HELL NIGHT (1981)

 

 (Director: Tom DeSimone, billed as Tom De Simone. Screenwriter: Randy Feldman, billed as Randolph Feldman.)

Review

When four costumed Alpha Sigma Rho sorority pledges are compelled to spend the night in Garth Manor, an imposing, abandoned manse where a family massacre took place twelve years prior, they encounter a big, malformed, and tunnel-dwelling survivor (Andy Garth)─a hermit who hunts those who trespass on his property, including the Alpha Sigma Rho members pulling cheesy terror pranks on the pledges.

The pledges: quiet, smart Marti (Linda Blair, THE EXORCIST, 1973); nice guy Jeff (Peter Barton, FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984); funny, smart May (Jenny Neumann); responsible, heroic surfer Seth (Vincent Van Patten).

HELL, despite its solid budget and talent (in front of and behind the screen) is a generic, occasionally suspenseful film─scenes that should be suspenseful, given its production value, come off as tired and thrill-less in the second half of HELL. The actors, whose characters are given a few defining character traits and backgrounds, are largely wasted in their briefly promising, SCOOBY-DOO gang roles (they spend most of the film running around the manor and its grounds, lacking the imagination to stick together and figure out how to escape the grounds). That said, Seth, an action-oriented surfer, has a short, well-written third-act section where he’s a surprisingly effective character. Unfortunately, this is a brief segment, and the film quickly resumes its run-round-in-circles silliness.

The ending is solid, several of its end-shots memorable (Marti, leaning by the broken gate). If this no-explicit nudity, hour-and-forty-minute flick had been twenty-to-thirty minutes shorter and had a little more character development, it would have been a less generic work. (On the plus side, the production employed future screenwriter and director Frank Darabont as a production assistant.)

Unless you’re a fan of any of the actors or looking to watch something to fall asleep to, you can skip HELL.

SUMMER OF FEAR (1978)

 

(a.k.a. STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE; director: Wes Craven. Teleplay by Glenn M. Benest and Max A. Keller, based on Lois Duncan’s 1976 YA novel Summer of Fear.)

Review

When a California family, the Bryants, take in a tragedy-struck, teenage relative (Julia Trent) from the Ozarks they have no idea who they’re harboring. Strange things happen, often to Julia’s cousin, adolescent daughter Rachel Bryant, prompting her to suspect something is off with Julia: why is every male within Julia’s range obsessed with the young new arrival’s every whim? Why does Rachel’s horse, Sundance, act spooked, skittish, around Julia, who quickly evolves from wallflower to beauty in record time?

Rachel’s jealousy and suspicions become alarm when she─suddenly sick and nightmare-stalked─finds odd, crudely made objects and marked up photos of herself hidden amongst Julia’s things. Then those who displease Julia begin dying in rapid succession. Is it too late to stop Julia, who is most assuredly a malefic witch?

Based on Lois Duncan’s 1976 young adult novel, Summer of Fear, this made-for-television movie─then titled STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE in the US─originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1978. (In Europe, it was released theatrically under the title SUMMER OF FEAR.)

As television works go, this is a mostly solid, predictable PG-13 flick (back then it would’ve warranted a PG rating). Wes Craven (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, 1977) helmed this bloodless, often brightly lit movie, with the rest of his cast and crew matching Craven in their competence. I write “mostly solid” because of occasionally clunky dialogue and Plot Convenient Stupidity (PCS) that makes up some of the dialogue and actions of certain characters (e.g., Rachel bluntly confronts Julia, broadcasting how she intends to stop Julia’s dark magick, further endangering Rachel and those she loves).

Fortunately, these are minor nits, given the talent involved in the project, contributors like John D’Andrea and Michael Lloyd (DEVIL’S DEN, 2006), whose spooky soundtrack is impressive for its medium.

Just as impressive is SUMMER’s cast. Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST, 1973) is her usual excellent self as Rachel Bryant. Jeff East (PUMPKINHEAD, 1988) played her brother, Peter, and Jeremy Slate (THE DEAD PIT, 1989) played Tom, her father. Fran Drescher (HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, 2012) played Carolyn Baker, Rachel’s best friend.

Lee Purcell (NECROMANCY, 1972) played Julia Trent. John Steadman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, 1977) played a “Veterinarian.”

SUMMER is an entertaining work if you don’t expect much and can overlook its sometimes-clunky writing and PCS-character moments.