- "Now the fun begins."
- ―Scott
| Hell Night | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Hell Night |
| Director: | Tom De Simone |
| Writers: | Randolph Feldman |
| Producers: | Joseph Wolf; Chuck Russell; Irwin Yablans; Bruce Cohn Curtis |
| Composer: | Dan Wyman |
| Cinematography: | Mac Ahlberg |
| Editors: | Tony Di Marco |
| Production | |
| Distributed by: | BLT Productions Media Home Entertainment Compass International Pictures |
| Released: | August 28th, 1981 |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 101 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $1,400,000 [1] |
| Gross: | $2,300,000 [2] |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Hell Night is an American independent feature film of the slasher subgenre. It was directed by Tom De Simone with a script written by Randolph Feldman. The movie was produced by BLT Productions, Media Home Entertainment, and Irwin Yablans' company, Compass International Pictures. It received limited theatrical release on August 7th, 1981, but expanded to national release in the United States on August 28th, 1981. The premise of the film involves a group of college fraternity students who induct potential pledges by hazing them inside of an old abandoned manor. Naturally, there's a psycho on the loose who begins picking people off one by one. Hell Night stars Linda Blair in the lead role of Marti Gaines, with Peter Barton as Jeff Reed, Vincent Van Patten as Seth, Suki Goodwin as Denise Dunsmore, Kevin Brophy as Peter Bennett, Jimmy Sturtevant as Scott, and Jenny Neumann as Mary West.
Plot[]
During a college costume party, Peter prepares to initiate four new pledges into Alpha Sigma Rho. The four consist of Jeff, a boy from an opulent upbringing, Marti, an intelligent girl from a poor background, Denise, a promiscuous, heavy drinking party-girl, and Seth, a stoner and surfer from California. The group are forced to spend the night in Garth Manor, an abandoned mansion once owned by a man named Ramon Garth, who murdered his wife and three deformed children; following the murders, Garth hanged himself. While Garth had a fourth child, Andrew, his body was never found and legend states that Andrew still lurks within the mansion.
Peter and the rest of the students drive the four pledges up the mansion, leaving them alone at the gates. Seth and Denise leave Marti and Jeff alone to go have sex. The two discuss their contrasting backgrounds, before the windows in the parlor suddenly burst open and an apparition frightens Marti. In reality, Peter, along with two other students: May and Scott, have set up scares all over the mansion to frighten the pledges. While walking around the side of the house, May is pulled down a hole, where she is murdered by an unseen assailant, who violently decapitates her. Following this, Scott is also murdered by the same figure on the roof. Peter attempts to prank Denise, but she is oblivious to his efforts. He goes to search for Scott, only to discover his body strung up on the roof. He flees and attempts to escape through the fence with his key, only to be attacked by an unknown assailant. He runs into a nearby hedge maze where he and the audience realize there are two assailants. Unable to find his way out, one of them murders him with a scythe.
In the house, the four pledges quickly discover the tricks and pranks set up around the mansion for them. Seth and Denise return to the bedroom to have sex and consume drugs; Seth leaves Denise alone to use the restroom, only to return and discover May's severed head under the sheets. Panicked, Seth jumps the mansion gates to alert the police. Marti and Jeff also discover Scott's body, before Marti locks herself in one of the bedrooms, while Jeff goes to investigate a light in the hedge maze. He enters the maze, where he finds Peter's remains. He flees back to the house to inform Marti of the murder, and the pair theorize that Andrew Garth could be behind the murders.
While their backs are turned, a large figure begins to emerge from the floor behind them. Armed with a pitchfork, Jeff wounds the assailant, who seemingly disappears. They remove the rug, only to discover a trap door through which the assailant has fled. The couple descends into the tunnels below, in which they discover Denise's corpse, along with the preserved remains of Garth's family members.
Suddenly, a large and disfigured man appears and pursues them. Jeff attempts to subdue the man, who knocks him down a flight of steps, badly injuring him. Another killer appears, surprising the couple. The Garth brothers corner Marti and Jeff, but they are able to escape through a concealed door, fleeing back to the bedroom.
Seth finally arrives at the local police station, begging for help. The police do not take his claims seriously, believing him to be drunk, and ask him to leave. Seth pretends to leave the police station, only to take a shotgun and some bullets, before escaping through a window. He hijacks a vehicle from a civilian, informing him that he is going to Garth Manor. Seth arrives back at the mansion, where he is ambushed by one of the Garth brothers; they struggle, before Seth shoots and kills him. Alerted by the noise, Jeff and Marti meet him in the entryway of the mansion, where the other killer appears and attacks Seth, dragging him into an unlit corner of the room. Marti and Jeff are frightened by gunfire and Marti attempts to recover the shotgun. Andrew Garth emerges from the darkness and pursues Marti and Jeff through the house and back to the bedroom, where they barricade the door. Jeff urges Marti to escape out a window. Before he can follow suit, Andrew breaks through the door and hurls him to the ground below, killing him.
A frightened Marti enters the hedge maze, where she finds Peter's corpse. She pries the keys from his fingers, before escaping. She is able to get through the gates using the keys, before attempting to escape in Seth's stolen vehicle. She successfully hot-wires the vehicle, but is ambushed by Andrew who jumps on the roof of the vehicle. He smashes the windshield and a struggle ensues, resulting in one of the spiked gates being knocked over. Marti sees the gate and accelerates, impaling and killing Andrew. Marti loses consciousness.
Waking in the morning as the sun rises over the mansion, Marti emerges from the car with Andrew still impaled, and walks away.
Cast[]
Appearances[]
Featured characters
Supporting characters
Villains
Minor characters
- Dan Williams
- Driver
- Lee Tom
- Lillian Garth (As a skeleton only)
- Margaret Garth (As a skeleton only)
- Raymond Garth (As a skeleton only)
- Suzanne Garth (As a skeleton only)
- Virgil Garth (In a painting only)
Organizations
Races & Animals
Locations
- Garth Manor
- Hillsdale (Referenced only)
Items
Vehicles
Powers
Injuries
- Broken neck
- Decapitation
- Gunshot victims
- Hangings
- Head injury
- Head twisted around
- Impalement
- Severed head
- Slit throat
- Stabbings
- Throat injury
Miscellaneous
Notes & Trivia[]
- Hell Night (1981) redirects to this page.
- The tagline to this film is "Pray for day!"
- There are a total of eleven credited cast members in this film.
- Production on Hell Night began on November 24th, 1980. Filming last until after January, 1981. [7][8]
- Hell Night was first released to home video in VHS format in 1982 by Media Home Entertainment. It was later pressed to DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment and released in Region 1 format on August 31st, 1999.
- Hell Night was released on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray by Shout! Factory on January 2nd, 2018. It includes news interviews with the complete cast including Linda Blair, Peter Barton, Vincent Van Patten, Suki Goodwin, Kevin Brophy and Jenny Neumann. [9]
- This is the final film released by Compass International Pictures. They are also known for producing the 1978 slasher film Halloween.
- The song that is playing at the Alpha Sigma Rho party at the beginning is "Theme Song from Hell" by Leza Miller.
- In the beginning credits, the writer is credited before the producers. This is very uncommon. Usually opening credits end with the writer and then the director.
- Director Tom DeSimone is credited as Tom De Simone in this film.
- Screenwriter Randy Feldman is credited as Randolph Feldman in this film.
- Actor Carey Fox, who plays Dan Williams, is credited as Cary Fox in this film. Dan's character is identified as "Younger cop" in the film's credits.
- Actor Ron Gans, who plays the motorist that Seth carjacks, is credited as Ronald Gans in this film.
- Frank Darabont worked as a production assistant on this film. He would go on to become a film director of some renown as well as the series developer for AMC's The Walking Dead.
- The actors who portray the film's antagonists, Andrew and Morris Garth are uncredited and unidentified in this film.
- Actress Linda Blair is best known for playing Regan MacNeil in the 1973 horror movie The Exorcist and its 1977 sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic.
- Actress Linda Blair is the recipient of the Razzie Award for the category of Worst Actress for her role in Hell Night.
- The house used for Garth Manor is the Kimberly Crest House and Gardens located in Redlands, California. It is registered as a California Historical Landmark.
- The setting for this film is never made clear, but given that it was filmed in California, this database is going to presume that California is an accurate in-story location.
- The actors who portray deformed brothers Andrew and Morris Garth are uncredited. Their identities are unknown.
- Hell Night is Tom De Simone's first legit film after a decade of directing pornographic films. For horror movies, this is not as uncommon as you might think. Other luminaries of the genre who dabbled in the T&A adult film industry include Wes Craven of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame and Danny Steinmann of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.
Body Count[]
- May West: Decapitated with unidentified bladed weapon. (27:52)
- Scott: Neck twisted around. (35:50)
- Peter Bennett: Impaled with a sickle (48:08)
- Denise Dunsmore: Throat slit. Killed offscreen. (1:19:19)
- Morris Garth: Shot twice in the chest by Seth shotgun. (1:26:59)
- Seth: Yeeted offscreen. Possibly shot. (1:28:09)
- Jeff Reed: Thrown off balcony by Andrew. (1:32:50)
- Andrew Garth: Impaled on gate spikes by Marti. (1:37:15)
Survivors[]
Note: Does not include characters who had no direct interaction with the Garth brothers.
Recommendations[]
1980s horror films
External Links[]
- Hell Night at AMG
- Hell Night at IMDB
- Hell Night at Wikipedia
- Hell Night at Themoviedb.org
- Hell Night at Rotten Tomatoes
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Rockoff, Adam (2002). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-46932-1.
- ↑ The Numbers.com; Hell Night (1981). Theatrical performance, Domestic Box Office.
- ↑ This is a conjectural identification taken from the character's name badge, which is partially obscured in the film.
- ↑ This is a conjectural identification. The surname Williams can be partially seen on his name badge. Lee Tom refers to him as Dan in the character's first scene.
- ↑ Not to be confused with the real world Metropolitan Police Department, which is based out of Washington, D.C..
- ↑ Unverified. The film was shot in California, so this database is going to presume that the events of the film take place there as well.
- ↑ IMDB; Hell Night (1981); Filming locations.
- ↑ Bruce Cohn Curtis; (1999). Hell Night Audio commentary (DVD). Anchor Bay Entertainment.
- ↑ Amazon.com; Hell Night (1981); Collector's Edition Blu-ray. Product details.