Remember "Night of the Demon"

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2016)

The idea of passing a curse from one person to another brings to mind the M. R. James short story, "Casting the Runes" which was later made into an excellent horror movie called "Curse of the Demon." In it, the cursed had to pass on a piece of paper with archaic runes and it had to be accepted willingly by the new victim. In this take on the theme, one gains the curse by having sex with the cursed. They are then "followed" by evil entities that only they can see. The movie starts with a girl leaving her house in her nightie, taking off in her car, and sitting on a beach, making one last call to her parents. We then see her mutilated body. The principle character, a pretty young girl, has a relationship with a strange young man. One night, they have sex, and afterward, he chloroforms her and binds her up. He then warns her that he has passed the curse on to her. This sets all kinds of stuff in motion. It is an enjoyable horror movie, given the premise, but there are some plot holes dealing with oversight for these kids and the craziness that surrounds them. They seem to move through their world freely. Also, an event at a swimming pool and its motivation are a little contrived, considering their lack of knowledge. Still, it does a great job of presenting constant psychological threat as the young woman tries to free herself.