Hell Night poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy, Jenny Neumann ... see more see more... , Suki Goodwin , Jimmy Sturtevant , Ronald Gans , Carey Fox

This plodding, derivative slasher opus -- a surprise box-office hit -- stars Exorcist vet Linda Blair as one of a quartet of sorority and fraternity pledges required to spend the title evening of thei... read more read more...r initiation inside the spooky Garth Manor. The mansion was the site of a gruesome multiple murder, wherein the owner killed his wife and three of his four deformed children before taking his own life. After the four pledges bed down for the night (mainly with each other, though Blair is called upon for the standard "virginal heroine" role here), mischievous upperclassmen descend into the house, intending to scare them out of their wits...but something even more repulsive than a pack of drunken frat-boys beats them to it. It comes as no surprise that Garth's fourth child -- apparently the most monstrous of the bunch -- is still roaming the premises, and doesn't take kindly to strangers. An early foray onto exploitation turf for director Tom de Simone, this film has a fairly stylish look, though mired by underlit photography and silly performances. Blair is appealing, but her role is sadly underwritten. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Flixster Users

45% liked it

4,666 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

6 critics

R, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Tom DeSimone

Release Date: August 28, 1981

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: August 24, 1999

Get It:
 

Stats: 206 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Hell night Hell Night Hell Night Hell Night Hell Night Hell Night Hell Night Hell Night Hell night Hell Night Hell night
Upload a Photo | View All Hell Night Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (206)

  • FilmFanatik
    January 16, 2012
    FilmFanatik
    Having not seen Hell Night since I was about 12 and having found a used copy, I decided to give it a spin. The only copy of the film that I had seen was a squashed full screen VHS tape that was muddy, dark and just nearly impossible to watch and make any real sense out of. Fortun... read moreately, the DVD I found of it isn't, and I was finally able to experience it properly for the first time. I found it to be surprisingly effective and creepy. It's not a body count sort of slasher movie as there's hardly any victims to be served up to the unseen force terrorizing these young college students that are stuck in a haunted mansion all night under an initiation for a fraternity. There's actually some very good dialogue buried in there; not always delivered at the highest levels, obviously, but refeshingly realistic at times. The back and forth between Linda Blair and Peter Barton is mainly what I'm referring to. Everyone seems to be having a good time, and it shows in their performances. The movie loses its focus at times and gets a little bit silly towards the end, but overall, it has some great atmosphere and some genuine scares. I can't even really call it a slasher because it doesn't go by that particular formula, but it's a well-produced horror movie that was worth the profits it raked in.
  • ajv2688
    April 27, 2011
    ajv2688
    This movie starts out like a typical college prank haunted house story with the students joking around and then maybe the house really is haunted. It isn't scary or exciting at all until the end. The end was a pretty good surprise, and I kinda liked it, but other than that, it'... read mores not such a good movie.
  • WrenchLT
    January 15, 2011
    WrenchLT
    Disappointingly average slasher which takes a while to get to the action... and there isn't much once it does get started. Does have a couple of creepy moments and one good kill at the end. But there's no gore, a low body count and no real scares. Could have been better.
  • creepfreak
    May 14, 2008
    creepfreak
    Hell Night is a creepy little fun horror movie from the 80's. The atmosphere in this movie is amazing, and to me atmosphere is one of the strongest qualities in a horror film. Yes there's the typical 80's cheese, but it's always fun and it never takes away from the fear that this... read more movie delivers. We get a spooky old mansion in the dark foggy mist, possibly haunted by a ghost, and a killer who's on a murderous rampage killing off a group of teens one by one. It's all great and there are some really true intense nail biting moments in here as well. To me, this is Linda Blair's best movie by far.

    "Hell Night focuses on Marti, a young college co-ed played by Linda Blair. Marti is pledging a sorority and must endure "hell night," the night when pledges must perform some idiotic stunt in order to become members. So, Marti along with fellow pledge Denise, must spend the night in Garth Mansion, along with fraternity pledges Jeff and Seth. Why Garth Manor you may ask? Well, it seems that millionaire Mr. Garth and his wife had three deformed children. Mr. Garth couldn't take this, so he slaughtered his family and killed himself, but only three bodies were found. The legend has it that Andrew, the youngest Garth child, still roams the grounds.

    So, Marti and the rest of the gang enter Garth Mansion. Soon, frat president Jeff, and two cronies arrive to begin playing pranks on the group to try and frighten them. But, someone else is in the house, someone who isn't there for fun and games. One by one the young partiers are picked off by an unseen assailant. Is this all an elaborate "hell night" trick or has one of the Garth's returned to seek vengeance?"

    Hell Night is such an underrated film that had never gotten the attention that it deserved. The beautiful Linda Blair was stunning in this film(and no, I'm not just talking about all that cleavage she showed here), even though that definitely was a plus. The acting wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either, and it never becomes too unbelievable. Actually the performances were just right for the type of movie that this was and the story, although not too original, was told in a very creepy fashion. Another great thing about this movie too was the score, the music here was very eerie and spine tingling and it had added much tension to several scenes in the movie.

    This movie is definitely perfect to watch around Halloween time, for it does have that spooky spirited Halloween feel to it. I just loved this movie! Don't expect any gore or anything like that, because even though it's rated R with the occasional spurts of violence and some nudity, this movie strongly relies on the spooky dark atmosphere, along with a good old creepy story. Try to watch this movie in the dark, when you're alone at night, I'm sure you'll be quite pleased. Check this movie out...Hell Night is a must see!

    Photobucket
  • YosemiteSamFan
    July 9, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    What starts as a prank, ends up with a group of kids being locked on the grounds of a spooky castle with a maniac. Cheap scares with a good setting. The killings aren't too great; I was expecting more. I didn't understand the bit with the ghosts.
  • moviewaffle
    January 31, 2012
    moviewaffle
    Nowadays nobody who wants a legitimate career in the film industry would dream about starting in porn but that wasn't always the case. Back in the seventies the technical specs of skin flicks were pretty much on a par with regular movies, they were shot on film and required a kno... read morewledge of lighting that non-professionals simply didn't have. If you were a director with a list of porn titles on your cv you were taken seriously by producers of exploitation fare. Tom DeSimone, director of titles like "Swap Meat" and "Heavy Equipment", was taken aboard by Irwin Yablans of "Halloween" fame to direct this slasher. He should have stuck with porn.
    Having never attended college in the United States I didn't realise that Hell Night was an actual thing, the night when pledges are put through ordeals in order to be accepted into fraternities and sororities. Blair is one such pledge and to prove her worth she and her slutty English friend must spend the night in a purportedly haunted mansion with two guys who look like they belong in a "Hardy Boys" porn spoof. The fact that the guys in this movie are prettier than the girls is a clue to the directors previous career in gay porn.
    You know straight away that Blair will survive the night as she instantly shows no interest in sex, in fact she seems completely disinterested in anything, mumbling her way through the script like she's hypnotised. Goodwin is doomed from the start as she takes drugs, drinks, and jumps straight in bed with a guy who seduces her by using surfing as a sexual metaphor. As far as easy lays go she's right up there with Jamie Lee Curtis in "The Fog", the early eighties must have been a great time to be a horny young man.
    As slashers go this is particularly tedious, the kills are bland and badly shot, the attempts to build up atmosphere amounting to tedious scenes of characters walking through poorly lit corridors. Aside from a few amusing lines of dialogue there's little of interest here.
    Screenwriter Randy Feldman didn't get another script produced for eight years after this but it was worth the wait, the buddy cop classic "Tango & Cash"!
  • John2223
    November 23, 2008
    John2223
    Hell Night is a little slow moving and doesn't keep it's pace going once things start to happen and Linda Blair's acting is really bad, but the movie delivers good suspense, creepy locations and some nice scares
  • patrickdol
    April 27, 2008
    patrickdol
    An above average run-of-the-mill slasher that gets extra points for Linda Blair, and maintains being well decent despite unexplained/confusing plot points.
  • donnarenee2006
    October 24, 2007
    donnarenee2006
    This scared me a lot when I first watched this movie! A group of Sority kids pledge 4 fraternity pledges to sleep in a Mansion, which has been rumored to be still haunted and possible may still be inhabitant with the previous goolish owner. Scary and suprising. Check it out!
  • kingmob6
    January 12, 2012
    kingmob6
    I enjoy Linda Blair's cleavage in this one, as she spend the duration of the costume party thrown in a haunted house dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, but the plotting is glacial and tries the patience of even the most patient viewer.

    I mean, I was pissed after watching charact... read moreers creep around for 20 minutes finding nothing, then stumble across someone WE AS THE AUDIENCE already know has been dead the whole time! How is this meant to be scary? Bah.

    Rental at best, though I almost lean toward avoid.

View All Hell Night Reviews

Critic Reviews

Alex Sandell
October 15, 2005
Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum

Hell Night brought out the gimp at least a decade before Pulp Fiction was even a twinkle in Quentin Tarantino's eye. Full Review

Scott Weinberg
July 26, 2002
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Quaintly entertaining combination of slasher stuff and haunted mansion material.

Dustin Putman
January 1, 2000
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com

A worthwhile entry into the 80's mad-slasher wave. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

John Corry
August 30, 2004
John Corry, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
August 22, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Philip Martin
October 30, 2002
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

No review available.

Derek Adams
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Vacancy
    Vacancy (66%)
  • Dèmoni (Demons)
    Dèmoni (Demons) (100%)
  • The Unnamable
    The Unnamable (100%)
  • Fade to Black
    Fade to Black (0%)

More Movies like Hell Night

Facts

Submit a Fact | View All
    • Peter: In 1850 Virgil Garth built this mansion with the gold that was pouring out of his mines. Since then, four generations of Garth's have lived here. Until twelve years ago. The last people to live in the house were Raymond and Lillian Garth, and their four children. Now Lillian Garth was a hopeless simpleton. About the only thing she was good for was child bearing, and she didn't turn out to be too hot at that. First child she bore; Raymond was a boy. A mongoloid boy they called Morris. Now Morris brought great sorrow to the Garth's...and they immediately set about to have another child. And they were soon cursed with a baby girl; Suzanne. And she was so hideously deformed that it was impossible to tell from looking at her if she was male...or female. At with her father's immense disgust, she used to drag herself around the house with the help of her one...good...leg. Now the Garth's were very fanatical about their privacy. They didn't want to have to be dependent on anyone else, so they isolated themselves up here. That is why they never put in any modern utilities; there's no gas...no electricity...and no phone. So again they tried to have a child, and within the year the Garth's added Margret. But unfortunately it soon became apparent that poor little Margret could neither hear...nor speak...nor see. But good old Ray was determined and he decided to have one last goal. So Lillian got pregnant again. And she carried the child for ten and a half months. Until finally she delivered a little "Gorth" named Andrew. Andrew never spoke a word in his first fourteen years. He just made these grunts and groans like the sounds of wild animals. Now Raymond Garth lived isolated in this house for fourteen years with this freakshow, until he couldn't stand it anymore. Twelve years ago he assembled the entire family in the parlor. And then he took his dear wife Lillian and he strangled her to death. Then he took the mongoloid son Morris and he bashed out whatever little brains he had with the fireplace poker. Then he took the deformed little Suzanne and he impaled her with the same poker. Then he took the deaf, dumb, and blind little Margret...and he slit her throat. And then Raymond Garth got a rope and hung himself to death; leaving the cruelest punishment of all to his fourteen year old "gorked" out son Andrew, who was forced to witness the slaughter...of his entire family. Now when the police arrived, they discovered a note written by Raymond Garth describing the entire gruesome act. But strangely they only discovered three dead bodies. And young Andrew was nowhere to be found. All they searched the house as thoroughly as they could...but still only came up with three corpses. Andrew...Andrew is still believed by some...to be living somewhere...within this house.
    • Denise: Is that all you're interested in? Sex?
    • Seth: What are you talking about?
    • Denise: I mean don't you do anything but drink and screw?
    • Seth: Yeah, I surf, I surf, drink and screw. Ha-ha.
    • Peter: Why is this night so special?
    • Denise: Because 12 years ago Raymond Garth killed his family here and then committed suicide!
    • Jeff: (finds the speaker where the spooky sounds are coming from) There it is.
    • Seth: Where?
    • Jeff: They ran this wire into the roof. You got knife?
    • Seth: No. You got a gun?
    • Jeff: Yeah, but it's downstairs. Why?
    • Seth: Well because if that thing screams again I'M GONNA SHOOT IT TO DEATH!
    • Marti: But Seth is bringing back help.
    • Jeff: Seth isn't coming back.
    • Seth: Now the fun begins.
Submit a Fact | View All

Hell Night : Watch Free on TV

Hell Night Trivia

  • This horror movie is about faternity pledges spending the night in a house occupied by a maniac, followed by their inevitable gory deaths?  Answer »
  • In the 1981 movie "Hell Night", four people of sorority and franternity pledges were required to spend the night in a spooky mansion. What was the name of the mansion?  Answer »
  • In Monty Python and the Holy Grail what does the French Taunter say when King Arthur asks for " food and shelter for the night he may join us in the quest for the Holy Grail."  Answer »
  • What movie has this quote " Tis now the very witching time of night, when church yards yawn and hell itself breaths out contagian to this world " ?   Answer »
More Hell Night Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Hell Night. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Hell Night Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Hell Night to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

creepfreak Skin by creepfreak
16 Profiles
Add to Profile

More Skins