Spooky Movies: Night of the Demon

I love, love, love scary movies*, whether they’re genuinely creepy or just plain cheesy. So for fun, I’m going to recommend some favorite scary movies between now and Halloween.

Did you ever wonder what the heck these lines from the opening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show are referencing?

Dana Andrews said prunes

Gave him the runes

And passing them used lots of skills

That would be Night of the Demon, also known as Curse of the Demon, released in 1958. Dana Andrews plays American skeptic Dr. John Holden, who attends a paranormal symposium in London and runs afoul of occultist Julian Karswell. Karswell slips Holden the runes—a piece of paper with occult symbols containing a curse—and Holden finds himself hounded by strange occurrences as the titular demon closes in on him. The only way he can avoid the demon is to slip Karswell the runes in return, but can he do it before it’s too late?

This film has genuine suspense—we aren’t sure whether there’s really a curse, or whether the demon is in the characters’ imagination—decent performances, and pretty great special effects for its time. Just ignore the the fact that the moviemakers knew as much about Stonehenge as these guys.

*Spooky movies to me usually have a supernatural element or a monster, or both. I don’t do slasher movies or torture porn.