Hell Night, 1981 Linda Blair, Slasher:
At the stroke of midnight a crowd of rowdy college students dressed in an assortment of costumes, gather around the gates of the ominous, Garth Manor. They listen intently as the president of sorority, Alpha Sigma Rho, Peter Bennett (Kevin Brophy), recounts the sordid history of the cursed house, a twisted tale of murder and suicide.
Twelve years prior to this night, the lord of the house, Raymond Garth savagely strangled his wife Lillian, along with murdering their three children, who were psychically afflicted with an assortment of terrible deformities. With his rampage complete, Raymond hung himself in a last act of violence, however the story doesn't end there. When the police arrived they found that one of the children was missing, the youngest of the three, Andrew. Who as the story goes, witnessed the savagery of his father’s heinous acts. Filled with terrible anger, he is now said to roam the grounds waiting for any that trespass in his domain, waiting for his next victim. Now four pledges, Marti, Jeff, Seth, and Denise, must survive a night in this god forsaken place, as part their fraternity hazing. Is the legend true? and can they survive till dawn?
So begins the 1981 slasher, ‘Hell Night’ a competent little throwback to the spook house days of William Castle, and the monster filled features of the ‘50s and '60s. While the movie does contain the required lashing of head twisting/ripping carnage, and some mild 'T & A', it could easily have been released in this B movie heyday. Starring cult ‘80s favourite Linda Blair - who seems oddly bored throughout - as 'Final Girl' Marti and future ‘Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter' star Peter Barton as Jeff. The real star however, is the wonderfully Gothic mansion where most of the film takes place. Bathed in the eerie glow of hundreds of dripping candles, the house is filled with a classic assortment of booby traps, secret passages and hidden doors.
While nowhere near as accomplished as its champions proclaim, ‘Hell Night’ is still a charming and stylish slasher. Thanks mostly to its inventive setting, a couple of committed performance and the ink black cinematography throughout, which help set it apart from the numerous ‘Friday the 13th’ rip-offs of the time. There are also a number of welcome playful nods to past slashers, such as the characters wearing fancy dress - 'Terror Train' (19800 - and the moment the killer emerges from the floor draped in a rug - the sheet over Micheal Myers scene from 'Halloween' (1978).
Admittedly the pace does start out quite slow, thankfully things pick up considerably in the second half, particularly the effective gate scaling sequence, which offers a genuine moment of tension. Another standout is the stealing of a shotgun from a police station by Seth (Vincent V Patten). Who then spends the last half of the movie pretty much running his ass off the entire time, before getting into a fight with a big, deformed killer. Nice.
There may be some who will be anaesthetised by the whole affair, most slice n'dice fans should find plenty to enjoy. If your tastes lean more towards gore, maybe give this miss, everyone else should find an entertaining, if modest little slasher gem.