Curse of the Demon
1957
Action / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

Curse of the Demon
1957
Action / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
It's In The Trees! It's Coming!
Watch the long version
Previous posters have rightly commented that this is a fine, A-level thriller on a B-level budget with generally good acting, tight direction, great cinematography, and a good script taken from a good story. Just a few comments about the two versions of this movie. "Night of the Demon" is the original version released in U.K. and is 135 minutes long. Re-edited and retitled for the American market as "Curse of the Demon," this version is about 14 minutes shorter. A number of scenes were cut from the original but as far as I can tell, no other scenes were added or changed. Luckily for me, the DVD had both versions. Thinking that "Curse" was the original and "Night" was a sequel, I watched Curse and found it greatly entertaining but a bit disconnected and confusing at points. Reading Maltin's review later, I learned that I had one movie in two different edits. WATCH THE LONG VERSION IF YOU CAN! The missing scenes go a long way in explaining Karswell's motivation (it's not just that he's opened Pandora's box and can't close it -- he's motivated as well by the money he makes as a cult leader), as well as the peculiar actions of Karswell's mother which don't make much sense without the missing two scenes that explain her motives. Also, the missing scenes make Karswell slightly less appealing than in the edited version. All in all, a really good movie. P.S. I think the monster was OK.