Night Visitor (1989)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

What happens to good actors when they can't get good roles anymore? They end up in stuff like this.Elliot Gould was a leading man back in the 1970's. He was kind of a big deal. Some of the other actors were quite good, but could be picked up on the cheap, kind of like that state of the art Commadore 64 someone sells at a garage sale.The plot is that a teenage boy takes to spying on his neighbor, who is apparently a hooker. No one believes him when he says she was murdered his HS History teacher who had him expelled the day before.ANd what follows is the case of the worst detectives ever trying to catch the most inept criminal ever before they kill more hookers with no survival skills.I think Gould's performance irked me the most, because his character came off as kind of silly in what should have been a serious movie. Pollard's character was almost as bad, playing the mentally deficient brother of the Satanist History Teacher.

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.

~Spoiler~ Night Visitor seems to be a horror film that disappeared over the years. The film is one part Fright Night and one part Devil's Rain. And since Fright Night is one of my faves, I dug this one. How can a movie about devil worshippers be anything like Fright Night you ask? Let's look at the similarities. 1. A mysterious neighbors moves in next door to our young hero. 2. Hero witnesses a murder from his bedroom window but no one will believe him. 3. Hero has to enlist the help of an aging expert who is not as gutsy as he would have you believe. 4. Hero's girlfriend is kidnapped in the last act. 5. Together with the old guy, hero has to enter the house and fight the villain and his henchman. Do you believe me yet? It has that same sense of fun that Fright Night had, but here it's definitely cheesed up. It's more of a comedy than you would think, but it was very entertaining. The cast is actually top notch. Derek Rydall plays the lead. You might recognize him from The Phantom of the Mall...or you might not. Co-stars include Elliot Gould, Richard Roundtree, and Shannon Tweed. But nobody holds a candle to the film's hammy villains: Allen Garfield and Michael J. Pollard. The two of them have a great rapport as the bumbling satanist brothers. They were a joy to watch. One thing that bothered me though, the box claims "from the director of Wolfen." Yes, the second-unit director. Can they do that? I guess they did.

A pair of satanists drive around in an old black Cadillac, picking up hookers to sacrifice. A high school student who's always telling tall tales (I was late to school because my mother burned her hair when her hairdryer exploded!) tries to get closer to a female friend, and meets a sexy older woman who moves in next door.The high schooler witnesses a murder, and even though when the police show up the body is there as described, murdered when and how he described, they don't believe him when he says who the killer is. I found that a bit hard to believe, even given his penchant for making up stories.A bit randomly, his best friend is a smartass named Sam Loomis, like Donald Pleasance's character in Halloween.The satanists (of which there are only two) kill some women in their car, and some in their house. They don't seem to actually have any satanic powers.There's a few recognizable faces in the movie. Michael J. Pollard plays a sort of character he's played before, a man with the mind of a child. Henry Gibson shows up briefly as a police consultant on satanic crimes. Richard Roundtree plays a cop, as he has a thousand times. Elliot Gould is a family friend who the student tries to enlist.The movie never really takes off at any point. The ending concludes things, and then follows with a musical montage and a freeze-frame which struck me as silly.