Here we are with Night of the Demons III, and I have one question: back in 1988 when the original Night of the Demons was released, do you think anyone really thought there would be two more incarnations of this Bava rip-off? My guess is no, because Night of the Demons III got a direct-to-video release in 1997 with a very amateur cast (besides maybe Amelia Kinkade, who reprises her role as Angela) and directorial duties helmed by Jim Kaufman (at this point mostly taking on assistant director roles or directing TV movies). The result is more of the same: more Angela, more boobies, more demons, more Halloween night shenanigans. Is it worth spending another 80 minutes with this series, though?
My answer is sort of unresolved. Is Night of the Demons III ultimately super derivative and basically a composite of the first and second films with worse acting and a cheap budget? Absolutely! But the film has some things going for it, including a pretty high body count, some fun sex and nudity thanks to a couple of cast members that strip down for full-frontal, and a penchant for tongue-in-cheek humor. No one here is obviously striving for an Oscar, and it truly seems like Kaufman and company recognize the inherent campiness of this film. So while there’s nothing that stands out about Night of the Demons III, it’s not all that bad either.
And actually, the opening scenes of the film are some of the strongest in the series. The journey to Hull House is set in motion by a Halloween night gone wrong as a bunch of teens traveling in a van accidentally find themselves part of a shootout in a convenience store thanks to the boneheaded actions of tough guy Vince (Kris Holden-Reid). It all kind of comes out of nowhere, but at the same time it’s a realistic depiction of people in the wrong place at the wrong time forced to make a decision about what to do next since they’re all implicated in the crime. From there, things get wacky when they decide to hide out at the local funeral home Hull House, but that first introduction to the characters works surprisingly well.
There’s a lot to enjoy while they’re at Hull House, too, with Kinkade really playing up Angela’s kinky aspects. She even gives a blowjob to a gun, it’s wild! Again, all of this is pretty standard since Night of the Demons III is simply copying the format of the first two films to a T – including everything taking place on Halloween – but at least it gives the audience a fairly good time while doing so.
Will you remember Night of the Demons III long after you’ve watched it? Probably not, and it makes sense that this sequel is where the series died before its inevitable remake. But will you like what you see while watching on an eerie Halloween night? Definitely.
