Hal E. Chester

Based on the classic M. R. James ghost story “Casting the Runes”, Jacques Tourneur’s "Night of the Demon" is one of the all-time great British horror films. The film begins with an American psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews) visiting a London symposium aimed at exposing the fraudulent nature of the occult with a particular focus on cult leader Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). When symposium leader, Henry Harrington (Maurice Denham) dies in mysterious circumstances his niece Joanna (Peggy Cummins) tries to convince Holden that Karswell killed Harrington via a runic curse. She persuades Holden to look at a mysterious old tome and they visit Karswell at his country estate. Both Karswell and his mother warn Holden off, but his analytical scientific mind is not willing to hear any warnings. When he begins to suffer strange aural and visual hallucinations and discovers a mysterious runic parchment slipped to him by Karswell, Holden begins to realise that he is in real danger and has to contrive a way to pass the runes back to Karswell before the appointed hour.

"Night of the Demon" is a brilliantly effective film, full of stunning photography and superb visual touches from master director Jacques Tourneur of "Cat People" (1942) and "I Walked With a Zombie" (1943) fame. The brilliance of the film is all the more impressive given the massive disagreements between producer Hal E. Chester and Tourneur and writer Charles Bennett. Both Tourneur and Bennett wanted the focus to be ambiguous and psychologically based, but Bennett was adamant that a literal monster or demon required to be shown. Chester got his way and a demon was inserted into the film and it features heavily at the climax. Personally I would have preferred the film without the literal demon being shown, but it does not distract from the overall impact of the film – the demon, based visually on traditional demonic woodcuts has it's own strangely chilling quality. Where the film stands out, however, is in the unsettling psychological aspects where it is never clear whether events are real or not; whether they have a rational or demonic explanation. Tourneur avoids simple scares and instead concentrates on developing an atmosphere of dread and unease which begins to blur reality. The film is full of individually creepy sequences: a bleak, ancient Stonehenge with an overlying doom-laden narration; Holden being "pursued" through the woods; a children's party that descends into stormy chaos; a cat that takes on a demonic aspect; a séance that runs out of control. Even empty corridors take on a strangely sinister aspect, which is symbolic of the overall stunning production design – Karswell's oddly designed country house and its strange geometry and spiral staircases being possibly the epitome of beautiful but disquieting design. The high contrast monochrome photography by cinematographer Ed Scaife is stunning and cleverly adds to the disquieting feel developed by Tourneur. All these elements appear overlaid by Freudian analytics with the demon offering huge potential for metaphorical interpretation. Dana Andrews’s portrayal of John Holden in particular appears a textbook case of a hyper-rational character, unwilling or unable to see beyond the surface. His stubborn grasp on one and only one rationalist explanation of life and reality makes him a cold and smug character. His unwillingness to countenance any other explanations for his plight places him in huge danger and its only when he admits his fears and doubts that he finds a way to fight Karswell – indeed going beneath the surface veneer was the only way he could battle his own demons. Niall MacGinnis is excellent as Karswell, a smoothly genial warlock who is warm, intelligent, articulate and likeable – MacGinnis brilliantly portraying the warm and seductive qualities of evil. Peggy Cummins is also very good as an intelligent and proactive young woman determined to find her way to the truth. "Night of the Demon" is a brilliant film – the powerfully suspenseful direction, the doomy narrative feel of unease, the superb individual set pieces, the stylish black and white photography and the excellent all round performances make this a masterpiece of both horror and British cinema.… (more)