HELL NIGHT (1981)

HELL NIGHT (1981)

Tagline: Pray for day!

(Horror, Thriller, Sororities Suck) [R]

No, actually I don’t give a darn about politics…I’m beginning not to give a darn about sororities either. 

In this one, Denise, Marti, Peter, and Jeff are trying to join the Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity and sorority. The challenge is to spend a full 6 hours till morning in the Garth Manor. The story behind the house is that 12 years earlier the family's father killed his entire family but one deformed child escaped. It is now rumored that the remaining child still lives in the abandoned mansion. 

First off, apparently, this was the movie that Kevin Bacon worked as a grip on back in the day, but it’s well known that this wasn’t his only horror flick involvement. He also worked on the original FRIDAY THE 13TH, only that time as an actor. This was also the vehicle that Linda Blair (SCREAM) who plays Marti in this, was trying to use to show she could play something other than a child victim role. Blair would go on to a massively successful career that currently sits at 77 projects involving TV, movies, and even voiceovers. 

This movie does a great job of creating a creepy aesthetic using just the old mansion setting and a very effective score. When I first saw that we were only going to have 4 main people in the movie, I was a little disappointed just because that really isn’t a lot of characters for a “slasher” flick, but 3 other people involved in the setup stay behind to purposely make the night harder on the pledges. 

Acting wise all the performances are actually pretty solid. Peter Barton plays Jeff and is kind of Marti’s potential love interest in the film. He does a really good job but it seems like he wasn’t too much into doing horror flicks. His only other horror movie was FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Vincent Van Patten (CAMP FEAR) does a decent job as Seth. He was already well known in this before he got the role at age 24, already having been involved in over 40 movie and TV productions. Suki Goodwin plays Denise in this and does okay, but if there is anyone that I would say isn’t as good as everyone else, it’s her. She only ended up in 2 movies. Kevin Brophy (GOODFELLAS) plays a total jerk in this as Peter, but he is really good in the role. 

If I have a complaint, it’s that the pacing is a bit off. The start of the movie is fine, but once things get going they slow way back down again for what seems like well over half an hour. Then they pick up, then they slow down, then we get a really good last 20 minutes or so. The other issue is that according to Peter’s story at the beginning of the movie, something happens that should never have happened in the finale. It literally doesn’t make any sense if you aren’t going to bother explaining another option in the dialog. 

The title of this movie is a bit misleading. It’s kind of like saying that going to work is “hell day” if you don’t like your job. There really isn’t anything to do with hell in this movie which I actually liked. I don’t like hell anything. This is more of a figurative use here. This also doesn’t really on nudity and the gore is minimal. Because of that they actually had to put some horror elements in here to make it any good. There is nothing “gimmicky” about it. 

This is probably not in most people’s TOP 20, 80’s horror movies list but it is well produced and very effective. 

Back when I was a kid there was an old abandoned house down the road. About 4 of us one day decide to check it out closer because we were like 10 years old and total idiots. We went down into the basement and it had no lights so we had to light a candle we found in the house to go down into it. At the bottom, it was just old and dilapidated with paint peeling off the walls and cobwebs everywhere. Then we turned to one angle and saw a rocking chair that someone swears they saw move. We ran like crazy and never went back. Do you know why we were able to do that? Because we weren’t stupid enough to let someone fence us in with gates we couldn’t climb…and as I said before… we’re super stupid. The moral of the story here is don’t go into a creepy old house or mansion. Especially not one where you are being fenced in. 

HELL NIGHT gets a 4 out of 7. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BLT PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.