with an unnatural gift.
Unfortunately, he also picked up a nasty alcohol and drug problem around the late 90's that landed him in rehab by 2000 when he was in his early 20's. This began to affect his personal life as well, beginning a long string of domestic battery charges with a long line of women, one of which he had gotten involved with when he was a mere 15 and she was 28. His uncle filed a statutory rape charge against her when he found out, but it was unsuccessful.
Somewhat ironically, her own case against Furlong years later for domestic violence was a success, beginning his long decent into a life of drugs and physical violence against the many women in his life, including Keena, with whom he reportedly still has a relationship; his ex-wife, with whom he had a child; and others. In 2013, he finally got clean, and landed a cameo in Terminator: Dark Fate, after having been replaced in the role of John Conner by multiple actors in previous sequels (notably Nick Stahl and Christian Bale), due in large part to his addiction and legal issues.
Furlong has nonetheless maintained a consistent, if uneven, career along the way. Other notable movies include: Pet Sematary 2, Brainscan, The Grass Harp, Pecker, American History X, Detroit Rock City, Animal Factory, Intermedio, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, Cruel World, The Visitation, The Covenant: Brotherhood of Evil, Dark Reel, The Green Hornet, This is Not a Movie, The Mortician, Below Zero, For the Love of Money, Crave, Paranormal Abduction, The Zombie King, Aftermath and A Winter Rose.
Moving on to happier life stories, we have the sexy Shannon Elizabeth, taking over the role of Angela, albeit a seemingly different one from the original trilogy. Elizabeth was born and raised in Texas, and started out in the business as, appropriately enough, a model. She relocated to California in the late 90's, landing her first role in the amusingly bent killer snowman horror flick Jack Frost, not to be confused with the Michael Keaton drama of the same name, though that one is pretty twisted, too.
After lots of TV guest spots, she had her big break in 1999 with a plum role in the massive hit American Pie, which spawned multiple sequels, though she only appeared in two of them. The turn made her an immediate sex symbol, but also proved her comedic chops, which led to a tongue-in-cheek performance in another sequel-spawning venture, Scary Movie. She did a similar turn in the amusing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a franchise she also returned to, albeit nearly two decades later, in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
While never a huge star, Elizabeth did achieve success in a variety of other arenas, including a highly successful run as a poker player in the mid-2000's, winning a whopping twelve competitions; a healthy run on Dancing With the Stars (she came in fifth place out of 12); and forming a laudable non-profit animal rescue operation called the Animal Avengers. She relocated to South Africa in the 2010's, where she continues her work rescuing and aiding abused animals.
Other notable movies include: Dish Dogs, Tomcats, Thirteen Ghosts, Love Actually, Johnson Family Vacation, Cursed, The Kid & I, Grand (which is about poker and features many of her fellow champions), Deal (ditto- the girl clearly loves poker!), A Novel Romance, A Green Story and The Outsider (not the recent Stephen King-based miniseries). She also had a recurring role on That 70's Show, hosted the stand-up comedy show Live Nude Comedy, had a leading role on the short-lived Cuts and came in ninth on the second season of Celebrity Big Brother.
Another model-turned-actress is the delectable Diora Baird. Born in Miami, Florida, she moved to LA at 17, eventually landing a deal with Guess? (their question mark, not mine, lol). She also posed for Playboy in 2005, landing the cover in the process. As her acting career took off in the mid-2000's, she continued to model, featuring in such magazines as FHM, Maxim, Stuff and Esquire, making all of their Top 100 Hot lists in the process.
After a debut in a guest spot on The Drew Carey Show in 2004, she landed her first feature film gig in the low-budget horror-comedy Brain Blockers, but the film wasn't released for years on end and eventually went straight-to-video, likely to capitalize on her subsequent success, particularly in the horror genre. Her big breakthrough came in 2005's Wedding Crashers. She continued in the comedy vein for a while with roles in Hot Tamale, Bachelor Party Vegas (incidentally, one of my first paid reviews- it wasn't a good one), Fifty Pills (also with Keena) and Accepted.
However, it's her Scream Queen roles like this one that most endeared her to horror fans, as well as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the goofy horror spoof Stan Helsing and 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. Unfortunately, as of late, she's taken to the Lifetime circuit, with the likes of My Daughter Vanished, The Missing Sister, Her Secret Family Killer and Psycho Sister-in-Law. Such are the perils of growing old in Hollywood, I guess- though if you ask me, she's still quite the babe. (Also, 37 isn't THAT old- shame on you, Hollywood.)
Other notable movies include: the excellently-titled Young People Fucking, South of Heaven, My Best Friend's Girl, Let the Game Begin, Hot Tub Time Machine, Quit, Love Shack, Dry Run, Thunderballs, Transit, Last Call, Riddle, Concrete Blondes, Beautiful Girl, Cocked and recurring gigs on the shows Shameless, Angel from Hell and Cobra Kai. Baird may have a spotty resume, but she's really got a cool presence and I genuinely hope that someone besides Lifetime gives her another shot at impressing in that key role that could make all the difference. Ditto Keena and Elizabeth, for that matter.
The babe factor continues with the last of the main female characters, Bobbi Sue Luther, as the party girl Suzanne, who spends most of the movie trying to keep her cleavage from breaking free from her skimpy top- not that I'm complaining, mind you. The naturally blonde Luther was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and, like Elizabeth and Baird, started out as a model. She made her motion picture debut in 2003's Dude... We're Going to Rio as a "hot airline attendant."
The following year, she made it to the top twenty finals of the WWE Diva search, but didn't quite make the top ten. She would, however, go on to become the St. Pauli Girl Beer spokeswoman in 2007. She also graced the cover of many magazines and was in numerous commercials before her big break hosting TLC's Junkyard Wars in the mid-2000's.
In 2004, she memorably played an Orion Slave Girl in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, followed by bit parts in the movie Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Her first proper role was in the movie Gameface, with a turn in the creepy The Poughkeepsie Tapes (which I'll be reviewing soon) shortly thereafter. Other movies include: Killer Pad, Extreme Movie, Laid to Rest, Made in Romania, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, Crazy Kind of Love, Aftermath (a reunion with Keena and Furlong) and Happy Horror Days.
Frustrated with the lack of quality in the roles she was getting, Luther segued into production with 2009's horror anthology web series Fear Clinic, which featured a who's who of horror luminaries, including Robert Englund, Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris. This proved to be a much more successful line of work, as Luther ended up becoming an executive producer on the aforementioned Judy Moody flick, as well as producing Laid to Rest, Paranormal Abduction, Crazy Kind of Love, Aftermath, The Boy, The Last Movie Star, The Devil Has a Name, Sylvie's Love, the TV series Paradise City and the forthcoming Devil's Night, among others.
Also like Elizabeth, she's very active in animal-centric non-profit organizations, having co-founded Cuties for Canines, which helps place shelter dogs in proper homes. She's still quite the cutie her own damn self, and I'd love to see her back in the Scream Queen business again- she's adorable here as the convincingly drunken party girl Suzanne.
Rounding out the ladies is the ubiquitous cult star Tiffany Shepis, who is to horror of the Millennium era what her co-star Linnea Quigley was to the 80's and 90's. Basically, she's a proper Scream Queen in the traditional sense. She made her motion picture debut in the classic Tromeo & Juliet, which was scripted by none other than James Gunn, of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. She solidified her horror cred with a role in the biopic Ted Bundy and basically has stuck to horror ever since.
Her long, long list of credits include the likes of: Embrace the Darkness 3, Scarecrow, Bloody Murder 2, Delta Delta Die, Dead Scared, The Deviants, Corpses, Abominable, Dorm of the Dead, Nightmare Man, Home Sick, Chainsaw Cheerleaders, Dead Reel (also with Furlong), Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!, Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula, Live Evil, The Violent Kind, Do Not Disturb, Axeman, Hallows' Eve, Caesar and Otto's Paranormal Halloween, Tales of Halloween (also with Gierasch), The Black Room, Victor Crowley, Ouija House, Strange Nature, Star Light and the ever-popular Sharknado 2: The Second One. She's a National Treasure amongst horror fans, to say the least, and one of the closest things we have to a traditional old-school 80's/90's-style Scream Queen these days.
As Dex, we have Michael Copon, best-known for his role as Felix on the popular WB/CW show One Tree Hill, which ran for damn near a decade. Copon also sang in the hilariously badly-named boy band The Boyz N Motion, which I'm guessing probably put the final nail in the coffin of the spelling of boys as "Boyz" for good, to say nothing of that whole "N" business. (Here's a clip of the "Boyz" in action, if you dare.)
Copon got his first big break in one of the leading roles in Fox Kids' Power Rangers Time Force, where he played Lucas Kendall, aka the Blue Power Ranger. He was also one of the leads on The N's Beyond the Break and won the VH1's singing competition But Can They Sing? in 2005, so apparently he can (sing). His other film credits include: Dishdogz (again with the spelling!), All You've Got, Bring It On: In It To Win It, The Scorpion King 2: Rize of Da Warriorz (j/k- it's actually just "Rise of the Warriors," but I couldn't resist), Dark House, Killer Holiday, 247 Degrees F, Mad World and, but of course, BoyBand- their phrasing, not mine this time.
As Jason, we have John F. Beach. I don't know too much about his background, but his credits include: Hallow's End, Seventy-8, Living & Dying, several episodes of the aforementioned Fear Clinic, Ruby Sparks, The Pardon, Adulthood, Tales of Halloween (yep- in Gierasch's segment "Trick," alongside Shepis) and Body at Brighton Rock. As with Luther, he seems to have segued onto the other side of the camera, also as a producer, but writing and directing things as well, including the TV series Holloway Heights.
Rounding out the main male cast as Nigel, the drug dealer that Colin is in debt to, is British actor Jamie Harris, who makes quite the impression, given that he spends his entire screen time getting head- I'm not kidding, it literally extends into the end credits! Harris is the son of legendary character actor Richard Harris (aka the OG Dumbledore from the Harry Potter movies), which also makes him the brother of Jared, of Mad Men and AMC's The Terror fame. Harris made his debut in the excellent In the Name of the Father, with legendary actor Daniel Day-Lewis, and has worked steadily ever since.
Other movies include: Princess Caraboo, Savage Hearts, Touch Me, Made Men, the excellently-titled Fast Food Fast Women, Made, The Next Big Thing, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The New World, The Prestige, Crank: High Voltage, The Green Hornet, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, God Bless America, Lost Revolution, 2 Jacks, Blood Ransom, Knight of Cups, The Frontier, Lost Transmissions and recurring roles on the TV shows Magic City, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., TURN: Washington's Spies, The Magicians, Kingdom, Shameless, Carnival Row and a turn on HBO's recent Lovecraft Country.
Night of the Demons is a pretty good effort that goes a long way towards redeeming Kenney for that godawful third installment- although, granted, he didn't write or direct this one, only produced it. The gore and demon effects are on point, especially in the unrated version, and the script and the cast are both pretty solid. It's also easily one of director Gierasch's best efforts, if not his best- or his most fun on the whole, at least of the ones I've seen. (For the record, I haven't seen Derailed or Fractured.)
It also has arguably the sexiest cast, and that's saying something for this franchise, with apologies to past stars Amelia Kinkade, Christi Harris, Christine Taylor and others. But let's put it this way- one could do a lot worse than having to spend eternity with Monica Keena, Diora Baird, Bobbie Sue Luther, Tiffany Shepis and the awesome Linnea Quigley. Although, preferably Luther would still have her face, lol. 😈
At this point, it seems unlikely we're going to get another one, as well over a decade has passed since this one came out. It was not a hit, making a mere $64,000 on a $10 million budget- ouch! - and basically going straight-to-video. In 2013, Tenney announced a tentative sequel called After Party, to be directed by horror stalwart Anthony Hickox (the Waxwork series, Sundown, Hellraiser III, Warlock: The Armageddon), and a Kickstarter campaign was subsequently launched. Alas, they didn't meet their price goal- a mere $250,000- so it didn't happen. I guess the appetite wasn't there, sadly, but this is Hollywood we're talking about, so if there's a buck to be made, you can be sure that it will happen eventually.
Until then, we have three pretty solid horror flicks and one passable one, and that's not too shabby in my book. The party may have concluded for now, but at least it went out on a high note, IMHO. By all means, check them all out, especially the first one and the remake, both of which are readily available on DVD and Blu-Ray with all the expected bells and whistles. You won't regret the invitation here. 😉
Join me next time for a Horror Movie Round-Up, featuring all the stuff I didn't get to around Halloween time and in the month since. I'll also be doing a regular Movie Round-Up for the other stuff I watched, and there will be more Cronenberg Chronicles and maybe a Christmas horror flick review or two. See you then, and hope you enjoyed the party festivities! 🎉 👿
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