Next up Marie looks at the UK Horror Classic from the director of Cat People; Night of the Demon.
A UK
horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur seemed like a good choice – but was it
even scary?
French director turned Hollywood director Jacques
Tourneur was responsible for one of my favourite films of all time, the noir
classic Out of the Past; and so
checking out Night of the Demon
seemed like an obvious choice for the next instalment of Marie vs Horror.
Known in the US as Curse of the Demon (in a slightly edited version), Night of the Demon is a tale of logic versus
superstition, or science versus religion, if you will. Dana Andrews is the
visiting American scholar who has a logical explanation for every strange event
that happens, and has no time for séances, superstitious tales or demonic
runes. That is until events seem to persuade him that he’s been wrong all
along, and there is definitely something satanic happening.
The viewer is already in on this however,
due to a very strange decision made (not by the director, by all accounts) to
show the demon in full after only 5 minutes. Even with my limited appreciation
of horror movies I can see that either a gradual reveal, or even keeping the
monster off-screen completely, would have maintained the suspense for longer. It
would also have helped to mask the wonky effects, although the demon clawing
menacingly at the camera was quite spooky.
I was amused by the statement on the screen
just before the film started, from the television channel which was
broadcasting the movie. It read “The
following film contains scenes of the occult, devil worship, and outdated racial representation”. I
liked that they did this. When the film was made, it was unfortunately
acceptable to have white actors play characters from a range of ethnic backgrounds
– it wouldn’t happen today (one would hope). In Night of the Demon, Peter Elliott plays a secondary character
Kumar, an Indian scholar who proffers his opinion on events. The character is
taken seriously and is not a caricature, and Elliott doesn’t overplay, but he
is in make-up to darken his skin tone and it’s just a bit, well, *cringe*. Dana
Andrews is solid as the straight forward American surrounded by eccentric
Brits, but the best of them all is Niall MacGinnis as Dr Karswell. He can be sinister,
jovial, threatening or a buffoon as required, and is easily the one that holds
everything together.
Night
of the Demon is not overbearingly scary at all, yet
it definitely sets an uneasy tone. It’s this tone which will be picked up and
magnified in future films such as The
Wicker Man. There’s also an overhead shot of children running for cover
during a wind storm which surely must have been seen by Alfred Hitchcock, as
scenes in The Birds definitely appear
to be inspired by Tourneur’s visuals.
Is it wrong to say that Night of the Demon wasn’t scary enough?
Next Column takes a look at a movie by a troubling director. Until then you can catch up on Marie vs. Horror right here.
Next up Marie looks at the UK Horror Classic from the director of Cat People; Night of the Demon.
A UK horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur seemed like a good choice – but was it even scary?
French director turned Hollywood director Jacques Tourneur was responsible for one of my favourite films of all time, the noir classic Out of the Past; and so checking out Night of the Demon seemed like an obvious choice for the next instalment of Marie vs Horror.
Known in the US as Curse of the Demon (in a slightly edited version), Night of the Demon is a tale of logic versus superstition, or science versus religion, if you will. Dana Andrews is the visiting American scholar who has a logical explanation for every strange event that happens, and has no time for séances, superstitious tales or demonic runes. That is until events seem to persuade him that he’s been wrong all along, and there is definitely something satanic happening.
The viewer is already in on this however, due to a very strange decision made (not by the director, by all accounts) to show the demon in full after only 5 minutes. Even with my limited appreciation of horror movies I can see that either a gradual reveal, or even keeping the monster off-screen completely, would have maintained the suspense for longer. It would also have helped to mask the wonky effects, although the demon clawing menacingly at the camera was quite spooky.
I was amused by the statement on the screen just before the film started, from the television channel which was broadcasting the movie. It read “The following film contains scenes of the occult, devil worship, and outdated racial representation”. I liked that they did this. When the film was made, it was unfortunately acceptable to have white actors play characters from a range of ethnic backgrounds – it wouldn’t happen today (one would hope). In Night of the Demon, Peter Elliott plays a secondary character Kumar, an Indian scholar who proffers his opinion on events. The character is taken seriously and is not a caricature, and Elliott doesn’t overplay, but he is in make-up to darken his skin tone and it’s just a bit, well, *cringe*. Dana Andrews is solid as the straight forward American surrounded by eccentric Brits, but the best of them all is Niall MacGinnis as Dr Karswell. He can be sinister, jovial, threatening or a buffoon as required, and is easily the one that holds everything together.
Night of the Demon is not overbearingly scary at all, yet it definitely sets an uneasy tone. It’s this tone which will be picked up and magnified in future films such as The Wicker Man. There’s also an overhead shot of children running for cover during a wind storm which surely must have been seen by Alfred Hitchcock, as scenes in The Birds definitely appear to be inspired by Tourneur’s visuals.
Is it wrong to say that Night of the Demon wasn’t scary enough?
Next Column takes a look at a movie by a troubling director. Until then you can catch up on Marie vs. Horror right here.
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