October Movie Challenge: The Power (1984)

Ok. I want to start out by saying this is not the movie I thought it was. I wanted a movie that was about psychic powers. This is about a cursed Aztec idol home to a demon.

So. A win? Yeah, it was still fun. At least I can log this as a first-time view. 

I am sure this movie has nothing to do with SNAP! nor being the lyrical Jessie James.

The Power (1984)

A college professor has an old idol containing an evil demon named Destacatyl. Before long, it is in the possession of some Los Angeles high-schoolers who see fit to put it to use at a séance by the cemetery.

The results are what one would anticipate.

It is a well-worn setup, yet I appreciate the cursed-object tale when the object in question is as unremarkable as this one. The idol is small and portable, hardly the sort of thing you would suspect of harboring an ancient demon. In that respect, it is very much a movie of its time.

One does not have to trek to a ruined temple or flout the increasingly urgent warnings of locals to desecrate a tomb. Some fool has already done the work and brought the damn thing home. It is a trend I have been seeing in these films: in the old days you had to hunt down the monster, but in the 1980s the monster comes back in your pocket.

The special effects are low-budget 1980s horror through and through. Some of it is better than others, but there is enough oddity to get by. Honestly, I really liked quite a lot of them. The American Genre Film Archive is fond of calling it a film of stage fog, plot holes, and monster makeup, which is a fair enough way to put it. I would take that as a compliment. Mostly. 

The demon Destacaty’s mythology is really thin, but what the idol does to people is the more compelling matter. It offers power (hey, that's the title!). This is much worse than killing you outright. You get something and then you want more and more. The myths, even the Aztec part, are almost unimportant at this point.

This the sort of movie that could only have thrived in the early VHS years. It is a little rough around the edges, the mythology is sketched in rather than fleshed out, and it never quite settles into being one thing or another, moving from creature effects to possession to teenagers. There is a charm to that. And the cover of the VHS case/movie poster promises a lot more than the movie actually delivers, but that is also fine.

It was not going to measure up to Poltergeist or *The Exorcist*, nor did it need to. A creepy object, a couple of good deaths, and some strange imagery were all it took to get someone to buy the box at the video store.

NIGHT SHIFT and Jackson Connections

I can make this work for NIGHT SHIFT with no trouble at all.

Let us have the Jackson version open with the parents coming back from a trip with an odd figurine. Perhaps from an antique shop, or maybe Morgan Chemical sent someone to Mexico for it. No one gives it a second thought until one of the kids has it over for a sleepover.

A séance is proposed.

Someone should be quick to call it a bad idea.

They will do it anyway.

The trick is to make the object unimpressive. Ugly, cheap, even a bit comical. It should make a real 80s kid think of the cursed idol from The Brady Bunch. If it is reeking of evil, they will leave it be. Then let it do the impossible. A candle is snuffed, a door that was locked swings open, a voice is heard.

That's my hook. 

At this point, what the idol does is incidental. As long as it threatens the characters and scares the players and characters alike. But for NIGHT SHIFT I would have the idol be tempting. Give the user a nudge of psychic ability, some better luck. At a certain point, he is no longer wondering if it is dangerous, but why everyone else is so keen to have it removed. The horror sets in then.

Do not mistake *The Power* for a great film. It is uneven, and the lack of budget shows. The mythology never lives up to its potential. But the core of it is good. An ancient evil is not left to rot under a temple. It is made portable. Someone takes it home and makes use of it. And the effects, even when cheap, are fun. 

You do not have to go seeking out the old evils.  As I have shown all month so far, in the 1980s the horrors come to you.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 22
First Time Views: 13