Night Of The Demon (1957)
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Horror Movies & Sci-Fi Movies Database
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02.20.09
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American psychologist John Holden arrives in London to participate in a symposium aiming to expose witchcraft and devil-worship as a fraud, with attention centered on a cult run by a Julian Karswell. Debarking his plane, Holden learns that the symposium leader, Henry Harrington, has suddenly died and he is now in charge. What only the audience knows is that Harrington was clearly killed by a demon, apparently summoned by Karswell to avenge his persecution. Despite both threatening and cajoling behavior by Karswell, Holden determines to proceed, though the only cult member willing to talk about his experiences is in a prison psychiatric ward, catatonic after allegedly killing yet another cult member. However, Harrington's niece, Joanna, believes, based on her uncle's notes, that Karswell may indeed have some satanic powers derived from an ancient tome in an obscure language which he has been able to translate, and attempts to warn the skeptic Holden. Karswell's mother also attempts to warn Holden off. However, the thing which begins to most get to Holden are the occasional, but mounting, sensory and mental disturbances he begins experiencing after an encounter with Karswell, and the discovery that, during this encounter, Karswell secretly slipped a slip of parchment with a curse in runic symbols on it into Holden's belongings, a parchment identical to one Harrington recorded having had passed to him in a similar manner shortly before his death... [N.B. Holden at no point stays at the Karswell estate].
Movie Tagline:
Who will be the next in line to defy the curse?
Also Known As:
Curse of the Demon
Title: Night Of The Demon
Release Date: July , 1958
Runtime: 95 mins
Genre: Fantasy
All Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Languages: English
Country: UK
Colors: Black and White
Sound: Mono
IMDB Rating: 7.7
Buried.com Rating: 8.7 - (Rate This Horror Movie at Buried.com)
Category: Horror Movies Starting With N
MPAA Rating: Approved
Director(s):
Jacques Tourneur
Cast:
Dana Andrews ...Dr. John Holden
Peggy Cummins ...Joanna Harrington
Niall MacGinnis ...Dr. Julian Karswell
Maurice Denham ...Professor Henry Harrington
Athene Seyler ...Mrs. Karswell
Liam Redmond ...Professor Mark O'Brien
Reginald Beckwith ...Mr. Meek
Ewan Roberts ...Lloyd Williamson
Peter Elliott ...Professor K.T. Kumar
Rosamund Greenwood ...Mrs. Meek
Brian Wilde ...Rand Hobart
Richard Leech ...Inspector Mottrarn
Lloyd Lamble ...Detective Simmons
Peter Hobbes ...Superintendent
Charles Lloyd Pack ...Chemist (as Charles Lloyd-Pack)
John Salew ...Librarian
Janet Barrow ...Mrs. Hobart (deleted from US print)
Percy Herbert ...Farmer (deleted from US print)
Lynn Tracy ...Air Hostess (deleted from US print)
Ballard Berkeley ...1st Reporter
Shay Gorman ...Narrator (voice)
John Harvey ...Hobart's Brother
Walter Horsbrugh ...Bates, the Butler
Michael Peake ...2nd Reporter
Leonard Sharp ...Ticket Collector
Remaining Cast:
Producer(s):
Frank Bevis
Hal E. Chester
Writer(s):
M.R. James
Charles Bennett
Hal E. Chester
Cy Endfield
Composer(s):
Clifton Parker
More Movie Taglines:
- Who will be the next in line to defy the curse?
- Horror! Most terrifying story the screen has ever told!
- Chosen... singled out to die... victim of his imagination or victim of a demon?
- Sceptical? Don't make up your mind till you see this masterpiece of the macabre!
- Terrifying!! All the Dark Forces of Black Magic ... Hurled Against a Man And a Woman Who Dare To Scoff!
- What horrific fate will befall those who defy the Night of the Demon
Movie Quote(s):
- Professor Harrington: It's in the trees! It's coming!
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Dr. John Holden: I see you practice white magic as well as black. Dr. Julian Karswell: Oh yes, I don't think it would be too amusing for the youngsters if I conjured up a demon from hell for them.
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Dr. Julian Karswell: You get nothing for nothing.
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Dr. Julian Karswell: Listen, mother. You believe in the supernatural. I've shown you some of its power and some of its danger. Mrs. Karswell: Yes, Julian. Dr. Julian Karswell: Well, believe this also. You get nothing for nothing. This house, the land, the way we live. Nothing for nothing. My followers who pay for this do it out of fear. And I do what I do out of fear also. It's part of the price. Mrs. Karswell: But if it makes you unhappy. Stop it. Give it back. Dr. Julian Karswell: How can you give back life? I can't stop it. I can't give it back. I can't let anyone destroy this thing. I must protect myself. Because if it's not someone else's life, it'll be mine. Do you understand, mother? It'll be mine.
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Dr. John Holden: Joanna, let me tell you something about myself. When I was a kid, I used to walk down the street with the other kids and when we came to a ladder they'd all walk around it. I'd walk under it, just to see if anything would happen. Nothing ever did. When they'd see a black cat they'd run the other way to keep it from crossing their path. But I didn't. And all this ever did for me is make me wonder why, why people get so panicky about absolutely nothing at all. I've made a career studying it. Maybe just to prove one thing. That I'm not a superstitious sucker like ninety per cent of humanity.
Movie Trivia:
- This is the movie that the line "It's in the trees! It's coming!" was sampled from for the opening of Kate Bush song "The Hounds of Love".
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This film was mentioned in the opening song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) ("Science Fiction Double Feature"): "Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, but passing them used lots of skill".
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Dana Andrews was so impressed with director Jacques Tourneur that when he returned to the United States he had Tourneur direct his next film, The Fearmakers (1958).
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In interviews regarding this film, Dana Andrews credits the story to Oliver Onions. The story is actually based on "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James.
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Beginning in the 1980s, Columbia Pictures replaced their edited 83-minute U.S. version with the uncut original 95-minute version while retaining the U.S. title "Curse of the Demon." The various video releases, and pay-tv showings, have used this restored version. A DVD release contained both versions.
IMDB Links:
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» More information at imdb.com
Keywords:
Cult, Curse, Witchcraft, Demon, Deep Focus ...[more]
Keywords All:
England, Torn Clothes, Satanic Cult, Electrocution, Airplane, Science Versus Supernatural, Library, Animal Attack, Magic Act, Cat, Seance, Catatonia, Snakes And Ladders, Occult, Based On Story, Lightning, Stonehenge, Suicide, Black Magic, Magician, London England, Prediction, Clown Magician, Fall From Height, Wind Storm, Mansion, Magic, Hypnotism, Investigation, Party, Clown Makeup, Supernatural Power, Parapsychology, Ambulance, Leopard, Mother Son Relationship
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Rating: 8.7 out of 10.0 - 68 votes cast total
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