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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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UK Release: Dec. 17, 1957 USA Release: March 30, 1958 Sabre Film Production, Columbia Pictures Rating: N/A |
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A rather nervous, sweaty man we will come to know as Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham: TERROR ON A TRAIN, PROJECT M7, ANIMAL FARM [1954], PARANOIAC, HYSTERIA, BLOOD BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE, THE ALPHABET MURDERS, TORTURE GARDEN, COUNTESS DRACULA, THE DAY OF THE JACKAL [1973], DOCTOR WHO [TV - 1984]), is driving his car at night on a dark, single lane road through the woods. The forest in his headlights, especially for a black and white movie, are spooky and intimidating, doing nothing to heighten Harrington's mood.
He finally makes his way to a large mansion - nearly a castle. When he is stopped by the butler at the door, Harrington refuses to leave until he speaks to the owner, Doctor Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis: THE STRANGLER, NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER, THE DEVIL'S AGENT, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, ISLAND OF TERROR, TORTURE GARDEN, THE MACINTOSH MAN).
Karswell is gregarious and considerate to a fault as Professor Harrington begs him to "call it off!".
Dr. Julian Karswell: "Some things are more easily started than stopped."
But Harrington's appeals for forgiveness and reparations don't fall on deaf ears. Apparently it is nearly time for... something. Karswell asks for "the parchment" and when Harrington says he doesn't have it anymore, Karswell goes from confident to concerned and hurriedly rushes Harrington out the door.
As Harrington is pushed out of the house he begs for assurances only to hear Karswell offer a vague, "I'll do what I can."
Merry Mishaps occur and Harrington's death becomes the driving force for the rest of the movie.
Prior to Harrington's death (this is not one of those Supernatural Horror movies where the dead do anything), he arranged a symposium of scientists to debunk Karswell and his public evangelism of the Supernatural. One of those scientists, Doctor John Holden (Dana Andrews: THE FEARMAKERS, CRACK IN THE WORLD, THE SATAN BUG, BRAINSTORM [1965], THE FROZEN DEAD) flies in from the U.S.A. to speak at the symposium by personal invitation of Harrington, who he has never met, but only knows by reputation.
It's during this flight that Holden bumps into a woman we will learn is Joanna Harrington (Peggy Cummins: ESCAPE, MEET MR. LUCIFER), the late Dr. Harrington's beloved niece.
Doctor Holden makes his way to his hotel, but when he meets his fellow scientists like Mark O'Brian (Liam Redmond: DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS, THE GLASS TOMB, THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN), he finds they're all intimidated by Karswell's "Devil Cult", and would rather not incur his wrath. Holden is starting to wonder what he's doing there if the symposium to expose Karswell won't do that very thing.
Then Karswell makes a threatening phone call which only serves to embolden Holden.
The next day Doctor Holden is in the public library, only to find the book he's looking for doesn't exist there. It isn't simply checked out, but missing.
Julian Karswell shows up to invite Doctor Holden to his house. Unlike his call from the night before, Karswell is exceedingly congenial, but now Holden is suspicious and more determined than ever to move forward with the convention, his symposium, and his investigation.
Feathers ruffled on both sides, Karswell leaves Holden with his business card and surreptitiously slips a paper into Holden's papers.
Merry Mishaps occur again leading Holden on a seeming wild goose chase. He and Joanna run into each other at Harrington's funeral. When they meet later at Holden's hotel, he's all friendly but Joanna is all business and warns him to call off his investigation of Karswell. Her reason exists in her Uncle's diary. He was terrified of Karswell and laid out why.
They go back and forth between Holden's skepticism and worry and Joanna's concern. She's concerned because her brilliant and educated Uncle was deeply agitated over how his life was turning upside down shortly after the discovery of a parchment with runes. Harrington believed Karswell slipped it to him and it was a curse.
Trying to repair the damage his patronizing tone caused with Joanna, Holden invites her with him to Karswell's house to pick up the book.
Holden is surprised to find Karswell lives in a lavish mansion. He's surprised again to see Karswell dressed like a clown and entertaining children with magic tricks.
Charmed by a reportedly dangerous man who would dress like a clown to entertain the village children, Holden is ready to completely reassess his opinion of Karswell, thinking him only a magician whose supernatural act is part of his show for entertainment.
It could have ended there, and Julian would have got what he seems to want, but when Karswell realizes Holden's new opinion of him, he can't help but slip back into threats. Karswell doesn't want Holden to like him, he wants the scientist to fear him.
Karswell seemingly conjures up a ferocious storm in seconds and the movie is off to the races. We know that whatever else Karswell may be, he's no fake, and Holden will die in three days
In fact, Karswell takes a confident delight in describing exactly how Holden will die.
TRIVIA Actor Dana Andrews was so impressed by director Jacques that after production on this movie, he hired him to direct his pet project, THE FEARMAKERS. 1. This was the second time that Hal E. Chester underestimated a Horror movie he produced. After he and famed Horror movie producer Jack Dietz, sold all rights to THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS to Warner Brothers for slightly more than twice its budget, he could only watch with deepening remorse as his movie made tens of millions in box office ticket sales. Jack refused to work with Hal again. History repeated itself after Chester screwed everyone over (including himself, again!) on the distribution of NIGHT OF THE DEMON. His producing partner, Frank Bevis, never worked with him again, either. 2. This was not the first time Hal attempted to rip off a writer. When Hal hired Ray Harryhausen to do the special effects for THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, he had no idea that Harryhausen was best friends with writer Ray Bradbury: The guy who actually wrote the published story that Hal was stealing. When Chester realized he was exposed, he quickly sent Bradbury a check for $2,000 (over $20,600 in 2022 dollars), which Ray accepted. |
It's amazing that a movie this well made and horrific exists. The original distributors had no faith in it because Producer Hal E. Chester seemed to have no faith in it, being more than happy to have NIGHT OF THE DEMON released only on cheap-seat double bills in the U.K. and the U.S.A.1
Screenwriter Charles E. Bennet, went for the money from Producer Hal E. Chester (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS), to his everlasting regret. U.S. studios liked his script, were ready to buy, and wanted him to direct.
Hal thought the script was too British, and so hired Hy Endfield, an accused Communist who needed the money, to rewrite it from the ground up. Then Hal gave the credit to himself.2 When Bennet realized what Chester had done, he publicly declared, "If he walked up my driveway right now, I'd shoot him dead."
Meanwhile Hal was micromanaging. He wanted Ray Harryhausen to do the stop motion animation on the demon creature same as he had done years earlier on Hal's movie, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, but Ray was already committed to another movie.
This was actually for the good as George Blackwell (1984 [1956], MOBY DICK [1956], CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES) made the creature as a realistic puppet with an expressive grimacing face, moving facial features and eyes.
Except the director that Hal didn't want, Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE [1942], I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, THE LEOPARD MAN, THE FEARMAKERS, WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP), a man with 30 years of directing hit movies under his belt, had to be brought on board at the last minute when Hal couldn't get who he wanted.
The far less experienced Hal handled his frustration with bad grace, constantly undermined his director on the set to the point where the star, Dana Andrews threatened to walk off the picture unless Chester,
"Let the director, direct!"
Chester, in a seemingly petty snit, chose to direct from the editor's chair and added extra B-Roll and pick-up shots without Jacques knowledge, earning the director's enmity.
Low-balling the movie in distribution so that it only played as a double feature threatened Dana's star power at the time, earning his wrath as well. It's like Hal E. Chester was going out of his way to destroy everything, all because his intended victims wouldn't let him screw them over to his satisfaction.
This is guesswork on my part from years of reading about this movie, but the fact remains that Hal E. Chester would die alone and friendless, living out his last years in a small room in London.
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Dana Andrews said Prunes gave him the Runes |
Yet despite the intentionally troubled production, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, and its edited U.S. version, CURSE OF THE DEMON, endures and continues to horrify audiences with all of its black and white glory.
Moreover, the Horror doesn't come from the Demon SFX, as well done as it is, but by the inevitable burn of the tale. A lit fuse spitting down to an inexorable conclusion from which there is no escape.
Another reason you won't be disappointed in this movie is because Julian Karswell is completely committed to his Supernatural point of view, and for good reason. Guided by his books on Witchcraft, even when it seems to work against his best interests, is part of his coolly unemotional strategy towards others.
Dr. John Holden, as Julian's foil, is a hormonally driven romantic. At turns warm to others or hot-blooded in temperament, John is as committed to Skepticism as Julian is to the Supernatural. Guided in his investigations by the Scientific method, Holden's approach to eventual discovery is painstaking and logical even as his colleagues crack, the hours count down, and he becomes a frightened emotional wreck.
I've never seen a movie that handles the juxtaposition so well and with such suspense, and I've watched this movie many times.
Is this superior storytelling due to Bennet? Endfield? Tourneur? I wish I knew. Even for 1957, it was far from the first time a producer was unable to rise to the level of audience intellect required to appreciate his own movie.
While there are certainly better made movies, they didn't exist before NIGHT OF THE DEMON hit the screens, they built upon it.
Not kidding: Once you watch NIGHT OF THE DEMON, you'll start seeing its footprints throughout some of your favorite Horror movies.
This demon is truly its own beast.
Five Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2022 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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