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Hell
Night
(1981) |
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This low brow and low budget gem dates back to 1981 - horror glory days in the wake of the glorious Halloween and the less than glorious Friday the 13th. Tom DeSimone, well known in smut circles, turned his talents to the horror cheapie in order to cash in, and certainly as far as cheapies go, its one of the better ones around. It's utterly trashy, stupid, drive in level material but cheesy sort of fun all the same. The story is so brazenly corny it that it actually works. Here we have the new pledges to that most moronic of American creations - a fraternity - who have to spend a night in the dreaded Garth Manor in order to be accepted to bloody Alpha Sigma Rho. Legend has it that twelve years to the day, the previous resident of the Manor had slaughtered his entire family in a cold blooded night of butchery. There are rumours that the Manor is haunted by the ghost of the crazed killer who prowls by night. Things take ages to get going and we are left to enjoy the antics of the foursome who are indeed a sight to behold and perhaps its their rank cheesiness that makes the movie work to some extent.
Linda Blair, immortalized as Regan in The Exorcist, tucks into her role with vigorous relish. Every nuance, every movement, every sigh of hers exudes a remarkable level of bad acting that immediately catapults her to legendary status. She is so sugary sweet in her girlie, girlie innocent way and so Fay Wray on Acid when the scares are on that one is left quite amazed at her skills. It is one of the most earnestly awful performances we have come across in ages and achieves vintage level with utmost ease. One can only wonder what terrific acting is contained in her big cult classic Roller Boogie! Blair's performance in Hell Night is nothing short of fantastically awful and demands repeat viewings and admiration. The rest of the cast is equally awful if not even worse. The British girl, played by Jenny Neumann is worth a laugh or two at least as is real life tennis pro, Vincent Van Patten. He ought to have stuck to tennis. Peter Barton is the most irritating of the foursome, a dullard compared to the three others. Linda Blair's miss goody two shoes is the scene stealer all the way. However about an hour into proceedings just when you are about to seriously nod off and turn in for the night, the old nasty from the old dark dungeon where no one has been for centuries starts playing nasty and one by one our party guests suddenly start to vanish. There are a few jack in the box type shocks along the way but nothing that is actually disturbing or scary. This is more like a horror-party flic catering to the fraternity crowd when they have had one too many. In the end, it is the sheer effort and exuberance of Linda Blair's performance that wins the day. Hell Night is vintage cheesy horror from the late 80's - vintage due largely to the power of Linda Blair's epic performance. She could virtually be little red riding hood in those wonderful wet look white boots of hers and her silly red hood poncho like thing.
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