Night of the Demons

It's October, which means that a glut of horror movies are being released on DVD. Many of these films are either low budget sequels or even lower budgeted remakes. The latest entry to this genre is Night of the Demons.

Using just the basic plot outline, the new version follows a group of friends going to a party at a New Orleans mansion with a chilling history. But when they are accidentally locked on the premises, it becomes a struggle to stay alive as demons possess each of the friends one by one in hopes of walking the Earth again.

This remake of Night of the Demons actually looks like it has a smaller budget than the original, despite a bevy of former teen comedy and CW/WB starlets headlining. Writer and co-writer Adam Gierasch forgoes actual scares for an attempt at campy fun and gratuitous gore and nudity. While the cult classic original might not be considered amongst the best horror movies ever made, it was effective in creating an atmosphere of suspense - something that is missing from this limp remake. Diehard fans will be happy to see a few small homages to the original, which is the only redeeming quality for the film.

With a small cast of recognizable faces, the acting in the film isn't horrible. But it's not stellar either. Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie) leads the cast as Angela, the hostess with the mostess, and appears to have taken a page from her former co-star Tara Reid's playbook on how to be a party girl because the party scenes are the only times she is close to believable in the film. Monica Keena (Dawson's Creek and Freddy Vs. Jason) and John F. Beach are the two who fare the best, but with a lame script there isn't much wiggle room from which to excel.

Included on the disk is a short introduction filmed at Comic Con, which actually seems to serve more as a video to sell the film to distributors rather than fans. Both Gierasch and co-writer Jace Anderson are the ones talking about the major points of the remake. Gierasch and Anderson are visible throughout the features, including taking part in audio commentary with a trio of cast members.

An overly long behind the scenes featurette, "Behind the Bloodbath: An Inside Look Behind Night of the Demons" is included as well. What is most interesting about this bonus features is seeing the different styles of the actors as they are talking. Keena is a cheerleader for the film, having seen the original and not having a single negative word to say about the remake. Edward Furlong is unfazed, smoking a cigarette and appearing to only be there for the paycheck. It is interesting that they were able to get the entire cast to take part in it, which many bigger films are unable to accomplish.

Like most remakes, Night of the Demons bares just a passing resemblance to its predecessor and has lost all of the fun that people liked from the original. But as long as Halloween continues to come around each year, audiences are going to be subjected to more and more of these train wrecks. Demons is worse than the most horrifying Halloween costume because there is no way to strip the mask off of this clunker.