Pray for day!
Directed by Tom DeSimone
Reviewed by Deep Red
Aka Paranoia aka Scary Castle
As an initiation, four new pledges, Marti (Linda Blair), Jeff (Peter Barton), Denise (Suki Goodwin) and Seth (Vincent Van Patten), have to spend the night in Garth Manor where Raymonde Garth murdered his family and then committed suicide. According to the story, told by Alpha Sigma Rho president Peter (Kevin Brophy), the youngest child, Andrew Garth, survived and was never found and is still believed to be living somewhere in the deserted house. All the students leave except Peter, Scott (Jimmy Sturtevant) and May (Jenny Neumann) who hang around to scare the pledges but something far more sinister than mere pranks has joined them for Hell Night.
This is a great little 80s horror with the added bonus of having Linda Blair (The Exorcist) on board. Like Graveyard Disturbance [1987], directed by Lamberto Bava, had to give that one a mention, it’s pure Scooby-Doo horror in the best way. It’s also 80s horror in the best way. That’s not to say it doesn’t deliver on the deaths, being Scooby-Doo and that, it does, I just mean it’s that kind of atmosphere driving it but in a grown-up way. Well, as grown-up as a fun little horror film needs to be. Most of the horror corps will be familiar with Hell Night, it’s got its fans and rightly so, I’m one of them. The 80s is proud of this one. Definitely give Graveyard Disturbance a go though, for more Scooby-Doo antics.
I’m also a big fan of the poster of this one too. Anyway, without giving anything away, Hell Night maintains a decent pace and atmosphere while delivering enough goods to make it all worthwhile. It’s not super-gory but it has gore, the acting isn’t perfect but it’s certainly good enough, the characters are likeable and typical of the era from whence it came, and overall I feel that it’s endlessly rewatchable for a lark. Linda Blair was nominated for a Razzie for her performance as Marti, cheeky wankers! Go and have a wank or something, make sure you don’t get any on the cat.
