HELL NIGHT

US, 1981, 101 minutes, Colour.
Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten.
Directed by Tom de Simone.

Hell Night is yet another variation on Friday the 13th. and Halloween formulas - from the producer of Halloween. It is comparatively low-key compared with some of the other films focusing generally on four people in the modern equivalent of a haunted house. Linda Blair, dressed in Victorian costume for the Hell Night, is a heroine who eventually is able to survive and show herself a strong heroine. The rest of the college students are the predictable stereotypes. A reviewer commented that the plot sacrificed sense to shock values. This is true - with very little explanation apart from the opening gory horror story told to the gathered students, for what goes on. Nevertheless, the film is above average of its type with better characterisation, some shocks and scares and the valiant heroine.

1. The appeal of this kind of horror story? Nightmare? Confronting fears? The bestial mutant and the horror story of the Garth family? The haunted house? Murders? The boy who cried wolf? The value of the horror film in confronting audiences with their nightmares?

2. The conventions of Halloween and Friday the 13th. and their popularity in the late 170s, early 180s? The college group, the monstrous killer, the murders and chases, the surviving heroine? Stereotype characters?

3. The conventions of this kind of horror film? How well used? Better than average or not?

4. The structure of the film: the explanation of the Hell Night, the establishing of the characters, their being put in a haunted house, the various frights, the deaths, the emergence of Andrew Garth, the crisis situations, survival?

5. How credible the situation: college and the Hell Night? The haunted house with the bodies in the cellar, the rampaging monster - and the police not knowing about it! The electronic tricks and the real killings? The police and their disbelief of the students? The attempts at destroying the monster and the deaths of the young men?

6. The convention of the night for the students, the irony of the title? Fears of haunted houses?

7. The establishing of the situation: university, the party, the party mood, the haunted house and the various tricks?

8. The deaths of the tricksters and their horror?

9. The establishing of the four main characters: Denise and Seth and the mistake of name, talk about surfing, sexuality? Denise's death? Seth to the rescue, people not believing him, his seeming to kill Andrew, the suddenness of his death? The contrast with Marti and Seth? Quieter, more respect, tentative romance? The surprise of Seth's death?

10. Moving outside the house with Jeff seeking help, the police station, the car?

11. Marti as heroine - strong, frightened, Denise as her friend, coping in the house, the chases round the house and gardens, the deaths, her knowledge of cars, the gate and the key, the monster on the car, the final impaling?

12. The appeal of this kind of film? To what audience? Exploitation of violence? The quality of the horror film?