{"id":12432,"date":"2021-05-24T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/?p=12432"},"modified":"2023-09-29T08:53:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T08:53:56","slug":"horrified-and-loving-it-night-of-the-demon-1957","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/film\/horrified-and-loving-it-night-of-the-demon-1957\/","title":{"rendered":"Night of the Demon (1957)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Night of the Demon<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jenny Davies recalls fond memories of 1957 classic Night of the Demon and how trouble behind the scenes have not detracted from a piece of perfectly crafted storytelling…\u200b<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Even as a child I was always drawn to the occult, the strange and the macabre. Night of the Demon<\/em>\u00a0was one of many horror films my Dad would record for me, and it would become part of my \u2018select few\u2019 – my carefully chosen collection of well-loved VHS tapes, watched repeatedly, sometimes daily if it was the school holidays (yes I was a weird child, I know).<\/b><\/p>

I can remember watching Night of the Demon<\/b><\/i> with my grandad, and he would roar with laughter when the demon appeared, saying you could hear the wheels squeaking as they pushed the figure along on a trolley. I didn\u2019t have the heart to tell him that sound was actually the unearthly chittering of a fire demon. Yes ok, the demon was a bit ropy. Yes, some say that revealing the creature in the first ten minutes of the film ruined the suspense. But to me, that reveal just added to the impending sense of inevitability. We<\/em> know the demon is real, but will our sceptical protagonist John Holden realise before it\u2019s too late?<\/p>

Night of the Demon<\/b><\/em> (UK, Jacques Tourneur, 1957) is the tale of American psychiatrist John Holden (Dana Andrews) and his battle of wills with a satanic cult leader. Holden has come to England to investigate this cult and how it uses powers of persuasion and suggestion to manipulate its followers. Cult leader Julian Karswell (played with villainous relish by Niall MacGinnis) is not a happy chappy about being exposed, and politely warns Holden off. He has already threatened Holden\u2019s colleague Professor Harrington, who upon Holden\u2019s arrival in England has suddenly died in an accident with some power lines \u2018But his body should have only been burned \u2013 it was mutilated, horribly!\u2019 beseeches his niece Joanna (Peggy Cummins) as she warns Holden of the danger he is in. \"night<\/p>

The curse that Karswell places on his enemies gives them three days to live, after which time a fire demon is invoked to brutally kill them. It is the three days of psychological mind games that I love about this curse. It begins with feelings of being followed, hearing strange folk music meant to invoke the devil, unexplainable cold, and even being chased by \u2018a monstrous smoky shape\u2019. Whether Holden believes in witchcraft or not, he is certainly being psyched out.<\/p>

At one point Karswell\u2019s Mother tries to help Holden by calling upon her medium friend Mr Meek to hold a s\u00e9ance. There follows a fantastic scene of comic relief, with Mr Meek\u2019s wife and Karswell\u2019s Mother wailing along to a crackly old gramophone recording of \u2018Cherry Ripe\u2019 to help invoke the spirits. Holden mocks the medium scathingly until Meek is suddenly possessed by the voice of Professor Harrington and warns Holden to drop the investigation. Kate Bush fans will recognise his cry of \u2018The Demon! It\u2019s in the trees! It\u2019s coming!\u2019 as the intro to \u2018Hounds of Love\u2019<\/em>. Perhaps one of the film\u2019s most enduring legacies in pop culture.<\/p>

Night of the Demon<\/b> <\/em>was based on the M.R. James short story Casting the Runes.<\/em> For US audiences it was retitled Curse of the Demon<\/b><\/em>\u00a0to avoid confusion with the similarly titled The<\/i>\u00a0Night of the Iguana<\/em><\/b> (John Huston, 1964)\u00a0The film was allegedly beset by many conflicts. There was an ongoing disagreement between producer Hal E. Chester and director Jacques Tourneur over whether to fully reveal the demon. Then there are many anecdotes about Dana Andrews\u2019 struggle with alcoholism during filming, which threatened to disrupt production altogether. Many have criticised Andrews\u2019 performance in this film, but I find his slightly wooden delivery really enhances his displacement in the world of witchcraft and devil worship. As an American discovering strange British folklore and customs, he really is a stranger in a strange land. \"night<\/p>

Arguably, Niall McGinnis is the star of this production. He has some fantastic pieces of dialogue which he delivers in a perfect Shakespearean baritone: \u2018If it\u2019s not someone else\u2019s life, it\u2019ll be mine. Do you understand, Mother? It\u2019ll be mine\u2019.<\/p>

Diehard fans of the film may like to seek out \u2018Beating the Devil: The Making of Night of the Demon<\/i>\u2019 (Tony Earnshaw, 2005). Now sadly out of print, you can expect to pay upwards of \u00a370 for this fantastic companion book. The very fact that it even spawned such a publication is a testament to the importance of Night of the Demon<\/i><\/b> in British folk horror history. But to me, it will simply always be one of very few films that stands up to multiple rewatches, that never fails to give me chills and to make me hang on to every beautifully crafted line of dialogue.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJenny Davies\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Jenny Davies is an avid horror fan but new to the writing scene, having previously only written a couple of pieces for retro gaming site Adventure Classic Gaming. A busy working Mum, her spare time is spent devouring folk horror in art, literature and film. She loves Stephen King, cats and anything paranormal. Follow her on Twitter @misstwinpeaks79. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jenny Davies recalls fond memories of 1957 classic Night of the Demon and how trouble behind the scenes have not detracted from a piece of perfectly crafted storytelling…\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"normal-width-container","site-content-style":"unboxed","site-sidebar-style":"unboxed","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1844,543],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Untitled-1-e1674158285382.png?fit=948%2C667&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12432"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128235,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12432\/revisions\/128235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}