The Daily Dig: Night of Horror (1981)

The only “Night of Horror” you’ll have to worry about is the night you spend watching this talking head snooze fest.

A man in an outdated basement recounts a story about encountering the ghosts of Civil War soldiers and how they tried to steal his girlfriend. Let’s dig into 1981’s NIGHT OF HORROR, directed by Tony Malanowski!

As I See It

I should have known better. It is beyond comprehension how this film inspired anyone to make another film based on the same “story”. But here I am, after sitting through hours of the same thing twice. I’m a bit more cranky, but other than that, I don’t have anything else to show for it.

It’s not that common to have a horror film remade with a bigger budget. A second chance to do what you wanted to, but couldn’t afford or achieve the first go around. Now, we can put this film and its subsequent remake in the same breath as The Evil Dead/Evil Dead II. Sacrilege heals my black soul.

The “story” is told in retrospect, with a couple of fellas hanging out amongst the wood paneling of a nineteen-seventies, Midwest basement. One fella recounts a tall tale of Civil War ghosts thinking his wife was a reincarnated widow of their beheaded captain. So basically, The Mummy ripped off the plot of this film! Sarcasm, I promise.

In all seriousness, the premise has all the makings of a classic ghost story. That deserves a half star.

That comes with a disclaimer, though: in print form! There’s no movie here. A Civil War ghost story that’s NOT set during the Civil War, NOT set a generation removed, NOT involving descendants of soldiers. It’s a long and tedious watch that is all dialogue. The only thing we see is darkness and some faint apparitions.

There’s something to be said about a horror film that succeeds in making you feel like it was a bloody mess without showing a drop of blood. Unfortunately, there was no clever writing here, so talking about the horror doesn’t quite do enough to get any vision across.

The climax is a generic reenactment set to some obscure country rock, and a raspy ghost handles all the exposition. Some things need to be spiced up, like boiled chicken. This would have needed an entire spice rack.

I don’t even know how they stretched this to an hour and a half.

Famous Faces

Not applicable, but as mentioned, there is an appearance of some stellar wood paneling in the basement scene.

Of Gratuitous Nature

You can easily watch this with the kids without worrying about anything uncouth popping up, as long as you can keep their attention. It didn’t even keep mine, though. I think the most gratuitous move here would be to include a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. He was an unwilling collaborator.

Heartthrob

The credits rolling made my heart swell with joy.

Ripe for a Remake

It was remade as The Curse of the Screaming Dead for some Godly reason.

Spawns

See above… and then bury both films deep, deep below.

Where to Watch

Just don’t. If you have to be a contrarian, this film is included on the Vinegar Syndrome release of The Curse of the Screaming Dead. Two films on one disc, you say? That must be a bargain, no? No! It is also on YouTube, full and free.