Night of the Demon - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Night of the Demon or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Night of the Demon

[claude]

Beginning in the 1980s, Columbia Pictures replaced their edited 83-minute U.S. version with the uncut original 95-minute version whilst retaining the U.S. title "Curse of the Demon." The various video releases, and pay-TV showings, have used this restored version. A DVD release contained both versions.

[janice]

Ray Harryhausen was contacted to create the effect scenes with the demon, but he was already committed to his project The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) with producer Charles H. Schneer.

[ken]

This film was mentioned in the opening song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) ("Science Fiction Double Feature"): "Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, but passing them used lots of skills".

[ken]

Jacques Tourneur never planned to show the monster, but to leave it instead to the audience's imagination. However, the studio insisted that the monster be shown, and added it in post-production, allegedly without Tourneur's consent, approval or involvement. "The scenes where we really see the demon were shot without me. All except one: I shot the sequence in the woods where Andrews is pursued by this sort of cloud. [Tourneur himself in Midi-Minuit Fantastique 5.65] + It should have been unveiled bit by bit without it ever really being shown." [in Cinefantsatique; '73.]

[jesus]

Joanna Harrington's license plate includes the numbers "666", the traditional "number of the Beast".

[kristina]

Julian Karswell the devil cult leader is based in part on Aleister Crowley.

[cassandra]

The source story for this film, "Casting the Runes", was also adapted into a radio play of that name for the anthology radio programme "Escape". The story was also adapted twice for British television, first as an episode of the anthology series "Mystery and Imagination" in 1968, and again as an episode of "ITV Playhouse" in 1979. Of late, it was also ostensibly the plot (and obviously ending) of Sam Raimi's 'Drag Me to Hell (2009)' (2009) credited as written by him and his brother: no mention of even inspired by M.R. James original story, nor even Tourneur's film.

[morris]

In the movie "The 'Burbs (1989)", Tom Hanks' character (Ray) is in his basement with the paranoid neighbor (Art) who is trying to convince him that the Klopeks next door are actually Satanists. When he shows Ray an old book to make his point, take a look at the title and especially the author. "The Theory and Practice of Demonolgy" is supposedly written by none other than Julian Karswell. Someone....perhaps a writer, the director or the props manager was apparently out to pay homage to Curse of the Demon.

[mathew]

Screenwriter Charles Bennett owned the rights to the original story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James and wrote a script loosely based on it, using the title The Haunted. He sold the script to independent producer and former child actor Hal E. Chester shortly before going to America. Bennett regretted selling the script, because on arrival in America he was approached by RKO who wanted to purchase his script and allow him to direct the film. Actors Robert Taylor and Dick Powell had been in line for the leading roles if this production had taken place.

[veronica]

This British production became regarded as one of the best horror films of the 1950s. The image of the demon from this film became an iconic image for 1950s horror films.

[eli]

Listed by Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite horror movies.

[terry]

The French title for the film "Rendez-vous Avec La Peur," translates as "A Date With Fear" in English.

[aaron]

Charles Bennett was angry at the changes made to his script by producer Hal E. Chester. In an interview, Bennett said "If [Chester] walked up my driveway right now, I'd shoot him dead."

[jessica]

There are two versions, Curse of the Demon, the American version edited from the British version, Night of the Demon. Some of the scenes from the British version are not only shortened but shuffled in a different order. In Curse, Dana Andrews walks down the ominous hotel corridor after he meets the villain, Dr. Karswell, at the library. In Night, this corridor scene happens after he meets Karswell at his estate. As for the library scene: In Curse, it's the first time he speaks to Karswell. In Night, he had talked to him briefly on the telephone. Also, while Curse's scenes are shortened, it doesn't always mean the story gets lost. Some reasons for cutting certain lines of dialogue were to make the ending more of a twist figured out by the main hero.

[bernard]

In interviews regarding this film, Dana Andrews credits the story to Oliver Onions. The story is actually based on "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James.

[jim]

Released in the U.S. as the lower half of a double bill with Hammer's The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).

[albert]

Dana Andrews was so impressed with director Jacques Tourneur that when he returned to the United States he had Tourneur direct his next film, The Fearmakers (1958).