Hell Night (1981)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Tom DeSimone

Writer:

Randy Feldman (written by)

Release Date:

28 August 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Pray for day!

Plot:

Four college pledges are forced to spend the night in a deserted old mansion where they get killed off one by one by the monstrous surviving members of a family massacre years earlier for trespassing on their living grounds.

Plot Keywords:

Night | Sorority | Fraternity | Male Surfer | Teen

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Linda Blair	...	Marti Gaines
Vincent Van Patten	...	Seth
Peter Barton	...	Jeff Reed
Kevin Brophy	...	Peter Bennett
Jenny Neumann	...	May West
Suki Goodwin	...	Denise Dunsmore
Jimmy Sturtevant	...	Scott
Hal Ralston	...	Older Cop
Carey Fox	...	Younger Cop (as Cary Fox)
Ron Gans	...	Driver (as Ronald Gans)
Gloria Heilman	...	Party Girl

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1982) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

BLT Productions

Trivia:

Filming took 40 days.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening, Peter says that Garth Manor has no modern conveniences such as electricity, yet he is somehow able to run his special effects equipment in the house.

Quotes:

Peter Bennett: [Explaining why they shouldn't try climbing over the high fence] They'd be likely to cut their nuts off.

Movie Connections:

References "Leave It to Beaver" (1957)

Soundtrack:

Theme from 'Hell Night'

"Hell Night" is not quite your usual "slasher" picture.

Two fraternity pledges (Peter Barton, Vincent Van Patten) and two sorority pledges (Linda Blair, Suki Goodwin) are obliged, as part of their initiation, to spend one night in Garth Manor, where a madman once murdered his family and then killed himself. However, the legend also states that one member of that family was never found...

Not-bad horror thriller, directed by Tom De Simone, a man who started out in adult films and branched out into slightly more mainstream, yet still exploitative pictures ("The Concrete Jungle", "Reform School Girls", "Angel III: The Final Chapter"). He puts the accent in "Hell Night" on generating some genuine scares and suspense, and actually does a passable job. A couple of dopey young dolts die, but not in any graphic, on-screen manner. Of course, I'd be willing to bet that this film had a low, low budget, especially for effects, so obviously creating scares instead of just shocking the audience would have had to take priority. The "deformed" killer's makeup is really rather light. Linda Blair is okay but really unexceptional; she could never have rivaled Jamie Lee Curtis as a "scream queen".

All the same, I can understand why some people would think that "Hell Night" is boring. It's not as taut a picture as it could and should have been; better pacing would have helped. Also becomes completely absurd at one point where Van Patten is in a police station and is able to find some handy weapons and ammunition and abscond with a loaded rifle. Then again, these types of pictures weren't always known for their firm grip on reality.

As cheesy, low-budget 1980's horror B-pictures go, I think that it was fairly entertaining.

6/10