Why this film still haunts me
I was about twelve, living with my aunt and uncle. Somehow, and I don't recall how, I managed to see this film, the first horror film I remember seeing, and one that had a lasting impact on me. it must have been at a friend's house because my uncle had very strict views about what we kids were allowed to watch. The details of the plot itself eludes me, but the tension buildup and vision of the demon appearing is burned into my memory, so much so that when (years later) I first heard Kate Bush's Hounds of Love in which a line from the film is sampled ("It's coming, it's in the trees!") i got the heeby-jeebies.
Spoilers! In the film, a note on parchment is passed to the victim written in a Runic script. it might read thus: ᛗᛁ ᚾᚨᛗᛖ ᛁᛊ ᛁᚾᛁᚷᛟ ᛗᛟᚾᛏᛟᛁᚨ, ᛁᛟᚢ ᚲᛁᛚᛚᛖᛞ ᛗᛁ ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱ. ᛈᚱᛖᛈᚨᚱᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛞᛁᛖ. If the victim still has it in their possession at a certain time, they will be visited (and not in a good way) by a summoned demon which will rip them to shreds. If the victim can pass the note on, the curse is passed along with it, a trope that is quite well exploited in the plot. Of course, for added trope points, the note itself burns moments before the last possible minute and the victim's fate is sealed.
As a kid, I didn't really have any analysis of the film, all I knew was it scared me. Looking back I see the terrible special effects, though they were probably okay for the time. But the jaws-and-claws of the summoned beast ready to tear a victim apart were horrific enough at twelve to really give me the willies. the thought that someone might pass me a note that could result in my death traumatised me for weeks afterward, and even now I feel a compunction to pass on any scrap of paper given me, to someone else and I'm still genuinely uncomfortable around railway lines after dark. Clearly other people have the same view; it has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and according to a Time Out magazine poll, a group of authors, directors, actors, and critics within the horror genre placed Night of the Demon at number 52 on their top 100 horror films list. Director Martin Scorsese placed Night of the Demon on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.¹
The effects are very 1950s-level and I do agree with Jet-Poop's view that the demon is more silly than scary to me now. Speaking of effects, originally the demon was not going to be shown on screen. Ray Harryhausen was busy with another film² and couldn't do it, hence the silliness. Harryhausen would have done better. that said, at a very innocent twelve it was still pants-wettingly terrifying and I didn't sleep well for days afterward. In later years, I had a run-in with sleep paralysis and would see monstrous heads coming out of the wall above my bed, and of course, they were the snarling faces of the demon, and still once in a while the beast haunts my nightmares, leaving my body raked open by cheesy 1950s monster claws. If you've not seen it yet, do so as it is a classic. Last I looked it was available on YouTube.
¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Demon#Critical_reception
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Demon#Production - thanks to JD for reminding me of this.
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