Film Review: Night of the Demon (1957)
Night of the Demon (or its trimmed down and re-titled American release version, Curse of the Demon) is just about everything anyone could want in a “B” picture. It’s one of those rare treats that were made with the sole purpose of being a forgettable double feature throwaway but wound up being as unique and intelligent as horror films could be—then and now. French director Jacques Tourneur takes a Film Noir approach and mixes it with a (mostly) believable, if not hokey, witchcraft and satanic panic plot to make one hell of a fun movie. It has genuine scares too, and the monster is the best the 1950s had to offer.
I love these types of movies. If it weren’t for the supernatural element, this could easily be ranked among the finest of Films Noir. Its stark contrast and angular shadows are the definitions of Noir on a formal level, creating atmosphere and ambiance perfect for Noir and horror. On the thematic side, a healthy dose of fatalism is served up cold in that the protagonist is told exactly when he’ll die. The unique part about this is that it’s no crime boss, jilted lover, ex-partner, or police squad who is to do the deed, but a demon summoned by a powerful sorcerer. What’s not to love about that?
The story, based on “Casting the Runes” by M.R. James (first published in 1911), is a great example of just what I love in a supernatural thriller. I’m not familiar with James’s work, but his influence on H.P. Lovecraft (who I’m very familiar with) is obvious and admitted by Lovecraft himself. From ancient and forbidden tomes to seances, to cultists dedicated the whims of their blasphemous leaders, Night of the Demon has it all. There’s one aspect of Lovecraftian horror, however, that rarely gets much coverage in these types of stories–insanity. According to Lovecraft, when the veil is pulled back to reveal the hidden and horrible truths of the universe, the human mind is ill-equipped to handle this knowledge. Before long, they’re driven mad from the cosmic horror before them. In Tourneur’s film (along with writers Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester), we are witness to just that. it’s very likely the cult leader is insane, but with the addition of the hypnotism scene, it’s clear that many of his loyal cultists are as well. For nerds like me, this is utterly irresistible.
Another fun subversion present in Night of the Demon is that the villain—the evil occultist Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis)—has admitted to his role in the murder of Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham), it’s just that nobody believes that he summoned a demon to tear the man to shreds. It’s as if he wants the world to fear him and his power, but no one will because his claims are too outrageous. I imagine that’s very frustrating for an aging, eccentric, and rich dark wizard.
I’ll point out one more thing I found interesting about Night of the Demon. Because Tourneur shows us the monster in the first few minutes (something, it’s said, he was vehemently against), we know it’s “real.” This is interesting because it puts the hero, a skeptic and expert debunker named Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews), in the unique position of having us know he’s wrong—despite Joanna (Peggy Cummins) and Mrs. Karswell (Athene Seyler) continuously telling him otherwise. He goes through the entire film with classic unmovable male bravado and certainty, but he’s wrong all along. His adherence to his beliefs often make him look foolish and out of touch (within the world Tourneur has created anyway). He’s pig-headed and a bit oafish, and when his mind is finally changed by the events he witnesses (gasp! the women were right!), he still manages to play it like it’s everyone else who’s been wrong and he’s the one who’s finally talked sense into them. Great stuff.
Night of the Demon is better than most modern horror. Yes, it has that 50s hokeyness, but the story is solid and so are the effects. Supposedly, as I’ve mentioned, Tourneur was opposed to revealing the demon so early in the film, but in doing so, he showed us the stakes. Holden’s plight to disprove the prediction of his demise wouldn’t have worked if we hadn’t known, hadn’t seen, that Karswell was, in fact, capable of his claims. That, and it’s a great looking demon. It would have been a shame to only have seen it until the end.
