1988 DOUBLE FEATURE: DEAD HEAT / NIGHT OF THE DEMONS

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) d. Kevin Tenney (USA)
DEAD HEAT (1988) d. Mark Goldblatt (USA)

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In the heady days of the late 1980s, VHS stores were on every corner, in every strip mall, with new horror films hitting the shelves seemingly every week. Tonight’s episode is entitled THE CLASS OF 1988, even if “class” may not be the first word that springs to mind when describing these two horror/comedy titles. Both enjoyed limited theatrical releases, but by and large, home video was where most fans encountered them for the first time.

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) Blu-ray Review

Night of the Demons (1988) d. Kevin S. Tenney (USA)

I missed a lot of the “classic” 1980s B-movies in their prime, only catching up with them much, much later on home video and at a more advanced stage in life. As a result, they don’t often carry the same sentimental nostalgia that they do for many other horror fans my age, although I have come to appreciate their cheesy appeal in a way that the younger version of me probably couldn’t have. When I finally took the plunge and rented Night of the Demons about 10 years ago, though all-too-familiar with its hag-adorned video cover art over the years, I found it to be “not bad,” with Steve Johnson’s exceptional makeup effects (in his first solo effort) balancing out the dumb-dumb characters and logy first act. After recently sitting through it a couple more times, in honor of Shout! Factory’s recent DVD/BR release, I have a much greater sense of appreciation for Kevin Tenney’s sophomore effort – it really is one of those special films that gets better with each viewing.