Night (1996) (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Dec 13, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Glenn AndreievRelease Date(s)
1996 (November 26, 2024)Studio(s)
Kino Andreiev Pictures (VHShitfest/Vinegar Syndrome)- Film/Program Grade: D
- Video Grade: D
- Audio Grade: D
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Sometimes, a low-budget horror film can be fun to watch. Gruesome visual thrills improvised with little money may result in unintended laughs. Also, actors will likely not be first-tier. Night, a poverty-row spin on the vampire legend, seems to go out of its way to capture the title of “Worst Horror Movie Ever.”
The vampire in this case is Garring (Richard Cutler), a 1920s bootlegger who committed suicide and returned from the dead as a vampire. How this happened is conveniently not addressed. In a long black cloak and a hat at a rakish tilt, he stalks the night seeking new victims.
Damsel-in-distress Margot (Jillanne Smith) undergoes all sorts of torture, gets splattered in blood, and encounters near-death experiences. Margot is terrified for the entire film, runs away a lot, makes decisions that put her in harm’s way, and yet she’s completely unsympathetic.
This is largely because her acting (if you can call it that) is so bad that any ability of the audience to suspend disbelief is shattered by her amateurish line readings. Cutler as the resident vampire looks as if he’s dressed up for a Halloween party. He never inspires fear and his performance might fit better in an outright spoof.
The cold, pre-credit opening shows a vampire kill presumably intended to grab us, but actress Annemarie Bain (as Alana) coasts through it looking lost when she should be building suspense. Director Glenn Andreiev doesn’t help her with jerky editing, inconsistent lighting, and lack of mood-appropriate music. The result is an opening that leaves the viewer astonished at the bonkers assortment of ingredients that foreshadow the clumsiness to follow.
The cast of characters includes a priest, Father Donlevy (Richard Breitfeller), overly eager to take part in a vampire hunt; an insane, junkie artist (Alan Hofmanis); a balloon fetishist (Dylan Skolnick); and a musclebound vampire (James Aronson) who looks more suitable for a sword-and-sandals epic. This collection of oddballs compounds the film’s strangeness.
Some low-budget horror flicks at least deliver in the special effects department. Night just teases with the promise of gore and then pulls back for a PG-13 resolution to key scenes. There’s a lot of blood, but the “money shots” never appear.
Director Glenn Andreiev’s treatment of Night as a serious effort makes the film all the more puzzling. It’s not good enough to pass for a decent variation on the vampire tale and it lacks any intended humor that might have made it passable as a comedy. Its utter ineptness sinks it, from its disjointed script, inept acting, awful photography, terrible effects, poor sound, and choppy editing. I’ve always thought that it’s an achievement when anyone completes a feature film, and I suppose Andreiev and his cast and crew deserve credit for seeing this debacle through to completion, but if it’s solid horror or even horror spoof you’re seeking, look elsewhere.
Night was shot on both video and film by Glenn Andreiev, who served as his own director of photography. The Blu-ray from VHShitfest contains a transfer from the original video master. According to the enclosed interview with Andreiev, the film was shot in the analog videotape format of Hi/8. Silent 16 mm black & white footage was shot with a Bolex camera to simulate a newsreel documentary about the suicide of mobster Garring. The Hi/8 format made it necessary for Andreiev to film several shots consecutively, making for strained continuity and inconsistent lighting. Shimmery horizontal lines are visible in many scenes and show up mostly against light backgrounds. There are no dissolves or fade-outs to suggest time passage. In night scenes and basement sequences, large parts of the frame are totally black, with no details visible. Sets are nonexistent, with a plain room doubling for a cemetery office and a dive bar standing in for a trendy hot spot.
Dialogue on the English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack (English subtitles are available) is often accompanied by an echo. There are numerous sound drop-outs as the film switches from one shot to the next. Music is frequently used inappropriately. When it should be used to help to build tension, it’s totally absent. Sound effects were applied post-production and never sound authentic.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from VHShitfest and Vinegar Syndrome include the following:
- Audio Commentary with Glenn Andreiev and Richard Cutler
- New Interview with Glenn Andreiev (22:07)
- New Interview with Richard Cutler (10:46)
- Trailer (:52)
- Teaser (1:54)
Commentary – Director Glenn Andreiev and actor Richard Cutler reminisce about the making of Night, recalling other actors and how their careers progressed. Julianne Smith became a SAG member shortly after making the film. Had she become a member during production, she wouldn’t have been able to finish the picture. The commentators make self-congratulatory remarks about certain scenes and performances. Cutler speaks about minor accidents he had while stalking around during the nighttime cemetery shoot. A permit was secured for the cemetery filming but neighbors complained about screaming emanating from a supposedly deserted cemetery. Andreiev notes that if he liked the look of a person and felt they would fit the role, he would cast them whether or not they had any acting ability. For the most part, the “actors” were nonprofessionals drawn from the community and just paid for a day’s work. Andreiev observes that actors, despite the demands of the plot, are vain about how they’re going to look on screen. For that reason, the director believes it’s a bad idea to let actors see outtakes. It can have a negative effect on the production by making the actors overly self-conscious. It was important to move things quickly, keep the energy high, and avoid long shoots so as not to put the cast in a bad mood.
Interview with Glenn Andreiev – Andreiev notes that he started making “Hitchcock-like thrillers” in 1972 with his friends. He was able to use his high school’s studio when it wasn’t being used for instruction. He attended the School of Visual Arts. His first film was Angela, shot in 16 mm, a vampire tale set in contemporary Long Island. During the making of this film, he learned the “brutal business end” of filmmaking. He made Night on his own, without interference. He was inspired by The Set-Up, a black & white feature film about a washed-up boxer that had a documentary feel. He thought this would make a great premise for a vampire movie. Having heard that a good way to raise money is to give a visual representation, he created a high-definition trailer. Andreiev describes the plot of Night and notes that the production came together pretty quickly. He explains that the opening sequence is violent to immediately draw the audience in, and discusses other scenes he’s proud of. At the time, many horror films went directly to video. Interspersed with the director’s recollections are scenes from Night.
Interview with Richard Cutler – Cutler had appeared in a five-minute scene in Vampire’s Embrace. Based on seeing him in that film, Glenn Andreiev called and asked if he wanted to star in Night. Cutler agreed before knowing what the film was about. Cutler speaks about fellow actor Alan Hofmanis, who cracked up everyone in the cast and on crew with his bizarre improvisations, rejecting what was scripted. Cutler’s least fond memory of working on Night was the taste of stage blood, made from “super sweet” corn syrup.
Night is practically a textbook example of what not to do in making a feature film. Driven mostly by director Andreiev’s energy, it breaks all the rules of competent filmmaking. We could excuse a few lapses here and there, chalking them up to a minuscule budget, but when everything is bad—acting, direction, script, photography, special effects, editing, atmosphere—the film is a hopeless failure. The D rating is for perseverance.
- Dennis Seuling