Night Of The Demons 3: Collector's Edition

Once again, we return to the creepy, derelict mortuary Hull House several years after the events of Night of the Demons 3. And like last time, the massacre at the Catholic school on Halloween night has become a thing of legend, a story not only told to scare unruly teens but a gruesome incident that's become the curse of the town. In fact, it's such a blight that the local police now routinely patrol the area so as to keep would-be thrill-seekers out. Unfortunately, on this Halloween night, the officer on patrol dares to investigate inside the house only to be confronted by Angela (Amelia Kinkade reprising her role), who is still wearing her iconic black wedding dress and flashes the poor cop a devilish grin before brutally killing him with his badge. Even more unfortunate is that this is arguably one of the two best moments of the entire movie, as the next 75 minutes are just eye-rolling schlock with little to no humor to make the awfulness the least bit tolerable. 

Trying to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor where the filmmakers attempt, at every stage, to outdo the previous entry, the plot, which was written by the first movie's director, Kevin Tenney, begins with a group of rowdy, trouble-making teenagers riding around town in a van. And as if driving one of those windowless 80s Chevrolet vans weren't enough to indicate that these kids are up to no good, director Jimmy Kaufman makes it all the more apparent with a sudden stupid outburst of violence involving insults hurled at one boy's promiscuous girlfriend, the driver being choked while driving and a knife to the neck of the one doing the choking. The whole fiasco ends with a pounding-of-the-chest display of machismo between two boys, and I swear I heard the grunts of gorillas as they were about to throw down in the back of that van. Whereas the previous movies simply gave us stereotypical wild rebellious teens, here, we have a parody of lawless hooligans deserving of what Angela has to offer. 

If the production has any saving grace, it would be the reason for these caricatures of slasher tropes winding up at Hull House on Halloween night, which is the second-best moment of the entire movie. While caught attempting to illegally purchase alcohol and stupidly acting cheeky with the cashier, the scene rapidly spirals out of control with one of the teens shooting a police officer, so the gang tries to hide at the abandoned mortuary where they soon discover that it's permanent resident is especially welcoming of their unannounced visit. However, as we go through the usual, familiar parade of teens being brutally killed one by one, the uncreative kills are surprisingly one cringe-worthy moment after another, especially Angela's erotic dance, which is part of the franchise's central motif. Even more amazing, the story is made all the worse with a subplot about a detective trying to solve the shootout one day before his retirement and an out-of-nowhere budding romance between two teens, which adds nothing to the overall plot.

Needless to say, this straight-to-video flick is an absolute disaster with hardly any redeeming qualities, littered with one-dimensional, completely unlikeable characters and cringingly wooden, unconvincing performances — even by Kinkade, which is unfortunate. The movie is not only painful to watch with the least bit of atmosphere or suspense, but the convoluted plot is driven by these awful characters that make it impossible to care about their fates. While the production does chalk up some points for the gory visuals, the practical effects are more likely to induce laughter than scares with the demons looking like something out of a low-budget Halloween costume store. Kaufman's direction is also abysmal with the camera work and editing feeling amateurish, at best, and with the equally atrocious dialogue, made of terribly cheesy one-liners, Night of the Demons 3 is, frankly, a trainwreck of a sequel to a popular horror favorite that did not really need to be made. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Scream Factory brings Night of the Demons 3 to Blu-ray as a single-disc Collector's Edition. The Region A locked, BD50 disc is housed inside the normal blue case with a shiny cardboard slipcover. At startup, the disc goes to an animated menu screen with the usual options along the bottom and music playing in the background.

Demons torment a bunch of hooligans for a third time on Blu-ray, equipped with a strong but somewhat disappointing 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode. Given that this is a straight-to-video, low-budget production, the video is actually not all that terrible, showing decently good definition and clarity throughout with a few scenes that boast some sharp details. But overall, and compared to its predecessors, the majority of the transfer falls on the softer side of things with a grain structure that often alternates from stable and natural to looking like chroma noise, sometimes within the same sequence. Contrast and brightness levels are fairly good and well-balanced for the most part, but all in all, the video can generally look pretty flat while blacks range from accurately rendered to average and occasionally dull. Thankfully, shadow details don't suffer and maintain acceptable visibility within the darkest, murkiest corners. The color palette is the most noteworthy aspect, bathing the visuals in vibrant, animated primaries and well-saturated secondary hues while facial complexions appear healthy. (Video Rating: 62/100)

The second sequel crashes into home theaters with a relatively satisfying DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo soundtrack, though there's nothing particularly standout or noteworthy. Overall, it falls short of the first two movies but is an above-average improvement over its Dolby Digital counterpart. The lossless mix is clean and free of any distracting artifacts, exhibiting a stable and decently well-defined mid-range. However, the design is generally pretty uniform and even, never really pushing into the upper frequencies while many of the action sequences feel rather flat. Likewise, the low-end adds some weight and mild oomph to the action, but it's not to any notable degree. The majority of the focus is understandably on the dialogue reproduction, which is surprisingly faultless and terrifically prioritized over the rest of the action. (Audio Rating: 68/100)

The third entry in the cult horror series arrives on Blu-ray with a healthy collection of bonus material.

• Audio Commentaries: A pair of commentaries track begins with the director Jimmy Kaufman essentially being interviewed by host Gregory Abilar, and the second track features screenwriter Kevin S. Tenney chatting with special effects artist Roy Knyrim.
• Interviews (HD): 
• Director Jimmy Kaufman (38 min)
• Writer Kevin S. Tenney (18 min)
• Producer Jeff Geoffray (17 min)
• Actor Amelia Kinkade (22 min)
• Night of the Demons 3 Director's Cut - Workprint (SD, 98 min)
• Night of the Demons 3 TV Cut (SD, 88 min)
• Behind the Scene Footage (1080i/60, 40 min) 
• Alternate Title Sequence (1080i/60, 10 min) 
• Dailies (1080i/60, 47 min) 
• Trailers (1080i/60, 11 min)

Night of the Demons 3 lives up to the phrase that it's the sequel no one asked for, not even by the loyal fans of the previous two movies. Other than seeing Amelia Kinkade return as the franchise's icon, the demonic Angela, there is very little to enjoy in this third entry in spite of being written by the director of the first movie, lacking in humor, interesting characters worth caring about and an engaging story. Making its Blu-ray debut, the second sequel arrives with strong but less than satisfying HD video and a generally satisfying DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo soundtrack. With a healthy collection of bonus material, this Blu-ray edition is Worth a Look for loyal fans when the price is right. 

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