6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
In this diabolical sequel to the popular shocker, the students from St. Rita's Academy throw a party at a haunted house, only to have it disrupted by Angela, the hostess from Hell, and her ghoulish pals. The kids try to find refuge at a teen dance, but things get even scarier there! Bobby Jacoby and Amelia Kinkade star in this special effects-filled terrorthon...
Starring: Amelia Kinkade, Darin Heames, Bobby Jacoby, Merle Kennedy, Rod McCaryHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Did any of you ever attend a parochial school? These religiously affiliated institutions are perhaps less prevalent today than they were back in the day when I was in my elementary years, but as an alumni—or perhaps that should be survivor—of what was considered a pretty tony private learning establishment, I can state with some certainty that the memory of the experience is a lifelong phenomenon. Now the school I was sent to (in a somewhat funny decision by my parents, who were attempting to keep me from the overweening Mormon influence that overran Salt Lake City public schools) was a fairly low key Episcopalian concern, but for reasons I never fully understood until I was an adult, there were actually nuns lurking about the halls at least during my Kindergarten year, if not first grade as well. (It turns out there had evidently been some sort of mishap at a Catholic parochial establishment, and so my school offered to share space until their facility could be fixed.) In one of those seemingly trivial occurrences that probably meant nothing to the adult but which seared my childhood synapses like few other experiences, I received permission to run to the rest room one day, managing to run smack dab into a rather imperious looking nun, who glared down at me and nastily asked, “Where do you think you’re going?” I managed to stammer that I was headed to the rest room, at which point she took the ruler she had been holding and smacked it rather deliberately against her palm, and with a rather menacing growl told me, “Well, hurry up then.” I was literally terrified, and while ruler clutching nuns have become something of a cliché, I can vouch for the fact it’s a cliché immaculately conceived from a certain reality. There is in fact a nun in Night of the Demons 2, and she does in fact clutch not just a ruler, but a yard stick (talk about taking things to extremes), but it’s part of this low rent film’s modest charms that she doesn’t just threaten her charges with it, she practices her fencing moves with it in the privacy of her office. That may give some indication of the sort of cheeky, subversive humor that is at work in this film, a rather unexpected (and some would say unnecessary) follow up to 1988’s Night of the Demons. (That film received a fitfully stylish remake which Entertainment One has released twice now on Blu-ray in slightly different packaging over the past few years.)
Night of the Demons 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a generally quite pleasing looking high definition presentation, one with very good fine detail in close-ups and a commendably consistent amount of sharpness on display in a variety of lighting situations. Cinematographer David Lewis repeatedly mentions that the film looks "too bright" for his taste in the commentary included on this Blu-ray, but aside from one kind of generic dig at unnamed "distributors", it's not clear whether Lewis is bemoaning his own lighting (which actually seems to be the case with regard to most of his complaints) or faulting this transfer (which in fact may be the case with the one isolated dig). What this boils down to is that for a horror film a lot of Night of the Demons 2 is in fact rather brightly lit, actually leading to better fine detail and sharpness, but perhaps making the film less shadowy and thus scary at the same time. As with most Olive releases, no digital tweaking seems to have been done to the elements, and a rather healthy layer of grain is quite evident throughout this presentation.
Night of the Demons 2 features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that ably supports both the dialogue as well as the glut of sound effects that are part of the sound design. Some of the special effects sequences probably would have benefited from a surround mix, but what's here is clearly prioritized and has no real issues to speak of, despite an obviously narrow soundfield. Dynamic range is fairly wide, especially in a couple of the more bombastic sequences, including at least one explosion which provides a little aural aggression.
Make no mistake about it, Night of the Demons 2 is not some undiscovered masterpiece. It is in fact a kind of cheesy and at times stupid horror film—but you know what? It knows it's a cheesy and at times stupid horror film, which puts it head and shoulders above countless others of its general ilk. This Blu-ray features good video and audio and the commentary is at least as enjoyable as the film itself. Recommended.
Collector's Edition
1988
Collector's Edition
1997
1986
Unrated Director's Cut
2006
Dèmoni 2... l'incubo ritorna | Standard Edition
1986
2015
2015
1986
Limited Edition
1982
2005
Collector's Edition
1988
2019
2016
Deluxe Edition
1920
1966
1990
1981
1988
1990
1986