Hell Night
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Movie Reviews of Hell Night
Movie Review: One of the 4 Stars
Hell Night is an outstanding film, in my eyes it is one of the best slasher movies that was made. I also believe Linda Blair performance was even better than the Excorcist.Movie Review: Great 80's flick
Summary: 4 Stars
HELL NIGHT is an 80's horror flick that still works today. It still managed to make me jump! If you're a horror an then get this one!Movie Review: 2.75 STARS: Not great, but pretty good nonetheless, especially for its type.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been looking all over for this movie named "Hell Night" starring Linda Blair. I had heard a lot about this movie and hoping for the best, I purchased this movie with the idea that I may have found a horror movie that had been lost in a sea of poorly done horror flicks like a diamond in the rough or a needle in the haystack. Well, I can not honestly say that I did find that "diamond in the rough", but I did find a pretty good horror movie, all things considered, especially for this type of flick.
As you may have guessed, "Hell Night" takes place in one night and that is rather unique...nevertheless, there is some light character development that allows you to identify with the characters involved. The acting and directing of this movie were pretty average for this type of flick, but the storyline was pretty good and somewhat imaginitive as well. Basically, "Hell Night" is about a fraternity and sorority house initiation like thing where several pledges must spend the night in this mansion where some very terrible things happened once including several members of a family being murdered. Well, needless to say, no one really believed that anything dangerous could be present at this place, but indeed, there was. In fact, several of the fraternity members felt that they needed to set up a lot of pranks designed to scare the pledges, but as I said, there was something all too scary already present at this house.
Indeed, this evil presence makes itself known in a very violent way as it kills several of the students and a pretty decent cat and mouse chase ensues and I thought it was pretty well done. It is not as good as some of the other 80's slashers, but this movie has an original charm all its own and for that reason, I think it deserves more credit than it is given. I would say that although they are very different, "Hell Night" is right up there with "My Bloody Valentine" with regard to its effectiveness as a horror movie.
"Hell Night" is not a "must own" or a classic, but it is a fairly solid horror-slasher flick that is not very well known and would be a pretty good horror movie to rent if you are looking for something a little bit different but not too outrageous that it becomes stupid like some of the new horror movies coming out in today's theatres.
Movie Review: Guilty pleasure
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a surprisingly effective little semi-chestnut from the "glory days," if that's the term, of slasher flicks. Just as "Nightmare on Elm Street" raised itself, somewhat, above the genre with a nifty touch of psychology, "Hell Night" raises itself through clever scares and good production values (although its essential cheapness is evident whenever a candle flame or other light source is reflected in the camera lens rather than being filtered out), and through mostly sympathetic and likable characters. It is also intriguing to see that Frank Darabont, who would later go on to acclaim for his scripts, does technical work on this movie.The plot is simple: four college fraternity/sorority pledges must spend one night in a decrepit mansion, on the 12th anniversary of the last tenant's massacre of his entire family, save for his youngest child. Of course, it is still believed that said child still lives in the house, which comes equipped with trap doors, tunnels, and secret rooms, a belief that, as the pledges find out to their dismay, is correct.
Despite her top billing, Linda Blair really isn't the star; she shares the screen equally with the rest of the major cast. She plays an appealingly sweet-but-smart heroine, and though she's hardly a beauty (and would be considered obese by today's standards), she looks downright luscious in her cleavage-baring Bo Peep getup, with her normally frizzy hair in a bun. Blair and Peter Barton interact so well together that you scarcely notice that Barton could give Rob Lowe a run for his money in the pretty-boy department, nor his badly-dated early 80s haircut. The scenes where they talk to each other about their respective backgrounds are actually interesting, and you want them to end up together.
The film is light on nudity and sex (two mostly-clad characters do little but roll around on top of a bed, giggling) and is surprisingly mild on swearing. However, the scares are bloody and well-executed, no pun intended, building up to a climax that does not disappoint.
It's worth a look.
Movie Review: Classic slasher, with a great killer
Summary: 3 Stars
[good things]
First off I will point out two things that I personally liked. One being Linda Blair (definitely not as much as I liked her in Savage Streets). She was still hot, and did a great job in the movie. Second, I also liked Peter Barton (Doug in Friday The 13th IV) in this, and again, Peter did a phenomenal job.
Other things that I really liked was the story. The whole underground tunnel thing, really. The killer was also really scary, and one of the things I can remember faintly about this when I watched it as a kid was the killer. If you get past all of the slow and boring parts of the movie, these are the things that really stuck out for me.
As far as memorable kills go, there weren't many, but the head decapitation was not only very well done, but very impressive.
[the bad]
The whole Fraternity/Sorority thing (even at this time, and especially now) was already done. The intro to the movie was very familiar, and very similar to the beginning of Terror Train, which was a better movie all together. The beginning also delivered the slowest and boring 25 minutes of the movie.
[final thoughts]
The first time I saw this movie, it must have been 1985, it scared the crap out of me. I rented it a second time in 1990 with the same results. Watching it again in 2006, it didn't have nearly as much as an impact as it did back then, but it was still a fun watch. Much like Terror Train, the movie starts off slow. I compare it to Terror Train, because I felt that both openings were very similar.
This time aound, I really didn't find the movie as great as I once did, but I grew to appreciate the characters played by Linda Blair and Peter Barton a lot more. The movie does supply us with a pretty creepy killer, one that looks pretty insane. It also proves us with some really neat kill, however without much blood.