1988’s Night of the Demons was a true guilty pleasure. It was a horror flick that never took itself seriously, but made sure to include all of the genre’s required ingredients – boobs, butts, blood, and boos (not necessarily in that order). The acting sucked, the production values were cheesy, and the script was apparently concocted by Cub Scouts at a late-night campfire … but who cared?
Director Adam Gierasch’s remake gets some of this stuff right. The story is still silly, the babes are on board, and the demons are suitably gruesome. But other things are seriously out of whack. The acting is superior in the new film – which is probably a mistake. Part of the charm of the original was third-rate actors spouting third-rate dialogue. Gierasch’s screenplay is corny enough, but these actors – like the movie itself – take themselves way too seriously.
As for the boobs and butts, well, where are they? There’s a lot of teasing in Demons, but apparently political correctness rules the day over female flesh. Gierasch includes a quick kiss between two of the male stars, but gratuitous female nudity – which is never “gratuitous” in this kind of flick – is in short supply.
This is how Gierasch explains it on the DVD: “I don’t feel like you can get away with as much stuff now as you could back then [in 1988]. The audience is a lot more sophisticated.” That’s the wrong attitude; it was the lack of sophistication that made the first film so much fun.
Star Edward Furlong, looking and sounding like someone who’s smoked, drugged, and drank way too much for a 30-year-old, says this of the remake: “Lotta eye candy. You got tits and blood – can’t really fail.” Wanna bet? Grade: C-
Director: Adam Gierasch Cast: Edward Furlong, Monica Keena, Shannon Elizabeth, John F. Beach, Bobbi Sue Luther, Diora Baird, Linnea Quigley Release: 2010
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