Years ago a man killed his entire family and then himself because his wife could only produce children that were deformed and handicapped. But legend has it that the youngest son survived and still lurks around the grounds of
his home; the abandoned Garth mansion. 12 years later, to the very day, a fraternity and its sister sorority have decided tohost a costume party/kegger/pledge initiation (They're nothing if they aren't efficient). The four pledges (two guys and two girls) must spend the night in Garth mansion, cut off from the rest of the world and with no electricity, telephone or modern comforts. The frat boys decide to play some pranks designed to scare the holy Hell out of the pledges. However, the terror soon becomes real when they run in to the
surviving Garth child. Needless to say, the kid has grown up and is very pissed off.

Hundreds of slasher films were made in the 80's and Hell Night is definitely one of them. Hell Night is competently made, but there is very little that distinguishes it from the rest of the pack. The film's main claim to fame is the fact that Linda Blair stars as one ofthe sorority pledges. The film has a typical story ("They say they never found the body..."), solid, yet bland directing, a generic villain and a mundane score.

The film's main assets are the above average performances and character development. The four pledges are a surfer dude, a slutty druggie chick, a rich preppy guy and Linda Blair as the sweet girl next-door. Okay, the slut and the surfer are just there to provide the obligatory sex scenes, but the
writer did try to give them a bit more depth. They even mention a bit of backstory about themselves before jumping in the sack. Granted, it didn't make me care about the characters that much, but at least they tried. Still,
the surfer guy's reaction to the film's tribute to the Godfather made me laugh. However, Blair and the preppy guy are a different story. While the other two rush up to the bedroom, they stay downstairs and chat. At one point the preppy guy poses the question 'Why is it so evil to be rich and so
noble to be poor?" I'd bet that you could make a good movie that addresses that question. Granted, this isn't that movie, but it's an interesting question none the less. They also take a few moments to discuss why people join fraternities in the first place.

Hell Night is one film where the main characters, for the most part, don't do stupid things. They're forced to stay in the house by a 12 foot tall fence with spikes on the top. They don't call the police because there is no phone. Once they realize what's going on, they barricade themselves in a
well lit room, rather than splitting up and going down a dark corridor. One of the characters goes for help, and when nobody believes his story, he comes back heavily armed and ready to help his friends. These little things help keep the film watchable and reasonably entertaining.

The film really does need those watchable bits, because the bulk of the film is rather uninteresting. The killer is one of the more bland cinematic murderers. Even his look is pure vanilla. He's not a normal guy, but his half-man/half-beast look isn't anything to write home about. And as a side note, where did he get those clothes? I doubt he's been out shopping over
the past 12 years. His killing style is also fairly generic, as there are only four graphic deaths in the film, and none of them are particularly inventive. There's a really quick decapitation, a snapped neck and a sickle through the gut. I know, a film like Halloween or Texas Chainsaw Massacre
didn't need buckets of gore, but those films had plenty of other things going for them. I'm not the biggest fan of the Friday the 13th series, but at least the murders in those are often interesting and inventive. In a movie like this, if the visual look of the film isn't that interesting and the characters are merely satisfactory, then you better have some violence
and T&A. Also, in terms of T&A, the girls look nice, but never show any real skin.

As I said, the directing is competent, but never anything special. Tom DeSimone shows that he knows he basic ways to construct a horror film, but never strays from those basics. You get the feeling he knows how to play the notes, but isn't really playing the music. This is true for the whole film. It seems like a basic slasher film template and there is nothing really wrong with the film, but overall, there's not that much right with it either. Anytime there's something that's above average, there's something below average that brings it down. If you're looking for a decent diversion, you could do a lot worse than Hell Night, but you could probably do a whole lot better as well.

While the copy of the film I watched was an older VHS tape, Anchor Bay did release a DVD version of the film. From what I've read, the video and audio is typical Anchor Bay quality and the extras include TV spots, the theatrical trailer and commentary track featuring the producers, the director and Linda Blair.