An invitation you can't refuse.
Angela is having a party, Jason and Freddy are too scared to come. But you'll have a hell of a time.
— Tagline
Released in 1988, the movie features a group of teens having a Halloween party in the Hull House, an abandoned funeral parlor. Soon enough, demons within the house are awakened after a parlor game goes horribly wrong and they start possessing the party-goers one by one.
The film got two sequels; Night of the Demons 2 in 1994 and Night of the Demons 3 in 1997. A remake was completed in 2009 and was released in September 2010.
Not to be confused with the 1957 Jacques Tourneur film, Night of the Demon, or the 1980 Video Nasty of the same name.
Still here? Great, the party has just started!
- Abhorrent Admirer: Of all people, Judy's brother. In the opening scene, he hides in the closet and jumps out to scare her while she is undressing. Despite the fact she is in a see-thru bra, her brother is very happy with the view. He tells her she has "bodacious boobies" and jokes about how big they are before leaving the room. She is annoyed but isn't as disturbed as one would think.
- Animated Credits Opening: Which depicts flying spirits, a creepy old house, jack-o-lanterns and other All Hallows' Eve spookiness.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Judy's brother, who spies on his sister getting undressed and answers the door in a mask to scare guests.
- Asshole Victim: The elderly man who snuck razor blades into apples to give out to Trick-or-Treaters gets a dose of his own medicine when his wife gives him an apple pie made from said apples, which end up slitting his throat from the inside-out.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Rodger attempts this by diving out a window rather than be caught by the possessed gathering around them. Even though they're on the first floor, he's still surprised to survive.
- Big Bad: The demon possessing Angela leads the chaos in Hull House.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rodger manages to interfere at the last second to rescue Judy and pull her to safety.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jay seems like the nicer guy compared to Sal. Then we find out Jay only went out with Judy because he heard she slept with Sal and expected she'd be an easy lay. When Judy rejects having sex, Jay ditches her and goes looking for Suzanne. He gets his eyes gouged out in the middle of coitus.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rodger and Judy escape the house and the demons are forced to return to hell. However, the two are traumatized and their friends are all dead. However, the old man who plotted to put razors in Halloween apples finds himself given a just dessert (almost literally) by his wife.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted with Rodger, who survives the entire film alongside Judy.
- Body Horror: Suzanne inserts her entire tube of lipstick into her nipple. Spoilered for the faint of heart. It's also one of the first signs she's become possessed.
- Cannot Cross Running Water: The demonic spirits residing in the Hull House are unable to leave the premises because it is surrounded by underground streams.
- Chekhov's Gun: The lighter.
- Cool Old Lady: The mean old man's wife at the end. When she realized her husband intended to mutilate or even kill little kids, the next morning she served him a slice of freshly baked apple pie. And to save time she didn't remove the razors.
- Cue the Sun: The evils of Hull House stop at the break of dawn.
- Demonic Possession: What the evil spirits of Hull House do to their victims, living or dead, turning them into grotesque monsters in the process (Angela sure as hell didn't look like the page image beforehand).
- Depraved Bisexual: Suzanne and Angela show shades of this after becoming possessed, as the two have no problem seducing and killing the boys in Hull house, and also seem really fond of kissing other women to infect them.
- Destination Defenestration: Suzanne violently throws Sal out the window when he tries to protect Judy.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Angela and Suzanne steal goodies from a grocery store by distracting the clerks with the bent over Suzanne's ass.
- Domestic Abuse: Stooge is constantly yelling at Helen and calling her a bitch. His subsequent death by possession feels well deserved.
- The Dragon: Suzanne serves as this to Angela, both as a human when they are planning to prank their guests at Hull House, and later as a demon when both have become possessed.
- Dramatic Thunder: Used in the opening.
- Dull Surprise: Max certainly appears to have all the emotion of a corpse after he's killed and possessed.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Sal, who dies in a Heroic Sacrifice just close to the film's climax and is added to the ranks of the possessed.
- Eldritch Location: On Halloween, Hull House isn't exactly normal and erases all exits from the ground with raised walls so the heroes cannot escape.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: One can tell this is a 1980s horror film by how the demons have a terrible sense of humor, cracking horrible jokes like Judy having a "blind date" when a victim has his eyes gouged out.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Downplayed since they are possessed by the spirits of Hull House and aren't willingly evil but those who become possessed have more grotesque appearances.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The demons, especially Angela, have low and gravelly voices when they don't pretend to be human.
- Eye Scream: Possessed Suzanne gouges Jay's eyes out, possessing him in the process.
- Evil Tainted the Place: Thanks to the presence of the demons, Hull House has become saturated with evil and will not let its victims out if it can help it.
- Fanservice: Early in the movie, Judy is talking on the phone while getting dressed, and the audience is treated to a view of her bare butt when she takes off her panties while she’s wearing a sweater, and then gets to see her bra when she takes off said sweater. It’s a rather unusual amount of nudity from a Final Girl protagonist.
- Fat Bastard: Stooge initially looks like a Big Fun type of character, but he ultimately comes across as foulmouthed and rather nasty while still keeping his jovial attitude.
- Final Girl: Judy, although the film implies she may be a subversion to one particular Final Girl trait. When Jay says he heard about her date with Sal, and assumes she must've slept with him, Judy doesn't dignify his assumptions with an answer. We never do find out if Judy was an actual virgin.
- Former Teen Rebel: Helen's mother used to be an "acid head" and still has a strobe light from her reckless youth.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Nobody seems to like Stooge at all, which makes sense as he's a boorish, jerkass oaf.
- Genre Savvy: Helen and Rodger, who are both apprehensive about going to the house in the first place and quick to try and leave as the demonic possession becomes evident. Helen also objects to the idea of throwing a seance in that house on a haunted Halloween night in the first place
- Gilligan Cut: "Let's party!" Cut to music playing, Suzanne dancing, and the party otherwise all set up.
- Grumpy Old Man: The nameless old man, who hates kids and teenagers.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Judy is a sweet, sunny, classic Final Girl with gold hair.
- Hate Sink: You almost feel sorry for the unnamed old man who despises both kids and teenagers, until he actively disparages people who help him, and plans to plant razorblades in the apples he hands out.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The reason these teens are in Hull House in the first place is for a Halloween party. It's made quite clear that the demons can only walk the earth on All Hallows.Roger: Go to hell, you dirty bastards!Demon: Well, not tonight, my boy! Oh, not tonight.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Sal pranks Judy, Jay, Max, and Frannie by jumping out of the coffin, Jay gets all mad at him even though (as Judy points out) he'd been about to get into the coffin himself to scare Stooge, Rodger, and Helen when they arrived.
- Ignored Expert: Angela is the first to immediately deduce Hull House is possessed due to her knowledge of the supernatural, and explains the difference between homes haunted by ghosts and possessed by demons. Unfortunately, no one really believes her except Helen and Rodger, and before Angela can really do anything Suzanne possesses her.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: One of the first clues that something is wrong with Hull House is the complete lack of noise from wildlife.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sal, who in the beginning looks like the Jerkass to Jay's Nice Guy, before we find out Jay anticipated that Judy would be an easy lay and is more concerned with having sex. Sal, on his part, is more worried about getting Judy and Rodger out of the house because of what the demons are doing. Sal dies saving Judy from Angela, and his corpse is possessed.
- Jump Scare: When Helen sees her own dead body in the mirror, later gets a Call-Back when the now dead Helen is slammed into the windshield.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The old man at the beginning of the film apparently gave out apples with razor blades hidden inside to little kids. The next morning, he's eating a slice of pie his wife made with the leftover apples. Razor blades included.
- The Leader: The possessed Angela eventually starts leading the demons, even though Suzanne was the first to be infected and was even the one to possess Angela.
- Let's Wait a While: Possibly. Judy was dating Sal, which prompts Jay to try and date her. Judy is offended pretty annoyed when Jay only wanted to hook up with her because he thought she was easy, but it's not revealed if she made Sal wait before their breakup.
- Lovable Coward: Rodger, who is the first to try and leave someone and save himself whenever possible. He gets better at the end.
- Neck Snap: How Stooge kills Frannie.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Angela, who's a borderline Goth, is noted by her friends to consider Halloween with the same festive glee most people reserve towards Christmas and chose Hull House as the location for her party specifically due to its reputation as a haunt for demonic spirits. Not the best of ideas, in retrospect...
- Subverted later on when the possession starts, as Angela is clearly shown to be terrified at the idea of being inside a house with actual demonic spirits. Considering she knows a lot about supernatural lore, of course she'd be scared and would've gotten out of the house if the possessed Suzanne hadn't stolen her car keys and possessed Angela.
- NO INDOOR VOICE: Stooge is loud and obnoxious in almost every scene he's in, which makes it rather fitting when Angela eats his tongue out of his mouth.
- Odd Friendship: Angela's a Goth girl with an interest in the occult and a morbid sense of humor and Suzanne appears to be a rather boy crazy blonde Valley Girl, yet they were both planning the Halloween party together and they interact with one another like they're best friends.
- Our Demons Are Different: The demons are apparently ancient monsters from hell and can only manifest on earth on Halloween night. They have no corporeal form but can possess the living and dead whereupon they can manifest partially through them. They're also dreadfully cruel and sadistic.
- Out with a Bang: Max and Franny are killed by a possessed Stooge while getting it on in a coffin.
- Perky Goth: Angela dresses all in black, has a morbid fascination with death and the occult, and wants to hold a party in a mortuary. She's also pretty cheerful, outgoing, and her best friend is the blonde and perky Suzanne.
- Pig Man: Stooge is dressed as one for the party, befitting his Jerkass personality.
- Pirate: Rodger is dressed as one for the party.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Helen, who disappears while she and Rodger are trying to find a way out, then lands on the car he's hiding in, already dead.
- Sacrificial Lion: Sal, who goes out in a Heroic Sacrifice to save Judy from the demons.
- Sadist: The Hull House Demons are wantonly cruel, relishing in the pain and terror of their victims. Taking it slow gives their final victims the chance to outlast them.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Something happened at Hull House, which was abandoned due to an unspecified incident and resulted in rumors of it being cursed. Turns out the demons are imprisoned in the crematorium where a previous body was burnt to bone. Upon Angela's party, it breaks out.
- Sex Signals Death: People who have sex tend to die brutally. Jay is seduced by the possessed Suzanne and gruesomely dispatched. Max and Franny sneak off to have sex in a coffin when a possessed Stooge finds them.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Helen and Rodger try to get as far away from Hull House as possible after they realize something supernatural is going on. They don't make it off the property when the demons get rid of the exit, and Helen's grabbed and killed.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The sexy portion of Angela's dance to Stigmata Martyr by Bauhaus.
- Spooky Séance: Angela holds a seance with the group in Hull House, which is what helps the demons escape their imprisonment.
- Super-Strength: Being possessed leads to a burst of physical strength. Stooge is even able to rip a metal door off its hinges.
- Taking You with Me: Sal sacrifices himself to throw the possessed Angela off the rooftop. It avails him very little, as Angela survives it and Sal's corpse is soon possessed.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The unnamed old man attempts to kill trick or treating kids with razor blades inside apples. His wife gives him a fatal dose of his own medicine at the end.
- This Was His True Form: As the possessed bodies dissolve to nothing, Judy and Roger see the true, demonic face of the creatures before it's dragged down to hell.
- Token Minority: African-American Roger (Alvin Alexis) and Asian-American Franny (Jill Terashita).
- Token Wholesome: Angela and Suzanne are very clearly the "bad girls" of the group. Stooge is a boorish jerk with sex on the brain and Jay and Sal are pretty outgoing as well. Max and Frannie are a couple who are caught having sex in a coffin (and it's clearly not their first time). Rodger, by contrast, doesn't seem to get around much and Judy is a wholesome girl who might still be a virgin.
- Tongue Trauma: A possessed Angela lures in Stooge with a kiss before biting out his tongue.
- To the Pain: The demons vow they have "something wonderful" planned for Rodger. "So much pain. So much sorrow!"
- Tricked to Death: Features a mean old man who puts razor blades in apples on Halloween to do terrible things to children. At the end of the movie, his wife makes an apple pie out of the leftover apples, which he eats. The blades slash through his throat and leave him dead.
- Unholy Ground: Hull House has become a tainted, profane place thanks to the demonic presence there.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Angela is known as a weirdo, but she's a pretty harmless one. She and Suzanne do want to hold a creepy party at a creepy spot on Halloween, which makes the mortuary Hull House perfect. Unfortunately, this results in them awakening the imprisoned demons and launching the wave of possessions and murders.
- The Virus: The possessed can turn other people into such by kissing them and using other personal space invading techniques.
- Weakened by the Light: The rising sun is the weakness of the demons.
- We Need a Distraction: Angela and her friend flash their undies to distract some store clerks while they shoplift party supplies.
- The X of Y: Used for the title.
- You Will Be Spared: The demons promise to let Roger go if he gives them Judy, because they'd never hurt such a nice boy like him.