Night of the Demon
Tags: paranormal, cult

Plot synopsis:
Before the credits, there is footage of a stone circle with a voiceover concerning demon worship and witchcraft over the centuries which still endure today.The film starts with Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) drving through the night to Lufford Hall, the magnificent residence of Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) with whom he pleads to "call it off". Karswell, noticing the time, ushers Harrington out and telling him he will do all he can.As he arrives home Harrington hears a strange noise and through the night can see a huge demon approaching. He attempts to drive away but reverses his car in to an electricity pole, staggers out of it and is caught in the sparking cables as the demon reaches down to claw at his body.Cut to the interior of an aeroplane where Dr. Holden (Dana Andrews) is attempting to sleep. Over his face is a newspaper and visible is an article headlined "Prominent Psychologist Flies to London for International Convention" bears his photograph. In the seat behind him is a young woman -- Joanna Harrington (Peggy Cummins).Holden is met at the airport and discusses the convention he is attending with waiting journalists. Meanwhile Joanna Harrington attempts unsuccessfully to telephone Professor Harrington's house.Holden meets up with two of his fellow delegates Professors Mark O'Brien (Liam Redmond) and K.T. Kumar (Peter Elliot). O'Brien and Holden discuss the case of Rand Hobart (Brian Wilde) -- a member of the Karswell "devil cult" which Holden intends to denounce at the conference. Hobart is in a lunatic asylum for murder, although he claims that the killing was done by a demon. Under hypnosis Hobart has produced a drawing of a demon which bears striking similarities to various other drawings of demons produced over the centuries.The telephone rings and it is Karswell, who attempts to warn Holden off.The following morning Holden goes to the reading room of the British Museum, where he discovers that 'The True Discoveries of the Witches and Demons' --- mentioned in Prof. Harrington's notes --- is missing.In the reading room, Karswell approaches him and offers to let Holden use his library of books on witchcraft and demonology --- which includes a copy of 'The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons', inviting him to visit him at Lufford Hall. Karswell gives Holden a card, and "accidentally" upsets the papers on his desk, apologises and hands them back to him. He leaves. Holden looks at the card and finds that as well as karswell's name and address it also has "In memoriam Henry Harrington allowed two weeks" in glowing letters. He watches Karswell walk away and is suddenly overcome with dizziness and blurred vision. He shows the card to an assistant in the library, but the "In memoriam..." text has disappeared. He next takes the card to a chemist (Chalres Lloyd Pack) who can find nothing wrong with the card.Cut to the church in which the funderal of Professor Harrington is being held. Holden and Joanna Harrington recognise each other from the aeroplane. Joanna tells Holden that they must speak and they meet at Holden's hotel that evening. She advises Holden to drop his investigation of the Karswell cult.She reads from her uncle's Diary, where he recounts that Karwell gave him a concert programme which contained a parchment with runes written on it, which acted as if it were alive and flew in to the fire and was burned; and that ever since he has been pursued by strange lights and has had various other signs of the supernatural. The chemist telephones Holden to inform him that the card on which he saw the writing has come back clean: there is no sign of any ink on the card.Holden and Joanna Harrington drive out to Lufford Hall, where they find Karswell performing magic tricks for a group of children. Holden and Karswell talk about 'The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons', which Karswell informs Holden was written in cypher, and that he has de-cyphered. Holden continues to be sceptical, so Karswell offers to conjure a wind-storm. He concentrates for a few seconds and a tremendous storm appears from nowhere.Karswell and Holden run indoors to avoid the storm. Karswell explains to Holden that -- like Prof. Harrington before him -- he has put a curse on him, which will lead to his death three days hence. Meanwhile Karswell's mother (Athene Sayler) is showing Joanna Harrington Karswell's copy of a book (presumably 'The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons'), which neither of them can understand. Holden and Joanna Harrington leave Lufford Hall.Back at the hotel, as Holden walks along the corridor he begins to hear the strange noise which preceded the manifestation of the demon which killed Prof. Harrington but it is interrupted by the door of a room opening. Talking with O'Brien and Kumar, Holden is still sceptical. O'Brien looks in Holden's diary and discovers all the pages after the date which Karswell has arranged for his death have been torn out.Holden has dinner with Joanna at Prof. Harrington's house. Joanna continues to read from her uncle's journal, and Holden discovers that the pages of Prof. Harrington's diary after the date of his death had been torn out. Still sceptical Holden tells Joanna that even if a curse did exist, he couldn't have been subject to it as a paper has to be passed -- secretly -- to the victom of the curse. He goes through the papers in his briefcase and discovers that amongst those returned to him by Karswell in reading room is one bearing a runic script. The paper flies from his hand towards the fire but is stopped by the fire-guard. Holden retrieves it.The following day Holden visits Rand Hobart's -- who are also members of the cult -- family to seek their permission for him to be released from the asylum temporarily to be examined at the conference. Hobart's mother signs the release paper and as he goes to put it in his wallet the runic parchment makes another bid to escape.Holden then arranges to meet Joanna, who has been invited to a seance by Karswell's mother. The seance is run by Mr. Meek (Reginald Beckwith). During the seance, Mr. Meek goes in to a trance and begins to "channel" Prof. Harrington who has a message for Joanna that Karswell has successfully translated the book and that the demon is real. Holden leaves the seance in disgust, still refusing to believe that demons exist. Joanna and Holden decide to drive out to Lufford Hall to try and find Karswell's translation of the book. Holden breaks in to Karwell's study, where he is attacked by what appears to be a wild-cat [more accurately, he wrestles with an evidently stuffed cat -- the effects in this bit are less than convincing]. Karswell appears and the "wild cat" has now assumed the form of an ordinary cat, and Karswell informs Holden that it is a minor demon.Against Karswell's advice, Holden returns to his car through the woods. On his journey he sees huge smoking footprints appear in the path at his side, followed by a strange smoky apparition and the strange noise. They phenomena disappear. Holden and Joanna go to the police who dismiss them as a pair of cranks.The following morning Holden is having breakfast with Kumar and O'Brien. He refuses to accept a call from Karswell's mother who keeps trying to call him. Karswell's mother then telephones Joanna and tells her to tell Holden that Rand Hobart knows how to reverse the curse. Joanna then goes to her car and is about to leave when someone steps out of the bushes and prevents her...Hobart is brought by ambulance to the conference, and Holden explains to the delegates that he and O'Brien will use hypnosis to bring Rand Hobart out of his catatonic state. Hobart is injected by O'Brien with stimulants, and regains consciousness but begins screaming wildly until Holden hypnotises him. Holden shows his runic parchment to the hypnotised Hobart who then he reveals that he was going to be the original victim of the demon, rather than the man of whose murder he is accused. In order to reverse the curse he had secretly to pass the parchment containing the runic inscription back the person who gave it originally. Hobart then breaks free and then dives through a window to his death.Finally convinced of the reality of the curse, Holden decides to return the parchment to Karswell and is informed by Kumar that Mrs. Karswell had told telephoned to say her son would be on the 8.45 to train to Southampton. Holden just catches the train as it pulls out of the platform. As it does so, visible on it are two plain-clothes police-officers. He finds Karswell, who has Joanna with him, whom he has hypnotised.Holden attempts to pass Karswell an envelope containing what he claims to be a retraction. Karswell refuses to take it, fearing it is the runic one. He similarly refuses a cigarette. As the time approaches 10.00 Karswell makes to leave, but Holden insists that he stay to be present when the demon is due to arrive. The police are, however, waiting for him and come in to the carriage and restrain Holden.Karswell makes to leave, and Holden passes his coat to the policeman -- secreting the paper in its pocket. The policeman passes the coat to Karswell who takes it but then instantly realises his error, and pulls the paper out of the pocket. It flies out of his hands and goes dancing down the railway track, with Karswell in pursuit. Holden observes that it is 9.58 ("Two of ten").Just as Karswell reaches the paper it bursts in to flames and is destroyed. The strange noise which preceded the arrival of the Demon at the beginning of the film is heard again, the strange cloud which pursued Holden through the woods also appears above an oncoming train and the demon appears and destroys Karswell.The police and railway staff rush to see what has happened, and even though he is lying onthe wrong track that a train must have hit him and dragged him due to the mutilation of the body. Holden and Joanna refuse to look because "it's better not to know".The end.

Review: Niall McGinnis holds sway here as the impish leader of a Satanic cult, who swiftly dispatches of his critics by summoning a huge, horrific demon to rip them to shreds.Into this isolated world walks psychologist John Holden, played by yet another seriously underrated actor, Dana Andrews.
Andrews, who made a name for himself playing tough guys in films like "Laura" and "The Best Years of Our Lives" is wonderful here as the skeptical, even slightly smarmy, American who absolutely refuses to believe in demons, even when strange, unexplainable things begin to happen to him.
The demon looks a little corny nowadays, and was revealed much too quickly with no suspenseful build-up, but the movie is so smart, so moody, so creepy and well done with an excellent cast to boot, that one can easily forgive the demon, which looks a lot like a slightly deformed bear with a pig nose and goat horns.
But before long he finds himself cursed by the leader of a witch cult and disbelief becomes terrifying reality.Some superbly brooding shots of Stonehenge accompanied by a haunting speech about runic powers start what is without doubt one of the darkest and most solemnly atmospheric films ever made.
Both versions are contained on this DVD, with the English version the better for those twelve minutes, but in truth there is little significant difference between the two, and if you are a connoisseur of 1950s horror films you will find both equally fascinating.Based on the short story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James, DEMON offers the tale of American psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews) who travels to a conference in England, planning to debunk a devil worshiping cult led by Karswell (Niall MacGinnis.) Unfortunately for the professionally skeptical Holden, Karswell's powers are genuine: he has successfully translated an ancient text and, through runes written on parchment, casts a curse first against Holden's colleague and then against Holden himself.DEMON was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who worked with producer Val Lewton to create a series of memorable and distinctly noir-ish horror films at RKO in the 1940s: CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and THE LEOPARD MAN.
All three films created a sense of unease and scream-aloud fear by implication and suggestion, and although DEMON is much more explicit in its effects, Tourneur brings the same sensibility to bear on DEMON, endowing it with remarkable authority and power in spite of several distinct flaws.Chief among these flaws is the script, which can best be described as somewhat abrupt in terms of dialog, and leading man Dana Andrews, whose performance is remarkably unsubtle even in a decade noted for a lack of cinematic restraint.
The film also sports a host of memorable set pieces: the storm, the flying parchment, Dr. Holden's exploration of Karswell's mansion, Dr. Holden's run through the night forest, and the final train sequence, to name but a few.Although it is not well known today, like Tourneur's films with Lewton, DEMON has cast a very long shadow in terms of influence, and it is very difficult to imagine such films as ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE CHANGELING without both this film and those that proceeded it.
'Gun Crazy') and is directed by Jacques Tourneur who had already shown his talent for suspenseful films with the RKO classics Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie.
So you know what to expect: suspense and quality.By now of course, technology changed a lot of how films look and it is the "show less - scare a lot" attitude of Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie that made them into the classics that they are.
No matter how scary the film makes the demon, he looks like the thing you see on the cover of the movie box.
Other 50s film that depend more on the monsters and demons do have that problem: e.g. Roger Corman made some movies that could've been a lot better and scarier if the monster had either been more convincing or given less screen time.Like in the other two films by Tourneur I mentioned, you always sense something scary could happen.
And even now, at my age, it still gives me goosebumps.Dana Andrews plays the skeptical American psychologist investigating a devil worship cult in England led by Dr. Karswell, played by Niall MacGinnis.
"Night of the Demon" is, hands down, one of the most superb horror/occult thriller films ever made, and that's particularly remarkable because the original concept got pampered with a lot of additional ideas and effects the director didn't agree on.
Jacques Tourneur ("Cat People", "the Leopard Man") initially wanted to put the emphasis purely on the psychological aspects, but the money-suppliers didn't like this and insisted on bringing an actual demonic monster into the movie.
You can honestly trust the high IMDb-rating and the praising reviews on this one; "Night of the Demon" is one of those rare films that every self-respecting horror fan simply HAS TO see for him/herself..
"Curse of the Demon" aka "Night of the Demon" is a wonderful set-piece study of the macabre, skillfully acted by Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, and the delightfully malevolent Niall MacGinnis, and masterfully directed by Jacques Tournier, a director who can turn even the warmest smile into something sinister.
Instead of going into detail on everything that works, I'll give the laundry list of highlights: an interesting premise, an intelligently written script, good acting, atmosphere you can cut with a knife, nail-biting suspense, beautiful cinematography, and touches of humor that add to rather than take away from the film.
Something that may yet prove to be fatal to his well being?Prior to 1957, director Jacques Tourneur could boast on his résumé psychological horror classics I Walked With A Zombie & Cat People, the simmering pot boiling Western Canyon Passage and the rightly heralded film-noir piece that is Out Of The Past.
It's now all the years later considered across the board that it would have been better to not have seen the demon at all, certainly at the least to not see it at the beginning of the film.Thankfully though, and with much credit to Tourneur, his team and the cast, Night Of The Demon is still a nerve pulling piece of work that shines bright today as a true classic horror picture.
I can imagine the film without seeing the creature, and maybe that would have been even more effective, again like "The Haunting".I give it "A-" for effort and execution, and for avid horror buffs, it's definitely worth a watch or two.
Jacques Tourneur (the leading director for Val Lewton, and the director of the original "Cat People", "I Walked with a Zombie" and "Leopard Man") in 1957 made his quintessential tribute to Val Lewton with "Curse of the Demon" (originally entitled, "Night of the Demon") based on the classic ghost story by M.R. James, "Casting the Runes").
In this case Dana Andrews is with an all British supporting cast.But as another viewer pointed out the film really belongs to Niall McGinniss the scientist who summons up evil forces from another plane of existence he can't control.
If only they wud have stuck with it being more psychological n had not shown the demon, otherwise it is a very good atmospheric horror film with good performances n solid direction.
The skeptical Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) travels to London to meet his friend Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) and investigate Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis), who is the leader of a sect that worships the devil, to expose him as a charlatan.
"Night of the Demon" is a stylish horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur that keeps the supernatural atmosphere.
That's deliberate: the main character can't understand it either, and our own confusion allows us to empathise.In "Night of the Demon", which is incorrectly regarded as a straight horror tale, despite coming from the man who brought us "Out of the Dark", another film noir masterpiece, we see a hero familiar from noir: a hardened, skeptical investigator who is tired of the world he is best suited for: one of illusion, gullibility and the strong preying on the weak.
He talks and acts like one who's seen it all; it doesn't take a genius to predict that the case at the centre of "Night of the Demon" will surprise even him."Night of the Demon" is brilliantly shot by the master Tourneur, and features special effects that still look impressive today.
Good performance by Dana Andrews as America occult expert but is Niall MacGinnis who steals the spectacle as sinister cult leader who attempts to put an end to his annoying investigations .
He quickly becomes intertwined with a black magician who puts a deadly curse on him.Alongside Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie, Night of the Demon is the third of director Jacques Tourneur's horror masterworks.
There is the passing of the runes moment in the museum, where the villain is seen walking off down a distorted corridor; the séance with creepy voices; the night-time walk through the woods where the hero is pursued by a ominous ball of smoke and invisible monster replete with advancing footprints; and, best of all, a black magician dressed as a clown casting a spell that brings forth a cyclone in the middle of the day destroying a children's party.
In other words, there is a great deal of invention here and the general creepiness of the narrative never lets up.Night of the Demon comes highly recommended for anyone seeking horror films in the old-style.
Adapted from M.R. James's classic Edwardian ghost story "Casting The Runes", "Night Of The Demon" remains a haunting and terrifying portrait of a skeptic being forced to believe that a world of demons does indeed exist.
Particularly spine-tingling is the masterful sequence in which Dr. Holden (played by Dana Andrews) breaks into devil-cult-leader Karswell's (a superb Niall MacGinnis) house and is followed by an unknown figure.
Night of the Demon (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Classic horror film has Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) going to a meeting in London where Satanic cults are being discussed.
The story of an American psychiatrist, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) who travels to England to debunk wizard, Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) of his status as a true disciple of magic & Satan.
It is his great acting that really makes this film come to life, though Dana Andrews as Dr. John Holden, plays his role as a stubborn non-believer & debunker of the supernatural like a snapping turtle clamped on your finger that carelessly bumped it's mouth.
A war of reality verses the surreal, with a take no prisoners attitude.Helming this marvelous masterpiece of malevolency, is a director who has been noted for his apt handling of horror films, Jaques Tourneur ("I Walked with a Zombie & "The Cat People), he steers this macabre opus right into your deepest fears, the fear of not knowing what is real & what is not.
I myself feel the "Demon" is a asset to this movie, though the effects are dated, they were handled tremendously, the "Demon" looking frightfully great to me as a child in the 60's watching this film.
Sceptical even while Karswell summons storms on a sunny day, Holden laughs off predictions of his death or mysterious runic writing on a parchment but still continues his own investigation into the man.I'm not sure why I didn't expect much from this film but I did sit to watch it expecting typical black and white melodrama with sanitised themes and action.
The plot brings this along well, making good use of the increasing urgency that Holden feels as his scepticism fades and his time starts running out.Tourneur's direction is excellent, building a strong sense of dread and danger while cinematographer Scaife provides sharp black and whites.
Cummins is OK but the film is best when it keeps the focus on the two main men.Overall then an effective and atmospheric horror movie that is strong thanks to convincing delivery with music, direction, cinematography and cast..
But "Curse of the Demon" proves that skepticism can be a great dramatic device, especially when it's grounded in a compelling, intelligent character.That character is played here by Dana Andrews, who lends considerable class to the movie.
Jacques Tourneur directed this harrowing film based on a story by M.R. James, that stars Dana Andrews as Dr. John Holden, who is going to London at a paranormal researchers convention to expose demonologist Dr. Julian Karswell(played by Niall Mac Ginnis) as a fraud, and look into the death of colleague Professor Harrington(played by Maurice Denham) whose niece Joanna(played by Peggy Cummins) is also looking into.
They will begin a romance, and discover to their shock that(in this film) the supernatural is very real indeed, and that evil Karswell has placed a death curse on Holden that involves passing on a parchment of paper...
Whether you like the demon or not, it's still one of the best horror films ever made.
Directed by Jacques Tourneur, Night of the Demon is one of the finest examples of the classic story of GOOD VERSUS EVIL.
The film has been criticised over the years for overtly showing the title demon given that Tourneur's earlier 'Cat People' was a pioneer psychological horror movie where everything was implied rather than explicitly shown.
We do get to see the demon of the title, and while there may be people who would have preferred that we never see a thing (such as director Jacques Tourneur), the beast is decently designed and the special effects not too bad.
(It actually gets a reveal much sooner in the film than one might think.) There are some pretty good set pieces, such as the windstorm, Holdens' night time search through Karswells' mansion, and the final flight of one particular character from certain doom.Andrews is fine in the lead, and receives fine support from the very pretty Peggy Cummins as the niece to the demons' first on-screen victim, Athene Seyler as Karswells' meddling mother, Liam Redmond as Holdens' associate Mark O'Brien, and Reginald Beckwith as the medium Mr. Meek.
It's tense musical score and clever artistic direction paint the unfolding colours of the story as you witness Professor Harrington driving down a dark and winding lane in fear of what may be lurking in the shadows of the night.Based on the story "Casting the Runes" this 1950's British classic is more about the unseen terrors of the human mind than the horror of blood and gore.
Produced in England, directed by Franco-American Jacques Tourneur, Night Of the Demon is one of the handful of thoroughly adult horror movies ever made.
This is a superbly done combination of horror and suspense featuring top-notch actors, engaging dialog and excellent atmosphere.My only criticisms are that the demon appeared too early in the film and by modern standards is not very compelling as an object to frighten or terrify.
This is no surprise since the director was Jacques Tourneur, who worked many years with Val Lewton in the 1940s, producing many stylish horror films.
GOOD & BAD TOGETHER - The story starts off pretty cool, then lags terribly until the second half when time starts running out for "Dr. John Holden" and he has some suspenseful scenes inside a house (with a cat!), outside of it (with the demon) and then in a railroad car.
"Night of the Demon" placed at number 52 on their top 100 list.I have known for many years that this is one of the classics in the horror genre, one of the truly must-see films.
Jacques Tourneur is best known for his horror films with producer Val Lewton, but this movie clearly shows he was just as strong of a storyteller on his own..
The short comings of the actual demon and special effects do not diminish the atmosphere of this great film .
Directed by one of the great, more cerebral horror film makers, Jacques Tourneur, it does not need to show any gore or bloody special effects to make its case.
Night of the Demon(1957) is impressive because it uses the same kind of style as early Jacques Tourneur horror such as Cat People(1944) and I Walked with a Zombie(1946).
But in the same time the movie is really hampered by wishful thoughts of how much better it could have been 10 years earlier or under a different studio.Dana Andrews is Dr. John Holden, called to the UK to investigate a supposed devil cult and how legitimate it is.
About as Good as a Horror Film Can Be, Thanks to Jacques Tourneur.
What's interesting is how the skeptics like Professor Harrington, Maurice Denhan, at the start of the film and Dr.John Holden, Dana Andrews, at the end of it come to realize what the prologue of the movie said: "Man using the power of the ancient runic symbols can call forth the demons of hell".
Very effective use of fear from sounds and shadows by director Jacques Tourneur which makes the movie more tense and horrifying then the appearance of the Demon himself with the best line in the film uttered by Dana Andrews who plays Dr. John Holden.
Many of you know that Tourneur also directed 1942's The Cat People, and I am of the opinion that this film is every bit as good as that fine classic.
It relies on a creepy atmosphere instead of overt special effects and gore as well as genuine tension such as the scene where Andrews is pursued by an invisible demon in a dark wood; we see the creature's diabolic footprints as it tries to follow its quarry.Tourneur was critical of the film's delineation of the monster, feeling that it belonged in another type of film (the teenage horror).
The other is that the demon is seen in the first act but that was done without the directors knowledge for which Tourneur never forgave, so blame the producers for that.Above all else this is a great film regardless of its genre and a Horror I keep returning to.