Night of the Demon (1957)
There is something quintessentially British about this one. Black magic, witchcraft, even a meddling American.
Despite being almost 70 years old this movie is still rather effective. The special effects, ie the demon, are a bit dated, but still looked good and great for the time. Heck, they are not really terrible for now.
It mixes up a lot of demonology and witchcraft myths, but that is also fine really.
We get demon summoning, spells, storm-raising, a seance, and even an Indian spirit guide. A little bit of everything here.
It would have been interesting if they had embraced some of the new ideas from Gerald Gardner and the growing Wicca movement, but that connection would not be featured in movies until the 1970s.
Oh. The plot. The scientific community denounces witchcraft and black magic, so a pissed off occultist demonstrates his power by summoning a giant demon to kill key members. I suppose if it were redone today there would have been more deaths, but it still works.
Featured Monster: Demon
Again, while I can't say for certain this movie had any effect what so ever on the demons (and devils) in the Monster Manual, they are drawing from all the same sources. The demon here looks a bit like the Nalfeshnee or Type IV demon. The demon in this movie is much larger than I expected, making close to the same size as the Nalfeshnee.
When I was reading The Classics of the Horror Film, I saw this picture and thought it would make a great "Cat Demon." It was the ears and the nose. There was a cat demon in this movie, but it looked like a regular cat.
The movie is also a good example of a wizard in his castle with his magic books and our virtuous rogue (or, in this case, psychologist) investigating.
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Night of the Nalfeshnee |
The more I think about it, the more and more I think that this movie demon was the inspiration for the Nalfeshnee's look.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 10
First Time Views: 3
Another of my all-time faves. Stumbled upon it during a late night TV screening many years ago and it burned itself into my psyche. Now it's a frequent rewatch.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was some time later that I discovered the film was based on the MR James story Casting The Runes. I was listening to an audio presentation of MR James' tales from Big Finish and I found myself thinking: "Wait a minute, I recognise this story..."