Night Visitor

The compulsive liar teenager Billy Colton (Derek Rydall) witnesses the murder of his sexy and prostitute neighbor Lisa Grace (Shannon Tweed) by his history teacher Willard (Allen Garfield). Willard is an unknown Satanist wanted by the police for killing prostitutes with his brother. Like in the fairytale, nobody but his girlfriend believes in Billy. He looks for help with the former friend of his deceased father, the retired Detective Devereaux (Elliott Gould), and they two decide to investigate his teacher's house. But his snoopy girlfriend Dolan (Kathleen Bailey) has had the same idea and is captured by the twisted brothers.

"Night Visitor" is the first movie I have watched in 2004 and uses elements of horror and suspense, like in "Rear Window" and "Fright Night". Indeed it works well on video and entertains. At least three points deserve to be highlighted and commented. The first one is the beauty of Shannon Tweed, impressively sexy in the role of a call girl. The second is the ridiculous character of the great actor Elliott Gould. I do not know how he accepted such a role. The other point is the lack of continuity from about thirteen to sixteen minutes. Bill visits Lisa and gets a beer in his right hand. When Tony arrives, he waives goodbye to Lisa with empty hands. When he arrives home, he has the can of beer again in his right hand and is wearing a type of dark blue coat. When he arrives in his room, he is wearing only the light blue shirt that was beneath the coat. Very funny mistakes. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Nunca Chame o Demônio" ("Never Calls the Demon")

Note: On 21 Jul 2000, I saw this film for the first time.

On 03 Jun 2022, I saw this film again.

It's the solid performances from some recognisable faces that lift this all too typical boy-who-cried-wolf theme in this inconsistent low-budget satanic thriller. What strike me the most was how the storyline is so close to Tom Holland's terrific vampire film 'Fright Night (1985)', but it comparison it does lack the charm and thrills of that film. Vampires no more, but Satanists are the flavour. The hysterically unusual pairing of a wearily scorning Allan Garfield and playfully loony Michael J Pollard was a hammy blast as the two Satanist brothers. Derek Rydall and Teresa Vander Woude make for appealing teen leads that get caught up in the devilish mess. Richard Roundtree's no-bull performance is lean, but potent as the detective on the case and Elliott Gould is amusing as a retired detective who comes out of retirement to help out the teenagers. In support roles the ravishing Shannon Tweed and eventual porn-star Teri Wiegel added some sexual energy. Henry Gibson also pops up. Director Rupert Hitzig hones in a workable display and keeps it on the move, even if his jump tactics inadequately fail. Anyhow the predictably implausible and contrived screenplay seems to be playing it for camp laughs, than actual chills. Just wait for the chainsaw and shotgun clash! It's like it's made up of a bunch of comical errors and eccentric passages, but one or two sequences install some welcoming suspense. But really, the humour does overplay it. And what was the idea of that corn-riddled, over extended ending accompanied with a howling song. It was awful! The whip-lashed musical score drums up the repetitive chanting ala 'The Omen' style, but it doesn't come near Goldsmith's classic piece.

This is a classic two week shoot genre flick that is fun all the way around. For the genre, the directing by Hitzig is great, and the show is stolen by a small part done by Jovanni Brascia as a john. Everyone studying film, should watch this to see how the basics work, when you have no or little budget. It is done remarkably well and the cast is stellar. Based on what is in this film, Rupert Hitzig is a man we will hear a lot about.

Dig the crazy "once in a lifetime cast" populating this obnoxious late 80s supernatural teen horror opus: Allen Garfield (THE CONVERSATION, BUSTING), Elliot Gould (M*A*S*H*, BUSTING), Richard "Shaft" Roundtree, Michael J. Pollard (DIRTY LITTLE BILLY, "Star Trek"), Shannon Tweed, Henry Gibson, and 90s porn sensation Teri Wiegel? To hell with the movie! the casting work alone makes watching this crap almost worthwhile.

Which is as lousy of a teen horror movie as they come, though I have to admit it does have a couple of interesting things to offer. Allen Garfield plays a history teacher at a high school for 20 year olds who just happens to be a practicing satanist. With the help of his apparently retarded brother Michael J. Pollard, Garfield has been leading a double life murdering hookers for Satan when he isn't giving his pretty boy students a hard time for being late to class.

The pretty boy is played by Derek Rydall who fellow aficionados of 80s teen horror will recognize (or, not) as the freak at the center of ERIC'S REVENGE: PHANTOM OF THE MALL, which also had a somewhat bizarre, once in a blue moon cast (Paulie Shore, Morgan Fairchild, Brinke Stevens, and Ken DAWN OF THE DEAD Foree). Rydell is a stunt performer turned would be leading hunk and now a writer ("The Power Rangers") which is helpful because he got to do all of his own stuntwork, though I am not sure if Allen Garfield was that spry.

Back to the movie, Rydell's pretty boy hunk Billy is blessed with a hot mom, a hot gal-pal best friend, and a new hot blond neighbor who is apparently a hooker turning tricks right in her own home. She also doesn't mind if young Billy watches her at work through her windows, gives him cans of beer and flashes her cleavage at him whenever she gets a chance. What a place! In fact everybody in this movie is either gorgeous, well dressed, comfortably rich or all of the above. Even Elliot Gould as the burnt out washed up cop who used to be Billy's dad's partner back when he was on the force. His place has Japanese wicker furniture, a polished hardwood floor and yet he still mopes around in a funny hat just like in BUSTING looking all burnt out & washed up, which Elliot Gould is of course very good at.

Where was I. Oh yes, the neighbor finds herself being murdered for a satanic ritual while Billy watches, he decides to climb up onto her roof to get some pictures to better remember the moment by, and realizes his history teacher is really a disciple of Lucifer. The film then becomes a "Nobody believes me!" game where Billy tries to convince Shaft that his history teacher murdered the hot blond next door.

You'd think someone might listen to the kid -- he even has pictures, mind you -- but no, he and his spunky cute girlfriend have to play Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boy to try and get evidence nailing the guy and end up being chased by Michael J. Pollard in D-Day's Deathmobile from ANIMAL HOUSE. Their solution to get away? THROW A WATERMELON THROUGH THE FRONT WINDSHIELD, which isn't as surprising as the realization that people grow watermelons in Los Angeles in random urban lots.

Meanwhile (there are a LOT of meanwhiles in this movie) Michael J. Pollard also has porn starlet Teri Wiegel chained up down in their basement, and she gets to display her naked breasts for the camera before being slaughtered as a ritual prize for Satan. Yet amazingly this is done in a manner that is surprisingly un-sleazy, which is about the only thing I would fault the movie for: It's not sleazy enough, and ultimately too stupid to actually take seriously.

And yet it has a certain something: Allen Garfield is one of cinema's great overlooked villain actors, his crazed bugging expert gave me nightmares after seeing THE CONVERSATION for about the hundredth time, and what's funny is that the movie actually has no problem with his high school teacher being a satanic pervert. It's just like belonging to the Rotary Club or something, and the weird part is that nobody seems to care even when it should be pretty obvious that the guy has some major judgment issues as he plays bizarre, legally problematic head games with his students. While wearing a pink tie. Right.

You'd think somebody would have said something to the school board about him, but there's a sort of white-bread suburbanite conspiracy going on in the movie's fictional community where everybody does their best to fit in, not rock the boat, and just shrug it off as one of those things. Which is what might work best about the film: Any community that has hookers wandering the streets, satanists butchering them and hot blonds moving in next door who don't mind being ogled by their horny neighbors can't be all that boring of a place to live, I guess.

4/10

Recently viewed The Night Visitor 1989) on Tubi. The story revolves around a class clown and a local deviant who witnesses a murder, but nobody believes him. He embarks on an investigation and uncovers potential ties to satanic activities, raising questions about his own safety.

Directed by Rupert Hitzig (Backstreet Dreams) and featuring a cast that includes Derek Rydall (Death Wish 4), Allen Garfield (Beverly Hills Cop 2), Kathleen Bailey (Witchtrap), Brooke Bundy (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Child) and Henry Gibson (The Burbs).

While the main cast, as mentioned above, is recognizable and delivers commendable performances, the dynamic between Richard Roundtree (Shaft) and Michael Pollard (Scrooged) alone makes the movie worth watching. Both of them bring their characters to life, with a cameo appearance by Shannon Tweed ("Dead Sexy") adding some eye candy. However, the acting feels inconsistent, particularly with the main character seeming to try too hard, and Pollard's partner not quite hitting the mark. Some other characters are somewhat annoying, and there are not enough horror elements to generate excitement. The kills in the film are passable, and it wraps up with a classic 80s ending.

In conclusion, The Night Visitor is a relatively average addition to the horror genre, but it does have some good performances and characters. I would rate this a 5/10 and suggest giving it a watch at least once.