Hell Night

Starring:Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy, Jenny Neumann, Suki Goodwin, Jimmy Sturtevant, Hal Ralston, Carey Fox, Ronald Gans, Gloria Heilman, Ron Gans
Director: Tom DeSimone
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

HELL NIGHT : Pray For Day
Garth Manor Rocks
A Hellish Viewing Experience
Solid 80's Haunted House Slasher Flick
entertaining slasher film

Hell Night
Starring: Linda Blair , Vincent Van Patten , Peter Barton , Kevin Brophy , and Jenny Neumann
Director: Tom DeSimone
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00000JXVP
Release Date: 1999-08-24

Customer Reviews:

HELL NIGHT : Pray For Day.......2007-02-25

This film was very well done. It had a lot of suspense and plus Linda Blair stars in this non-gory slasher movie.Thats right NO GORE!!!It was meant to have some gore, but the director filmed it so that you see only some blood but no gruesome scenes shown.One wierd seen between Vincent Van Patten & Suki Goodwin, but its is brief.Great locationing (excellent scary mansion,as seen on cover) make this film a classic slasher-frenzy/80s body-count Horror film. I love it because of the many chases that occur (between Blair and the killer)multiple times. Also starring Peter Barton from Friday the 13th part4: The final chapter& The young and The restless.
Hell night is another name for the holiday Halloween.This night four sorrority & fraternity pledges must stay all night long in a creepy castle like mansion.Through legend, a crazy man(Ramond Garth)has killed his deformed family before killing himself. Some say a family member still survives...AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This film is filled with jokes(Goodwin keeps calling Van Patten by "Wes" instead of his charecters real name "Seth".The funny part about it is that she is doing it accidentally SEVERAL TIMES while being drunk.),scary sequences,suspense,and scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat(Barton & Blair are running away from killer in cave, built under mansion & Blair on her own is chased by the non-axe-wielding killer at very end).

This movie is in my collection with all the Jamie Lee slashers including TERROR TRAIN,PROM NIGHT,& HALLOWEEN and is next to my favorites GIRLS NIGHT OUT & HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ( All early 80s Body-count classics)

Linda Blair was in her early 20s and didn't act her best in this yet she kept me entertained and kept me routing for her to survive to the end , and she was the surviver.Shewas very delightfull, innocent& YOUNG .I'm a big fan of her , Jamie Curtis & Lesleh Donaldson(who was in Happy Birthday to me ,Curtains,Funeral Home & Deadly Eyes a.k.a. RATS)whom are all scream queens.

I Love This Movie!!! Its worth buying to own if you like this GENRE.

Garth Manor Rocks.......2007-02-13

"Hell Night"
This review contains an obvious spoiler.
I didn't think I would like this movie when I heard about it
"WAS I EVER WRONG"
Hell Night has all the elements needed for a great
slasher movie, Sexy people, good kills and a freaky killer on the loose..
I personally love movies where the killer is in some way disfigured yet still human and in this movie that is delivered.
Sorority newbies spend the night in Garth Manor Known for its legend about Raymond Garth and his deformed children and how he killed them all and then himself .Supposedly Andrew Garth The most hideous of all the children escapes being killed and lives in tunnels under Garth Manor "so the legend goes".
Linda Blair is all grown up and quite the good herione also starring the FINE Vincent Van Patten and cute Peter Barton.
The final showdown between Blair and the villain is grade A entertainment and the rest of the movie does not disappoint either.

A Hellish Viewing Experience.......2006-08-22

The cover says 'Hell Night', Pray for Day as the tagline, I was praying for this movie to end- Thats how boring it was. This was one of the recommended films in 'Fangorias 101 Horror Movies youve never seen' book. Most of the ones ive seen so far have been good but this one stunk.

Plot- starring Linda Blair, this was one of the things that attracted me to the movie because we all know Linda from the great horror film The Exorcist so I figured she would be good in this one too, to my suprise, far from it. Though the actors didnt have much to work with as far as dialogue. A very familiar plot- one dark night 12 years ago, a madman butchered his family in their mansion before killing himself. 'Legend has it' one child survived the slaughter and remains hidden in the house as a deformed monster. Halloween night a group of fraternity and sorority pledges must spend the night in Garth Manor on the anniversary of the killings.

This film was very slow moving, the acting was terrible. Mostly a bunch of unknowns except Linda Blair and it wasnt at all scary. This was a bad horror film. I wouldnt recommend it, you might not even be able to sit through it without falling asleep or turning off the TV.

Solid 80's Haunted House Slasher Flick.......2006-05-16

If you are a fan of 'Friday the 13th' (parts 1-4) or 'Halloween' you will no doubt enjoy this. As far as movies on that level, this is one of the best. Has good tension and scares and an effective score.

entertaining slasher film.......2006-04-21

Yet another slasher film, but a good one.

Well, they're ALL good. But this is even better than most, mainly because Linda Blair and Peter Barton lend depth and sympathy to their characters despite some hokey dialogue.

It's initiation time on fraternity/sorority row. Four pledges must prove themselves worthy by spending the night at Garth Mansion, a huge abandoned estate. Years ago, Daddy Garth killed his wife and three mutant kids. The fourth mutant kid was never found. Legend has it he still stalks the mansion ...

Here's something odd. There are only four pledges: two guys (Barton and Van Patten) and two gals (Blair and Goodwin). Since when do fraternities and sororities hold joint initiations? And they are bid farewell on their initiation by a HUGE party. This implies a great many brothers and sisters. Yet at the rate of two pledges per year, the fraternity and sorority would each be down to eight members each within four years.

I guess director de Simone simply wanted lots of people at the party, but only two couples at Garth Mansion. I guess it's spookier (and cheaper) with just four pledges, never mind making sense.

Okay, I don't mind.

What's important is that the four kids are locked behind the tall iron gates of Garth Mansion, three upperclassman sneak in to scare them ... and the body count mounts!

The script and lead performances are a bit better than standard slasher fare. Barton portrays a sensitive rich boy. Blair is the poor girl with a heart of gold. She's also virginal, at first keeping Barton to his own bed, later cuddling and sleeping with him ... but just sleeping. Both keep their clothes on. Meanwhile, Van Patten and Goodwin fornicate like rabbits in the next room.

Guess which couple is killed first? And guess who survives the night?

Blair and Barton perform well, but Van Patten and Goodwin also add some dimension to their clich?d supporting roles: the [...] cutup and the sleazy party girl. Brophy, Neumann, and Sturtevant play the jerky upperclassman who sneak in to scare the pledges. They also provide much needed slasher-fodder. I liked Jenny Neumann in Stage Fright (aka Nightmares, Australian 1980), but she's under-utilized here.

Hell Night strikes tried-and-true horror psycho notes like a well-tuned instrument. One girl is pulled screaming down into a hole (although my favorite hole-dragging is in The Unseen, 1980). The psycho seems indestructible. They shoot him, but he keeps on going ...

But there are also some surprises, which is no small feat in this tradition-bound subgenre.

Cinematography and lighting are used to good effect. Shapes emerge from the dark, slowly, indistinct. Creeping up behind our unsuspecting heroes. Makeup is also simple but noteworthy. When we finally see him, the mutant resembles Nosferatu's Max Schreck.

The final scenes are visceral, even brutally poetic. 1981 was a good year for horror psychos, and Hell Night is prime vintage.

Average customer rating:

LIFELESS RETREAD
What do you expect?
No watching crappy movies
Crappy Hell Night
They should have left this one in the vault...

Happy Hell Night
Starring: Larry Robinson (XIV) , Lisa Nichols , Sam Rockwell , Irfan Mensur , and Charles Cragin
Director: Brian Owens
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001ZX0FQ
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Customer Reviews:

LIFELESS RETREAD.......2005-11-02

HAPPY HELL NIGHT takes you places you've been before and there's nothing really remarkable about this 1992 release. A top billed Darren McGavin has little do in the movie and that's a shame since McGavin starred in the superior NIGHT STALKER series. Sam Rockwell also has a small role as the younger McGavin who opened up a portal of hell when he was a college student and released a deadly spirit priest. The director tried some Freddy Krueger joke gimmicks but they fall flatter than the proverbial pancake. The movie's plot jumps around so much it never makes coherent sense, leaving HAPPY HELL NIGHT just another entry in the countless teen slasher flicks and not that imaginative of one.

What do you expect?.......2005-09-22

I think I am the only one here who actually likes this film. Yes, it is crap. But, like with so many horror films, it is artful crap. Bad movies are sometimes better than mainstream flicks. I really liked it. If you have the same mindset as me (looking to be entertained, not enthralled) then you may enjoy this.

No watching crappy movies.......2005-08-09

Thank god this was from the library, i didnt buy it or rent it because if i did I would have chewed my arm off with grief. First does anyone notice that the door in the beginning that the orderly and nurse are looking into is an entirely different door when sonny and whatshisname go looking for the inmate? The "bad guy" was hilarious, i really expected everyone to bust out laughing when he did his "NO STV" line. The special effects werent really special at all, they must have used that little rubber piece that looked like the ice pick a thousand times, but it just didnt work for me in the slightest. And someone tell me what generator that small runs an entire mansion worth of juice? There are so many questions left unanswered in this trash heap, not including why did someone even make this, but what frat party ends at midnight? and since when is a giant schnauzer considered guard dog material. Ha Ha. Please dont watch this movie, its really a waste of time, The only good thing about it is laughing at everyones high waisted pants.

Crappy Hell Night.......2004-09-04

As one reviewer has pointed out; this starts off looking promising, then takes a quick downslide into movie hell. There were some good performances for what they had. The cinemaphotography is good and the special effects are very good. What a damn shame to waste good talent with no story (find it if you think I am kidding) and inept directing. This was directed, and I believe written, by Brian Owens (since this is his only directing credit, it could be a pseudonym). This film started off okay and appeared to be trying to develop a plot. The film then takes a turn and seriously appears as though they were making it up as they were shooting. Of note in this film is the appearance of Darren McGavin in about 5 or 6 scenes (although he does get top billing in the credits) and an early appearance in 3 scenes by Jorja Fox from the TV show CSI. Jorja Fox is not the name she uses in this film (she has acted under other names) and I do not know what name she uses in this film since her character is not named. Other than those asides I can find nothing to recommend this movie- Bob

They should have left this one in the vault..........2004-08-25

Being of the adventurous sort, I tend to like to try new things now and then. When Happy Hell Night (1992) appeared on my radar, I thought, "What the heck?" I mean, it does list Darrin McGavin and Sam Rockwell in its' credits, and I usually enjoy those two actors. Well, color me a sucker, because that's what I felt like after spending a grueling 87 minutes on this abominable turkey. It's funny, the blurb on the back of the DVD case touts how this `rarely-seen' film was re-mastered from original vault elements and presented totally uncut and uncensored, like the company that released this to DVD found some kind of lost cinematic gem. Well, after watching it, the reason why this movie was rarely seen became painfully apparent...it stinks...

Written and directed by someone named Brian Owens (his only directing credit), this Yugoslavian/Canadian production suffers from a great many problems. The story is mostly set in a frat house, and centers on some kind of competition between the fraternities with regards to who can pull off the greatest Hell Night (Halloween) prank and win whatever honors that entails. The boys at Phi Delta Kappa have come up with an idea based on an event that happened twenty-five years earlier, involving some kind of black ritual that occurred in a graveyard mausoleum which led to the massacre of like seven people, many of them members of the same fraternity. Incorporating the customary hazing ritual for new members into the prank, the frat decide to send a couple of pledges to the state insane asylum to try and get a photograph of the killer who has been locked away for so many years. The pledges manage to break in, but end up releasing an incomprehensible horror in the form of a killer ghoul and the massacre begins anew, with the fraternity being the focal point. What's the big secret behind the atrocities that happened so many years ago?

Okay, so what did I like about this film? Well, some of the scenes shot on location were pretty good...and that's about it...seriously. I came into this thing expecting so little and I couldn't even get that. The film began with a promising start, but the downhill slide was fast and furious. First, the plot made little sense, and even when I knew what was going on, it still made no sense. There were a few flashbacks in the movie, but the time line was seriously screwy as Sam Rockwell (who was 23 when the film came out) appeared briefly in the film, in the flashbacks, which were supposed to be twenty-five years previous, putting the character's age at about 20. Now Darren McGavin (in his late 60's at the time the film was released) played Rockwell's character in the present day, twenty-five years later. This is about the right amount of suspension of disbelief the makers of this film expect from the audience, a nearly 70 year old man is supposed to represent a 20 year old man after 25 years have past? I didn't even realize the two characters were supposed to be the same guy until the film beat me over the head with the concept.

The killer started out kind of creepy, a small, bald-headed man with lots of white make-up, but any creepiness derived from his appearance was quickly shot as he was given really lame dialogue to speak after each time he murdered someone. The scripter was obviously trying to emulate Freddy Kreuger, and his tongue in cheek quips, but failed miserably. The actual killings themselves were pathetic to say the least, the main weapon being a specialized pick ax climbers use to climb ice. How do you, with surgical accuracy, remove someone's head with a pick ax? And have absolutely no blood whatsoever? And the blood there was looked extremely cheap and was splattered around with no eye for effect, just gratuitous gore. Also, the killer moved around like the laws of physics didn't apply. One minute he'd be in a closet, and then the next scene he is in the basement...it doesn't figure. Something else I found very annoying...characters we met early on would consistently pop up in other scenes already dead. When were they killed? How? There is some nekkidness in the film, but it seems very pointless and apparently present because the director liked looking at nekkid girlies.

The acting ranged from very poor to somewhat capable, but given the garbage script, they all came off looking like morons. And the complete lack of continuity between scenes certainly didn't help, along with one of the more convoluted plots I've seen in a long time. The whole movie seemed like someone filmed a bunch of scenes, and then crammed them together, expecting them to fit. If you can comprehend more than ten minutes of this movie at a time, I'd be surprised. The influences on the director were very obvious, as he completely copied scenes from much better movies, including Halloween (see the scene where the killer gets knocked out a 2nd floor window with a spear gun, seems dead, and then disappears shortly afterwards...Dr. Loomis is rolling over in his grave), Friday the 13th, Phantasm, and Nightmare on Elm Street, to name a few. I am sure if you backed the director in a corner, he'd claim this thievery to be homage, but I just call it complete laziness and lack of originality.

I don't normally like to trash a movie as much as I did here (okay, maybe a little), but when it offers so little (remember, my expectations were low to begin with) and wastes my time in the manner this film did, I feel I have no choice. Anchor Bay does provide a nice looking wide screen anamorphic print, along with an original theatrical trailer for the film, but that's it...if you feel you have to see this film, get it used...I'll sell you my copy.

Cookieman108

Average customer rating:

So, So Double Bill
A Great Buy
Delightfully Demented Double Feature

Fade to Black/Hell Night
Starring: Linda Blair , Vincent Van Patten , Peter Barton , Kevin Brophy , and Jenny Neumann
Director: Tom DeSimone , and Vernon Zimmerman
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AB16Q
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Customer Reviews:

So, So Double Bill.......2007-04-20

I don't see what's the big fuss about these two movies especially Hell Night. The movies were okay with Hell Night being slightly better overall. The one thing which blew me away was AnchorBay's transfers of these titles, which were surprisingly very crisp with vibrant colors and without any imperfections I could detect.

Fade to Black was interesting in its plot but there's not much going on here. It looks like a direct to TV release. It had potential. Well, they both did.

If you have to pay more than $10 for the two, don't waste your time. Seriously!

A Great Buy.......2007-04-17

This release of a double feature dvd is excellent. Remember back in the day we could actually see double features at the movies? Here you get a double sided dvd with the Linda Blair movie Hell Night and the very weird dark movie Fade To Black. It's very worth the price.

Delightfully Demented Double Feature.......2003-11-05

The hip folks at Anchor Bay offer a delightfully demented double feature on a double-sided DVD: The 1980 thriller FADE TO BLACK and the 1981 teen horror film HELL NIGHT.

*****

FADE TO BLACK:

Dennis Christopher, star of 1979's BREAKING AWAY, has the lead role in this wry comment on Hollywood's growing influence over the worldview of average citizens in contemporary Western society. Christopher plays Eric Binford, a young man so obsessed with the cinema that he ultimately blurs the line between reality and the plots of his favorite motion pictures. As his life begins to unravel, Eric looks to the movies for the solutions to his problems, and of course, it's only a matter of time before Eric starts eliminating those "problems" following the example of his favorite movie characters--with murder!

Christopher's over-the-top performance is exuberant and flamboyant, but since his Eric Binford is a person whose behavior is governed by the cinema, such a performance makes the character seem both plausible and sympathetic. Another strong performance is offered by Linda Kerridge as Marilyn O'Connor, the Marilyn Monroe look-alike who is the object of Eric's unrequited love.

Admittedly, the supporting cast is not nearly as strong as Christopher and Kerridge, and a great deal of the dialogue for minor characters is pure caricature. Indeed, if taken too seriously, FADE TO BLACK will come across as cartoonish and the plot will seem outlandish. But if viewed as the Juvenalian satire it is meant to be, the film definitely works. Cinema buffs will enjoy the clips from old classics, and horror fans will get a real kick out of watching Eric commit acts of mayhem and murder while costumed as Dracula and The Mummy.

Viewers who do not appreciate dark satire--and especially those who do not enjoy thriller films--will probably regard FADE TO BLACK as made-for-TV fodder. True, it is not destined to be a classic. But it is definitely an entertaining film, and it's a genuinely fun ride for cinema buffs and devotees of the horror and thriller genres.

*****

HELL NIGHT:

That head-spinning little girl from THE EXORCIST, Linda Blair--now all grown-up and gorgeous and causing all the guys' heads to spin--stars in this surprisingly well-made and entertaining hybrid of the teen slasher film and the gothic ghost story. Blair plays Marti, one in a quartet of college students who are required to spend the night in a dilapidated old mansion as part of the initiation rites for joining a fraternity or its sister sorority. Rumors have it that the mansion is haunted by the sadistic late owner or, even worse, that it may be inhabited by the late owner's hideously deformed and depraved son. Unfortunately for the four Greek-house pledges, some of the rumors are true....

In spite of the bum rap that HELL NIGHT often gets for riding in the wake of John Carpenter's highly successful HALLOWEEN (1978), it is actually a very well-written, literate film that rises above the teen-slasher cliché by combining the sub-genre with elements from the classic ghost-story format. Not only are the teens being pursued by a deformed maniac killer, but all the action takes place within the confines of an old gothic manor house that seems to be afflicted by the supernatural.

HELL NIGHT has some pretty good scares that might make even the seasoned horror buff jump. The sets of the manor house interiors create an appropriately spooky atmosphere, and the creature what does the slashin' is creepy enough to rival both Michael Myers and his cinematic cousins Jason and Freddy. And Marti (Linda Blair) gives the creature his final comeuppance in a most satisfying and grisly way.

Most of the acting in this film is pretty good, too. No stranger to horror films, of course, the beautiful Linda Blair does an excellent job. She comes across as being genuinely frightened, jiggles in all the right places (a necessary requirement for the principal female in teen horror films), and screams quite effectively. Co-star Vincent Van Patten flashes his killer abs and flexes his biceps quite adequately (a requisite for at least one male lead in teen horror films), so he does an adequate job portraying the group's jock. The son of actor Dick Van Patten (better known as the father on TV's EIGHT IS ENOUGH), viewers may also recognize him from his various movie roles (e.g., Tom Roberts in ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL) and TV parts (e.g., the titular role in THE BIONIC BOY and a stint as Christian Page on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS). Also notable is actor Peter Barton, whom many older female viewers may remember swooning over when he played the titular roles on TV's THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR (c. 1982) and, more recently, BURKE'S LAW (c. 1994).

Though they perform quite adequately in HELL NIGHT, most of the other actors are relative unknowns and did not go on to do any other TV or cinema work of note. It is unfortunate that the public has not seen more of Ms. Suki Goodwin, who portrays the fourth member of the quartet of pledges. Not only does her work here indicate that she has talent and potential, she is also quite pretty and has a sexy British accent. If nothing else, it would've been nice to see her become another famous horror-movie scream queen.

HELL NIGHT. It's a slasher flick; it's a ghost story. It's two great sub-genres in one! However it may be categorized, HELL NIGHT is an underappreciated, underrated horror film that deserves a look. Aficionados of the slasher film will love it, but mainstream horror fans will like it, too.

*****

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