"Night of the Demon" review

Night of the Demon (1980)

Director: James C. Wasson
Writer: Mike Williams

Joy Allen
Bob Collins
Barrett Cooper ... Reverend McGinty
Michael Cutt ... Prof. Dixon (as Michael J. Cutt)
Shane Dixon ... Monster
Lynn Eastman-Rossi ... Susan Nugent (as Lynn Eastman)
Melanie Graham ... Crazy Wanda
Jennifer West ... Van girl

A professor takes a bunch of students into the woods to find Bigfoot. Along the way, the group flashes back on various gory murders that the monster has committed. You'd think that the stories of blood and guts would discourage them from finding the beast. Nope. They want it all. Unfortunately for the group, Bigfoot doesn't like to be tracked down and proceeds to rip and tear his way through his loyal admirers.

"Night of the Demon" is the goriest Bigfoot movie ever made. It looks cheap but the gallons of blood flying around make up for its low production values. The best scene has Bigfoot attacking two girl scouts. You'll know that they're girl scouts because they wear bright white T-shits that say GIRL SCOUTS on them. The scouts are carrying knives so Bigfoot grabs their wrists and makes them stab each other over and over. Good thing they wore those t-shirts so Bigfoot could know who he's slaughtering.

There are plenty of other quality gore scenes in "Night of the Demon" for the viewer to enjoy. One scene has some dolt in a sleeping bag being swung around like a rag until Bigfoot gets bored and slams him into a tree. Another scene has a guy going to the bathroom on Bigfoot's head. This does not sit well with the monster. He proceeds to reach out and relieve him of his offending male appendage. Needless to say, I had to rewind each of these scenes so I could enjoy the Bigfoot bloodbath again.

"Night of the Demon" might very well be the best Bigfoot movie ever made. That's really not saying much as there has never been a movie that captured the beauty and grace of this bloodthirsty monster legend. Of course you couldn't really say that "Night of the Demon" is a well made movie in the technical sense, (bad acting, shoddy effects, etc), but it has enough outrageous gore scenes to make it worth watching. Gory and fun, this Bigfoot deserves a look.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 GIRL SCOUTS