Curse of the Demon

1957

Action / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 17 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.4/10 10 16503 16.5K

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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.

Top cast

Dana Andrews as John Holden
Peggy Cummins as Joanna Harrington
Laurence Hepworth as Train Guard
Percy Herbert as Farmer
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
881.28 MB
1192*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 5
1.77 GB
1776*1072
English 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 14

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gftbiloxi 7 / 10

It's In The Trees! It's Coming!

Filmed in England, this 1958 film was originally released with a running time of 95 minutes under the title NIGHT OF THE DEMON; when it reached the United States it had a running time of 83 minutes and the title CURSE OF THE DEMON. Both versions are contained on this DVD, with the English version the better for those twelve minutes, but in truth there is little significant difference between the two, and if you are a connoisseur of 1950s horror films you will find both equally fascinating.Based on the short story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James, DEMON offers the tale of American psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews) who travels to a conference in England, planning to debunk a devil worshiping cult led by Karswell (Niall MacGinnis.) Unfortunately for the professionally skeptical Holden, Karswell's powers are genuine: he has successfully translated an ancient text and, through runes written on parchment, casts a curse first against Holden's colleague and then against Holden himself.DEMON was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who worked with producer Val Lewton to create a series of memorable and distinctly noir-ish horror films at RKO in the 1940s: CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and THE LEOPARD MAN. All three films created a sense of unease and scream-aloud fear by implication and suggestion, and although DEMON is much more explicit in its effects, Tourneur brings the same sensibility to bear on DEMON, endowing it with remarkable authority and power in spite of several distinct flaws.Chief among these flaws is the script, which can best be described as somewhat abrupt in terms of dialog, and leading man Dana Andrews, whose performance is remarkably unsubtle even in a decade noted for a lack of cinematic restraint. Film lore also has it that Tourneur lobbied against showing the demon on screen, and given the fact that the visual is hardly inspired this clearly would have been the better choice. None the less, DEMON has jolts and jars aplenty, not the least of which is Karswell: Niall MacGinnis' performance, with its mixture of the commonplace and the flatly evil, is remarkably fine. The film also sports a host of memorable set pieces: the storm, the flying parchment, Dr. Holden's exploration of Karswell's mansion, Dr. Holden's run through the night forest, and the final train sequence, to name but a few.Although it is not well known today, like Tourneur's films with Lewton, DEMON has cast a very long shadow in terms of influence, and it is very difficult to imagine such films as ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE CHANGELING without both this film and those that proceeded it. Recommended.GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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Reviewed by oldmovieman 8 / 10

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.

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