Film

Night of the Demons

Name: Night of the Demons
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Released: 1988
Cast: Cathy Podewell, Alvin Alexis, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Hal Havins

A Halloween séance in an abandoned funeral home goes catastrophically wrong when the partygoers accidentally summon actual demons. It's gloriously trashy 80s horror-comedy with practical effects, genuine scares, and the kind of committed weirdness that makes you realize how earnest B-movies used to be. Perfect for people who love their horror with a wink and practical gore.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love 1980s slasher parties where the gore is gleefully over the top and the jokes land as often as the scares, the kind of cheap, rowdy horror-comedy that feels made by people having a blast.

Skip it if you need tight plotting or genuine dread, since the characters are thin, the pacing wanders between set pieces, and the humor can feel broad enough to undercut any tension.

What it asks of you: Ninety minutes of loose, rowdy momentum with little patience for slow build-up, so settle in for a goofy, bloody party rather than anything subtle or carefully paced.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Re-Animator1985

A medical student reanimates his dead mentor with spectacularly gory results. It's horror-comedy at peak execution: funny without winking at the audience, grotesque without becoming tedious.

But The gore is intense and absurd in equal measure. If body horror genuinely unsettles you, this will spend ninety minutes testing your limits.

Fright Night1985

A teenager discovers his neighbour is a vampire and recruits a washed-up horror-movie star to help. It's charming, genuinely scary in places, and committed to the weird logic of its premise.

But The second half relies heavily on TV-movie sensibilities. The tone wobbles between comedy and genuine menace without always landing cleanly.

Ghoulies1984

College kids accidentally summon tiny demons to a mansion. It's deliberately silly, knows exactly what it is, and delivers practical creature effects that are more fun than frightening.

But The plot barely exists. If you need narrative coherence or character development, this will feel like watching a music video stretched to feature length.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Night of the Demons

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Night of the Comet1984

Both are 1980s genre films that use genre conventions (horror, sci-fi) as a framework for character-driven comedy. Both trust the audience to laugh at situations rather than at winks from the filmmakers.

After a comet wipes out most of humanity, two mall-working sisters navigate the empty LA landscape with wit and genuine survival stakes. It's post-apocalyptic but funny, violent but affectionate about its characters.

But The budget constraints show obviously. Some sequences feel padded and the pacing slackens in the middle hour.

Poltergeist1982

A family's house is haunted by malevolent spirits with genuinely unsettling practical effects and a solid cast. It's mainstream horror that still delivers real scares.

But It's more earnest and less fun than Night of the Demons. The suburban setting and family drama might feel sitcom-adjacent if you're in the mood for pure sleaze.

Creepshow1982

An anthology of EC Comics-inspired horror stories directed by Romero with darkly comic energy. Each segment is brief, so nothing outstays its welcome.

But It's genuinely episodic—one story will likely resonate more than others. The effect work is deliberately cartoonish in a way that dates it.

The Return of the Living Dead1985

Accidentally released zombies attack a punk club on Halloween. It's genuinely funny without sacrificing zombie atmosphere, and the punk aesthetic gives it energy the original didn't have.

But The comedy sometimes overshadows the horror entirely. The tone can feel scattered as it bounces between genres.

Basket Case1982

A man carries his deformed twin brother in a basket and seeks revenge on the doctors who separated them. It's audacious, gross, and completely committed to its insane premise.

But The effects are intentionally crude. The story is essentially a revenge exploitation film wrapped in horror trappings, which won't appeal to everyone.

Videodrome1983

Cronenberg's surreal nightmare about pirate TV and body horror. It's visually inventive, deeply weird, and operates on pure nightmare logic rather than conventional storytelling.

But It's abstract and deliberately confusing. If you need plot clarity and conventional characters, this will frustrate rather than entertain.

Suspiria1977

Both feature groups awakening ancient evil through carelessness, but Suspiria approaches the exact same premise with continental art-horror seriousness and impossibly beautiful cinematography instead of practical gore and wisecracks. It's the nightmare your parents had; Night of the Demons is the one you had at a sleepover.

An American ballet student arrives at a prestigious German academy and discovers it's a front for a witch coven. It's hypnotic, gorgeously photographed, and genuinely unsettling in ways that defy explanation.

But Plot coherence is not the priority. The logic is dreamlike and deliberately opaque; it asks you to feel rather than understand what's happening.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom1976

Both films derive their power from using the body—grotesque, violated, transformed—as the primary language. Night of the Demons uses practical effects to transform bodies into sites of horror-comedy spectacle; Salo uses them as philosophical argument. One is ecstatic sleaze; the other is methodical cruelty. Both insist you look.

Pasolini's final film transposes de Sade's novel to fascist Italy, creating a dense critique of power, desire, and cruelty. It's intellectually rigorous and genuinely transgressive.

But It contains graphic depictions of sexual violence, degradation, and bodily horror. It's not shock for shock's sake, but it will not be easy to watch and is presented without mercy.