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Beating the Devil: The Making of Night of the Demon Certain facts about Night of the Demon (1957) make it entirely palatable to the horror fan. It is a British made supernatural shocker that counts prolific horror writer Stephen King and director John Carpenter amongst its strongest celebrity advocates. It is directed by Jacques Tourneur, who gave us the film noir classic Out of the Past, and who in partnership with producer Val Lewton at RKO made a string of atmospheric Forties shockers, including The Leopard Man, I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People. Film critic Tony Earnshaw has described it as a crossover film that links "the Universal horrors of James Whale in the 1930s, the intellectual spine-tinglers masterminded by Val Lewton at RKO in the 1940s and the flood of atomic sci-fi flicks and monster movies that spewed forth in the 1950s".
Night of the Demon has also permeated popular culture, referenced in both Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Picture Show and by Kate Bush. Bush's classic Hounds of Love samples Henry Harrington's (Maurice Denham) terrified lines "It's in the trees! It's coming!" as he runs from the Satanic fire demon through a rain lashed wood. This of course puts a whole new angle on The Futureheads' recent cover Hounds of Love, in which the Tyneside band's video shows them cowering up high in the windswept trees of a dark and foreboding forest.
However, certain facts about Night of the Demon contribute to the fact that it is entirely likely you have never heard of this film. It received an indifferent critical reception at the time of its release, and while it grew in status over the years it remains utterly and resolutely out of print in England. The few UK sources consist of rare videos traded second-hand on the internet and one tattered and shortened print at London's National Film and Television Archive. It is a film fallen into shameful and critical neglect. So, Earnshaw—Head of Film at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and well known film critic—has taken history to task.
Earnshaw's book Beating the Devil charts the entire development of the relatively unknown film, from initial screenplay to its reception today. A combination of factual information, "putting the record straight" on many of the myths surrounding the film's production and sensible, accessible analysis, the book offers an enthralling mixture of genealogy, complete cast and production listings, a detailed plot synopsis which parallels the developments, alterations and condensing that occurred from the transition from source material to silver screen, interviews with the remaining cast and crew, and prints of film posters, press releases, and production design sketches among many other things.
An adaptation of Cambridge academic M.R. James' ghostly tale Casting the Runes, first published in 1911, Night of the Demon tells the story of American psychologist Dr John Holden (Dana Andrews) who comes to London to co-ordinate a conference that will prove that a devil-cult run by Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) is a fraud. Meanwhile, his British colleague Professor Henry Harrington (Maurice Denham) is killed in an apparent "freak accident", and on arrival in London Holden finds himself in charge of the conference. He is also at the receiving end of suave Karswell's threats that if he does not stop the conference and Karswell's so-called "exposure", he will find death as quickly as Harrington did. Holden laughs off Karswell's bizarre threats—but unbeknownst to him, and known to the audience as we witnessed the death—Harrington did indeed meet his maker at the hands of a malevolent fire demon, sent by Karswell. Harrington's niece Joanna (Peggy Cummings) has suspicions regarding her uncle's death and teams up with Holden to investigate. Holden then discovers he has also been cursed by Karswell, and as the smallest flicker of belief begins to arise in him, he realises he may only have two weeks before his fate is the same as Harrington's – he must find Karswell and break the curse.
Demon 's American producer was New Yorker Hal E. Chester, whom Earnshaw notes, many critics have accused of ripping the heart out of the suggestive, ghostly screenplay "in favour of the overt shockability of a monster – qualities demanded by the late 1950s youth market". Tourneur is considered a director of suggestion, chiaroscuro lighting, and creating horror through playing with the frame, as opposed to the outright anamatronic action of Karswell's fire demon shown in this film. However, Tourneur's claims that he knew nothing of the visual monstrosity may not have been entirely honest as Earnshaw proves through scores of documentation: "what becomes clear is that certain elements that have been endlessly debated in the final movie – notably the deaths of Harrington and Karswell, and the highly visible figure of the fire demon itself – were already firmly in place before a foot of film was shot".
Earnshaw also argues that Chester's decision "to show the demon within the first six minutes of the movie robbed it, Tourneur and the audience of any supernatural suspense in that, from the outset, at least three characters – Karswell, Henry Harrington and Rand Hobart – already know of the demon's existence". But, in defence of the nigh-on hysterical reactions from the Tourneur purists, Earnshaw then points out that for "such a potentially hamfisted, destructive move also works extraordinarily positively in the film's favour. From those first chilling moments we know the truth: Karswell is all he appears to be, his powers demonstrated clearly and mercilessly... Karswell's powers, the runes, the leopard, the thunderstorm and the demon itself are all frighteningly real".
The only point of disagreement I can find is with the book's description of the state of British horror film pre-Hammer. Earnshaw argues that while America revelled in the Universal horrors of the 1930s and the RKO chillers of the 40s, "England waited a quarter of a century more until Hammer breathed life into a largely ignored genre". He argues that prior to Hammer, "English gothic horror movies were rare; greater horror movies rarer still", citing only the creepy portmanteau Dead of Night (1945) as a notable example.
In much the same way that many popular cinema histories neglect the silent cinema of the 1920s as a healthy site of horror film making, studies of British horror film prefer to ignore the majority of output before the Hammer revolution in the early Sixties. However, there were certainly British horrors being made as far back as the silent period – such as 1919's The Beetle (now lost) - and by the Thirties considerably more were in production. Among them were 1933's The Ghoul, starring Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger which is freely available on DVD; while 1934's The Tell-Tale Heart – a surreal low budget Edgar Allen Poe adaptation so strange that even Luis Buñuel would be proud - languishes in the British Film Institute's archives.
Admittedly, the fact remains that the British film industry was greatly affected by World War I and by the mid-Twenties was also fighting a losing battle with a tough market flooded with American product. Additionally, if we are talking about "great" horror films, it has to be said that the above cannot give Night of the Demon a run for its money. Despite this the fact remains that these early British horrors were produced and are as critically neglected as the film in question that Earnshaw serves to highlight.
There is nothing as intellectually redundant as a "fan" book. When researching film, my heart falls with a heavy sigh after flicking through the first few pages of an eagerly anticipated book only to find hundreds of pictures and a few poorly scribbled lines of personal, excitable prose on each page. Luckily for both us and Night of the Demon this book does not fall into that category. Instead, Earnshaw has cleverly straddled both academia and a contextual genealogy to cut through the myths of the film's turbulent production, offer salient answers, illuminating information and incisive analysis – although Earnshaw never intrudes on the film, keeping his flowing and rhythmical analysis to pertinent points and letting the reader interpret as they will. If you are doing a PhD on British Horror this book would serve as an excellent introduction to Night of the Demon. Equally at the opposite end of the scale, if you are simply a fan of a good horror film and are looking for something easy-to read and entertaining, this book also does the job. Whatever your needs, this text satisfies your horrific lust.
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