NIGHT VISITOR (1989)
Label: Scorpion Releasing
Region Code: A
Duration: 93 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Rupert Hitzig
Cast: Allen Garfield, Elliott Gould, Derek Rydall, Michael J. Pollard, Shannon Tweed, Richard Roundtree, Teresa Van der Woude, Teri Weigel
In the late-80's Satanic thriller entry Night Visitor (1989) a vintage slick, black Cadillac is seen cruising the streets of L.A. luring hookers inside. Meanwhile, suburban high schooler Billy Colton (Derek Rydell, Popcorn) is a well-known class clown and fibber whose tardiness and pranks irks his strict teacher Mr. Willard (Allen Garfield, The Conversation). Billy is crushing on his gal-pal Kelly (Teresa Van der Woude, Killer Workout) but his best bud Loomis (Scott Fults, Hide and Go Shriek) thinks he's stuck in the friend zone. With that brewing in the background Billy becomes wildly distracted by the arrival of his hot new neighbor, bombshell looker Lisa (Shannon Tweed, Hotdog...The Movie) who is pretty flirty with the teen. Billy begins to suspect that his new neighbor might be a prostitute when she starts bringing home a different guy every night - and he would know, because the horny teen has his bedroom telescope pointed straight into her bedroom window every night! In a brazen attempt to prove she's a hooker to his disbelieving pals he climbs onto the roof of her home one night to snap a quick pick of her in the act, but gets more than he bargained for when he encounters a dagger-wielding satanic killer wearing a horned-mask who has just murdered poor Lisa! There's a brief struggle between Billy and the masked-killer, but the teen manages to pry off the mask - revealing none other than his teacher Mr. Willard!
Billy flees the scene and calls the cops spilling the beans on Mr. Willard, but when the investigating detective (Richard Roundtree, Shaft's Big Score) and his partner Dolan (Kathleen Bailey, Witchtrap) go to the home of Mr. Willard to interview the teacher, who is wearing the most suspicious red bathrobe, scarf and medallion ensemble, convinces the cops that the teen is well-known for telling tall tales and that he has it out for him because of disciplinary issues at school. At this point we're introduced to Willard's bizarre (mentally ill?) brother Stanley (Michael J. Pollard, Scrooged), and see that the devil-cult duo have a prostitute (Teri Weigel, Cheerleader Camp and a lot of porn films) tied-up and ball-gagged in the basement, where Stanley creepily leers at her until she sacrificed to the Dark Lord. With the cops not believing his story about the satanic teacher, and with Mr. Willard making increasingly alarming threats, Billy turns to retired former detective Ron Devereaux (Elliot Gould, The Long Goodbye), a family friend, for help. Gould's characters is clearly the analog for Peter Vincent from Fright Night. The cast also includes Brooke Bundy (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors) as Billy's mom, and Henry Gibson (The 'Burbs) as a devil-cult expert.
Night Visitor was originally written by screenwriter Randal Viscovich as a raw, grindhouse flick but first-time (and only-time) director Rupert Hitzig went a more goofy direction with it, with a finished film that heavily riffs on the-boy-who-cried-wolf classic Fright Night (1995) by way of the campy Satanic shenanigans of The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) and The 'Burbs. The satanic set-dressing looks pretty cool though, we gets lots of candle lit atmosphere, a cool ceremonial dagger, a sadly underused satanic mask, and some sacrificial nudity, but overall it's a pretty goofy film with little sense of threat or dread. For me it's Allen Garfield's delightfully committed and over-the-top performance that makes this a truly entertaining watch.
Audio/Video: Night Visitor (1989) arrives on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1) looking quite nice, especially when stacked up against my MGM DVD. Grain structures looks filmic, textures are great, fine detail in the close-ups is pleasing and colors look accurate, if a tiny bit soft in spots. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds terrific and the elements are well-balanced throughout, and the score from Parmer Fuller (Saturday the 14th) sounds pretty great, too.
Extras kick-off with an Interview with editor Glenn Erickson, he talks about being a sci-fi nut from a young age, working at Canon as an editor, and getting the gig for MGM on Night Visitor. Noting the archaic ways of linear editing versus modern capabilities and the particulars of cutting this film, sometimes with the actors in the editing bay! He also gets into the original title versus his suggested title and the final title, and things that were added after his original edit of the film. We also get an Interview with director Rupert Hitzig who talks about his pals crazy script, shooting it in 18 days, noting the major use of steadiness cam, the big-name cast, the campiness of it.
The Interview with writer Randal Viscovich, features the screenwriter writing this as a raw, grindhouse style flick, coming up with what he thought was an inventive idea, basing some of it on his own adversarial relationship with a teacher as well as elements taken from the Night Stalker murders. He also talks about being copacetic with first-time director Hitzig, voicing his ideas for casting, which included Chuck Conners and Jack Palance, who were both in talks with the director, and why they both didn't work out, with the main antagonist role eventually going to character actor Alan Garfield, who he notes was a method actor who stayed in character on set which was off-putting to some of his co-stars.
Special Features:
- Interview with director Rupert Hitzig (11 min)
- Interview with writer Randal Viscovich (17 min)
- Interview with editor Glenn Erickson (14 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Scorpion Trailers: Torment (1 min), Deep Space (2 min), King of the Mountain (2 min), The Dogs of War (2 min),
Night Visitor (1989) is a highly entertaining slice of devil-worshipping goofiness, it might not have any real sense of threat to it but the impressively odd cast is bonkers fun, especially Allen Garfield as the teacher who is league with Satan. If you're a fan of stuff like The 'Burbs, The Devil's Rain, and Hack-O-Lantern I think you'll have a blast with this light-hearted devil-cult romp.
Screenshots from the Scorpion Films Blu-ray:
Extras:
