Curse of the Demon (1957)

Curse of the Demon (aka Night of the Demon) is a 1957 British horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis.

Plot
In England, Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) visits his rival. Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) Harrington promises to cancel an investigation of Kraswell's involvement in Satanism if Karwell will resind a threat he has made against Harrington. After learning that a parchment given to Harrington has disintegrated, Karswell glances at the clock and ushers Harrington out, promising to do all that he can. As Harrington drives home, a gigantic demon materialises and pursues him. Losing control of the car, Harrington crahes into an electrical pole and is electrocuted.

Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in England to attend a convention at which Harrington had intended to expose Karwell's cult. Holden is informed of Harrington's death and that only link between it and Karswell's cult is an murderer, Rand Hobart (Brain Wilde), who has fallen into a catatonic stupor. While Harrington's collaborators consider the possibillity of supernatural forces, Holden rejects the idea as superstiton.

Following Harrington's notes, Holden visits the British Museum's library to examine books on witchcraft. A book Holden requests is discovered to missing. Karwell offers to show Holden his own copy at his mansion. At Harrington's funeral, Holden meets the dead man's niece Joanna (Peggy Cummins), who gives him Harrington's increasing fear of Karswell's power. Holden remains sceptical, but goes with Joanna to Karwell's mansion the next day.

There, Holden and Karswell mock each other's beliefs. A very strong windstorm abruptly stars, which Karwall claims to have created with a spell. When Holden continues to mock him, Karswell grows angry and predicts that Holden will die in three days.

Holden and his colleagues discuss Karswell and make plans to further examine Rand Hobart. Harrington's diary mentions the parchment passed to him by Karswell; Holden finds a parchment with runic inscriptions that Krawell secretly passed to him at the library. Powerful winds come throgugh the window, blowing the parchment from his fingers. It nearly burns in the fireplace before Holden rescues and pockets it.

Holden begins to feel more uneasy after a visit to Hobart's family. As Holden leaves, the parchment flies from his hand again. Hobart's family become fearful and declare Holden to be "chosen". Holden compres the parchment's runes to ones inscribed on the nearby stone circle at Stonehenge.

Joanna takes Holden to Karwell's mother (Athene Seyler), who has arranged a séance. The medium channels Harrington, who tells them that Karswell has the key to the problem from his book. That night, Holden breaks into Karswell's mansion to examine the book. He is caught by Karswell, but is permitted to leave. Holden leaves through the woods and is chased by a ball of smoke. On exiting the forest, Holden finds that the phenomenon has vanished. He reports the event to the police, but feels embarrassed.

Mrs. Karswell telephones Joanna, imploring her to tell Holden that Rand Hobart knows the secret of the parchment. While Holden prepares an experiment to break Hobart's stupor, Karswell kidnaps Joanna to prevent her from giving Holden the message.

Under hypnosis, Hobart reveals that he was "chosen" to die by having a parchment with a curse passed to him, but avoided death by passing it along to another person. When Holden shows Hobart the parchment he received from Karswell, Hobart goes berserk and throws himself from a window to his death.

Holden learns Karswell is taking to Southampton, and on the train discovers that he has kidnapped and hypnotised Joanna. As the time for Holden's predicted death draws near, Karswell becomes agitated, and when the train stops at the next station. he tries to leave. Holden manages to sneak the parchment into his coat pocket, but when Karswell retrieves it, it files from his hand. He chases it down the tracks, but as he reaches it the parchment combusts. As an oncoming train approaches, the demon manifests and violently attacks Karswell. When his corpse is found by the tracks, the police believe that he was struck and dragged by the train. Holden is shaken and, instead of going to inspect the body, accepts Joanna's advice that "it's better not to know", and they leave together.

Production
Screenwriter Charles Bennett owned the rights to the original story "Casting the Runes" 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 scirpt, 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 his production had taken place.

Jacques Tourneur was brought in by Chester on the recommendation of Ted Richmond, the producer of Tourneur's previous film, Nightfall (1957). However, Tourneur and Chester had serious disagreements durning filming. One argument was about the wind scene; Tourneur tried to convince Chester to replace two electric fans with aeroplane engines. When Chester hesitated, star Dana Andrews threatened to leave the picture if Chester did not let "the director direct the picture". Locations for the film include Brocket Hall, Hertorshire (as Lufford Hall), Stonehenge, Bricket Wood railway station and the Reading Room of the British Museum.

After completion of the principal shooting, producer Chester decided to show the demon at the beginning and end the film. Tourneur later said that he was aganist the addition, stating "The scenes where you see the demon were shot without me...the audience should never have been completey certain of having seen the demon." Stop motion master Ray Harryhausen was requested by Columbia Pictures to create the demon for the production, but was already committed to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with producer Chales H. Schneer. Author Tony Earnshaw's book Beating the Devil: The Making of Night of the Demon argues that showing the demon was planned early on in the production (despite Tourneur's protests to the contray), in order to heighten the tension in the film by letting the audience know the demonic powers were real. Benneft, also angry at the script changes, said "If [Chester] walked up my driveway right now, I'd shoot him dead."

Cinema releases
The film was released in the United Kingdom for a theatrical run in December 1957; running to its original 96-minute length, it was shown as a double bill with the American film 20 Million Miles to Earth. In the United States, it was released as Curse of the Demon. According to Charles Bennett, the title was changed because the studio didn't want it confused with the similarly titled The Night of the Iguana. Columbia cut the film down to 81 minutes for the June 1958 US release. The scenes removed included a visit to the Hobart family farm, a trip to Stonehenge, and snippets of the séance scenes and conversations between Karswell and his mother. Curse of the Demon toured drive-ins and theaters variously with The True Story of Lynn Stuart and The Revenge of Frankenstein in June 1958.

Home video
In the United States, the film was released on VHS in 1986 by Columbia TriStar Home Video with a run time of 81 minutes. A second VHS with a 96-minute running time was released by Goodtimes Home Video Corp in 1988. In 1988, a Laserdisc of the film was released by Image Entertainment/Columbia Pictures with an 81-minutes running time. A verison including both the UK version of Night of the Demon and the edited US version as Curse of the Demon was released on DVD in August 2002.

In in United Kingdom, Night of the Demon was released on VHS in 1995 by Encore Entertanment/Columbia TriStar Home Video. The film was released on DVD in the United Kingdom for the first time on 18 October 2010. This release also includes both the UK and US versions of the film. A Blu-ray edition from Powerhouse Films' Indicator Iabel, featuring four different cuts of the film, was released as a UK all-region release on 22 October 2018.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 15 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.2/10. In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin commented that Tourneur's direction was "handled with much of the assurance the same director brought to Cat People" and that the film was "way above average". The review commented on the image of the demon, stating whenever the demon takes on a visible form, "especially the ending", it seemed more like a product of "a child's nightmare that an adult's imagination".

In the early 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. Night of the Demon placed at number 52 on their top 100 list. Director Martin Scorsese placed Night of the Demon on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.

The Kate Bush song "Hounds of Love" (1985) begins with a sample from the film, using the line "It's in the trees! It's coming!"