Hell Night is a 1981 American independent horror film (with elements of Creature Features). Tom DeSimone directed the film, which was written by Randy Feldman and stars Linda Blair. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing ("hell night") set in an old manor, during which a deformed maniac terrorizes and murders many of the college students.
Future film director Chuck Russell, who would helm the remake of The Blob in 1988 and 2002's The Scorpion King, served here as an executive producer.
Plot
Peter Bennett, the president of the Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity, is making four pledges: Marti, Jeff, Seth, and Denise stay at Garth Manor until dawn on hell night.
Twelve years ago to the day, Raymond Garth strangled his wife Lillian to death in the house and then proceeded to murder all of his children (as they each had deformities). After that, he hanged himself. However, police never found the body of the youngest Garth child, Andrew (or for that matter his brother, Morris). Local legend states that Andrew witnessed the murder of his entire family and may still be living within the manor.
Scott and May assist Peter in attempting to scare the pledges until an unknown prowler begins killing the teens.
When Seth finally manages to kill the mysterious man, another creature attacks him and drags him away.
It also kills Jeff and attacks Marti. But she is able to kill the creature after have understood it was Andrew or Morris Garth, as well as the other creature was one of them.
It is unknown if Seth was only injured by Andrew/Morris (he's just disappeared and we never see him dead) or if the creature really killed him. Then it is unknown if Marti is the only survivor.
Cast
- Linda Blair as Marti Gaines
- Vincent Van Patten as Seth
- Kevin Brophy as Peter Bennett
- Jenny Neumann as May West
- Suki Goodwin as Denise Dunsmore
- Jimmy Sturtevant as Scott
- Peter Barton as Jeff Reed
Production
Filming Hell Night took only 40 days. The majority of the movie was shot in three locations: The outside of Garth Manor was shot at a mansion in Redlands, California. (The Kimberly Crest mansion was converted from a private residence to a museum shortly after filming was completed.) The hedge maze was brought in as there was no actual garden maze on the mansion property. The inside of Garth Manor was filmed in a residential home in Pasadena, California. The frat party was filmed in an apartment lobby in Los Angeles, California. The many underground tunnels filmed in the movie were actually no more than two corridors in which the director had the actors running repeatedly through from different angles.
For the scene where Jeff is thrown down a flight of stairs and hurt his leg, there was not a lot of acting involved. In reality, actor Peter Barton had really hurt himself and most of his limping was due to being in real physical pain.
Reception
Linda Blair was nominated for a 1981 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.
See Also
List of deaths in Hell Night (1981)
External links
- Review of the film and 1999 DVD release at Horrordvds.com.
- The mansion/museum used for exteriors
Hell Night (1981) at the Internet Movie Database- Template:Amg movie
- Review at Popcorn Pictures
