7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
On the night of Halloween, 10 teens decide to go to a party at an abandoned funeral parlor. "Hull House", rumored to be built on an evil patch of land and underground stream, is the place. While starting the party, the teens gather around a big mirror to perform a séance... Big mistake. They awaken an evil force and find themselves trapped and taken over one by one. Now it's a battle for who can survive and cross over the stream before going to hell...
Starring: Cathy Podewell, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Hal Havins, Allison BarronHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
"New 2.0 Stereo" is really the original "2.0 Stereo" mix and viceversa. 5.1 is from new mix.
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's been a while since I've personally reviewed a Shout! Factory release, and I guess in the interim they've rebranded themselves Shout! Studios,
but their Scream Factory imprint is "alive" (please read in a Colin Clive voice) and is revisiting its previous 1080 release of Night of the
Demons, offering what the label is touting are new
4K
scans of the uncut camera negative for a package that includes both 1080 and 4K UHD formats. The release also sweetens the pot by adding some
NEW supplements to the previously offered bonus content. Parts of my original 1080 review are reprinted
here,
as appropriate.
Autumn brings us a holiday often associated with ghouls and other evil entities, and so it’s perhaps appropriate to quote
notorious occultist Aleister Crowley, once called “the wickedest man in the world”, and one who famously opined that
“spelling is defunct” in his supposedly prophetic treatise The Book of the Law. That may be one reason so many
people spell the October festal day Halloween, rather than Hallowe’en, as (with so many ancient days of celebration
and/or remembrance), the vestigial remnants of what the days actually mean fall away and we are left with
modern day counterfeits, whether that be nonstop advertising and consumerism or, in this particular case, rampant
dressing up and candy consumption. (I joke about Crowley, of course, as that sentiment quoted above is widely
thought to refer more to magical—or magickal—pronouncements than to actual colloquially understood spelling.) That
“e’en” is all important, however, to understanding some of the roots of the holiday, for the really important thing,
at least for Christians, is actually the next day, All Saints’ Day, which actually leads on to a second observation
called All Souls’ Day. Much as the ancient rites of the solstice and Saturnalia have become subsumed by the subsequent
Christian celebrations surrounding Jesus’ birth (which even the orneriest bible scholar will probably admit almost
certainly didn’t take place in the winter), our current Halloween festivities have little relation to their atavistic roots. But
that doesn’t stop horror films from exploiting some of the primal fears that still lurk menacingly just beneath the trick or
treating, dressing up and even occasional egg throwing. Night of the Demons was initially supposed to be titled
Halloween Party, until the makers of the
Halloween films threatened legal action for supposedly infringing on their franchise (a lawsuit I personally
think would have ultimately gone nowhere, but I digress). The team behind Night of the Demons didn’t want a
conflict, since they were already operating on a fairly paltry budget, and so a somewhat less specific—and yet oddly
more accurate—title was selected for this film, which has gone on to become something of a cult item, spawning not just
a drove of imitators but also a sequel (as well as another sequel not available on Blu-ray) and a remake.
Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc included in this package.
Night of the Demons is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Scream Factory with an HVEC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. As
mentioned above, the back cover of this release states that both the 1080 and 2160 presentations offered in this release stem from new 4K scans of the
uncut camera negative, and even those who only have screenshots to go by should be able to easily tell how different this release is from Scream
Factory's older 1080 version, even in this release's 1080 version. The color timing is considerably less blue and more yellow this time, though
kind of interestingly, I'd actually say that some of the color timing differences are more noticeable in the 1080 version, as Dolby Vision and/or HDR
actually cool things down just a bit in the 4K UHD iteration. But perhaps even more noticeable is the rather marked increase in clarity, which is enjoyed
by both the 1080 version and understandably especially the 2160 version. If HDR may not provide the flushed look that is a bit more prevalent in the
new 1080 version, it does aid a bit in providing more shadow definition in the many dark scenes. This is another shot on film production where both
lighting conditions and opticals can lead to decidedly chunky, yellowish grain, and some may actually prefer the new 1080 version since it tends to not
exacerbate those conditions as much as the 4K UHD version does. One way or the other in my estimation both the 1080 and 2160 discs in this package
provide a more traditionally organic appearance than Scream Factory's prior release. My score for the 4K UHD version is 4.25.
Update: Evidently the stereo tracks are mislabeled (i.e., reversed) on the discs, and the 5.1 track has been rejiggered from the new stereo
track. I frankly didn't spend much time with the stereo tracks on this viewing, and there is also a reported sync issue on the original stereo track.
Night of the Demons features three audio mixes, the original (and frankly pretty anemic sounding) mix in
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, a revised DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix which is considerably more aggressive and with better
amplitude than the original, and a good if not overly immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. The biggest beneficiary of the
5.1 mix is the film's score (by Tenney's brother Dennis), which is awash in synths and low end, as well as a glut of source
cues. Otherwise, things are rather solidly anchored in the front (and occasionally side) channels, with the rear channels only
being utilized for occasional discrete foley effects. Fidelity here is excellent on the revised 2.0 and 5.1 tracks. Optional English subtitles are available.
Note: Lest anyone wonder why we try not to base spec submissions on information on back covers, suffice it to say someone didn't do a
very good job of either listing all the supplements or in fact which of the two discs in this package they're on. After initially being confounded that I
was somehow missing, I think I have everything properly listed here, and I've added an asterisk (*) to the supplements that weren't on the first
1080 release I reviewed some time ago.
4K UHD Disc
Even more than in Witchboard, Kevin Tenney and writer Joe Augustyn take their good, sweet time in finally getting to the "good stuff" (at least for horror fans). That means that those wanting a slash and dash outing from the first frame of any given film are bound to be tested by Night of the Demons. This is a film that takes a certain amount of patience, at least for those who are there only for the mayhem. The film remains a good deal of fun all these years later even if it's slow out of the gate and never especially surprising. Scream Factory has commendably gone back to the drawing (witch?)board and provided a release with superior video in both the 1080 and 2160 versions offered here, along with some great new supplements to augment those on their prior release. Recommended.
Collector's Edition
1988
Remastered
1988
Remastered | Deluxe Limited Edition | Limited to 2000 | Exclusive figure + lithograph
1988
Collector's Edition
1994
Collector's Edition
1981
1981
Collector's Edition
1981
Collector's Edition
1983
1987
1988
1982
2015
1985
1980
Limited Edition
1982
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1981
Collector's Edition
1985
2013
Collector's Edition
1988
Collector's Series
1986
Rosemary's Killer
1981
1986
1983