Another film to appear just after the dawn of the slasher frenzy with producer Irwin Yablins himself taking part after producing the film that pretty much signalled the birth of the afforementioned genre.Anyone with a likeness to horror should not be scratching their heads to work out the identity of this masterpiece.
Linda Blair had become a firm association with exploitation horror (and sleazy action films)after her successful potrayal as a bile vomiting head turning demon chick in "The Exorcist" so it's very neat to see her here playing a voluptuous well to do "Innocent" fraternity pledger facing her initiation night in a haunted house.
Along with her for the ride are all the other cliched types...The Horny anything goes foreign girl,the tough as nuts jock,and of course,the well to do "Innocent" guy of the situation,One from the misunderstood side of the tracks..(A neat little exchange of dialogue on the issues of misunderstood upbringings takes place,before the slaughter with the two well two do's.)
What unravels during the course of the pledgers indoctrination makes for some geniuinely scary and atmospheric thrills haunted house/slasher style..A mysterious presence who may be the topic of myth is also in the wailing halled mansion too,with murder on it's mind.
Although some of the suspense scenes are so long and anti climatic, There is a decent amount to recommend about Hell Night.The murder scenes do not look as poorly done as previously indicated and there are some pretty neat little action/battle scenes between the two male heroes and the mysterious presence.
Of course the horror film cliches are ever present,the heroine who falls down for no good reason during a chase,a seemingly invincible killer with no explanation as to why a pointblank shotgun wound does not effect the killer slightly and why the silly twits in mention always roam off alone and act surprised when their is no response to "Who's there?" But these are standard puns for horror films and anyone who watches these films and picks the absolute dirt out of them does not appreciate the films face value..."TOTAL UNREALISTIC CHEAP MINDLESS FUN" and for the most part....That kinda fun is cool...
There is one scene in this film that made me JUMP out of my chair,hopefully upon seeing the scene,you'll guess which one it was too. The version i watched was on an old VHS MONO cassette with the volume turned down at the time.I can only imagine the race of my heart if i'd seen a 5.1 version of it...
Enjoyable,mindless and definately in the top 20% of this seemingly endless and tiring (ressurected) genre.Recommended.