Hell Night - The premise sees a bunch of college kids in a "rush" type situation. All the hopefuls who want to get into their fraternity/sorority are required to spend the night in a mansion whose former owner supposedly killed his family and then himself. Said mansion is now allegedly haunted. Of course this is all a setup with fake gags in place. That is, until people actually start dying....
Now, this movie has it's really really really bad moments. There are numerous terrible decisions made; one character seems to have a death wish as he repeatedly wants to investigate strange noises even after dead bodies start turning up. Also, people seem to have multiple lives as they survive things that should have rightfully killed a normal human being ten times over. Our heroine even decides to take a little nap two feet away from the lifeless body of the maniac who has been trying to kill her all evening!!! (Seriously, I wish I were making that one up.) She even seems to head back to the mansion in the cliched walking away scene at the end.... There's also the car that suddenly won't start, the girl who happens to be a machanic and spinning tires on bone dry ground. Plus, getting shot point blank by a shotgun apparently does no damage at all. Let's not forget the obvious; if this is tradition, why did these killings just start now? The list really does go on....
Now I'm sure that having read that you wonder how this movie deserves any attention at all. Well, it still has it's charms, plain and simple. The outdated dialogue and head slapping moments actually add a nice little dose of humor. One character even steals a loaded shotgun from police evidence (which is a table in an unlocked room btw) and proceeds to stroll through town with it without being trouble by a single person. He even car jacks a man, tells him to call the police and where to send them and they still don't show up! Also, the main gate which has been padlocked has a hole in it through which one survivor enters and no one seems to notice it even though it's two feet away.....
There are some very thoughtful moments though as well. The fact that even when making a stupid decision like investigating a strange light, our characters at least have the common sense to arm themselves. Hell, they even choose pointy objects! Also the fact that the acting is quite decent for being an early eighties slasher helps keep us invested. Plus the nice blend of haunted house meets slasher film with a dash of period clothing thrown in adds a fresh twist on the slasher sub genre.
Speaking of which, our female lead is played by none other than genre darling Linda Blair of The Exorcist fame. She's all grown up here and actually carries the movie. She is the one constant throughout and without her this movie would have easily been a complete self parody.
There are also quite a few nice scared thrown in and the movie even manages to build some tension in certain scenes. Now, had the killer been slightly more creepy this movie could have been downright spooky, but even as it stands it serves it's purpose: it entertains! So rent this one, pop it in, have some laughs and enjoy a slice of aged eighties cheese!
Highlight Scene(s) - The multiple chases through the maze like woods certainly grabs our attention. It even bears a resemblance to the albeit superior chase scene from The Shining.
The rooftop showdown complete with rope ladder escape also keeps us on edge. Blair does a great job of making us believe she's not only exhausted but in serious trouble.
The carpet in the bedroom scene... I don't to give away too much, as this was my personal favorite and I feel one of the creepiest moments I've seen in a while. Sufficient to say, it easily reminds us of a particular scene from Halloween...
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