CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON Review by Rod Barnett

CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON opens in the English countryside with
Professor Harrington making a frenzied late night appeal to Julian Karswell
(Niall MacGinnis) for help. The professor promises to retract his public attacks
on Karswell and his black magic cult if he will only stop what has been
started. Karswell says he'll do what he can and a relived Harrington goes
home, but as he arrives a horrible fiery creature appears and kills the
poor man. A few days later, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) travels to
England to attend a psychiatric convention. When he learns of his
colleague Harrington's death (explained away as an accident), he takes up
the investigation of Karswell's devil worshipping cult. Karswell
contrives to meet Holden and after determining that he won't drop the
inquiry, slyly passes Holden a piece of parchment inscribed with runes.
Joined by Harrington's suspicious niece Joanna (Peggy Cummings), Holden
visits Karswell's palatial home twice- once in the daytime and once at
night. During the daytime visit the cult leader tells Holden that he will
die in three days and on both visits Karswell demonstrates mystic
abilities that the professor dismisses as tricks. But when he discovers
the runic parchment in his papers, our detective begins to wonder about
the prediction of his untimely death. After questioning a member of the
cult who has been driven mad by fear of the demonic beast, Holden learns
the only way to survive the curse-if he only has the time.

CURSE/NIGHT OF THE DEMON is one of the best horror films of the 1950's
and one of the greatest horror films ever made. Directed by the brilliant
Jacques Tourneur from a sharp, literate script it manages to be a
fantastic piece of cinema without sacrificing any of the power of it's M.
R. James source story. Shot in crisp black and white in the same year
that Hammer Studio was filming THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
in bloody color, this film is an odd melding of two very dissimilar
types of horror film.

Tourneur was best know for directing three of producer Val Lewton's
subtle and atmospheric horror films of the 40's- CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED
WITH A ZOMBIE and THE LEOPARD MAN. These movies were models
of restraint and mood with strong characters and a reliance on the idea of
the unseen being scarier than any monster. In the Val Lewton films, every
person could be a monster and there was no outwardly visible sign to point
to the dangers. I think the idea here was to couple this approach with the
more garish aspects of the classic Universal monster movies to lend
credibility to the supernatural elements of the story. With our main
character as a disbelieving cynic, the idea of summoning demons to kill
off enemies becomes a silly story for children-except for one thing. We
have seen the demon! There can be no doubt in our minds that the demon
appeared, plucked Mr. Harrington from the ground and killed him. As much
as we might scoff at the idea, in this story we know the truth that
Holden is refuting and we know he is doomed if he doesn't accept that
truth. Brilliantly this puts the audience in the position of both knowing
it can't be true (in the real world) and knowing it IS true (in this
enthralling story). We can be both observer and participant as we watch
Holden work very hard to disprove the possibilities we know he will
inevitably be forced to accept. I think this is how I can enjoy watching
CURSE OF THE DEMON over and over again- I am compelled to follow Holden
down this gently curving path until he has finally turned 180 degrees and
realizes he is staring a supernatural death in the face. It's a
wonderfully constructed story that the filmmakers do a great job of
drawing us into. Of course, much of the credit for the story must go to
the fantastic source story by Montague R. James entitled CASING THE
RUNES. The film is very faithful to the original story and is I recommend
reading it for an appreciation of Mr. James' work.