{"id":1358,"date":"2024-07-27T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2024-10-14T11:34:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:34:58","slug":"happy-hell-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/27\/happy-hell-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Hell Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Happy Hell Night<\/strong> (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Quest Entertainment\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 87 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, nudity, sexual content, language, partying and drinking)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian Owens\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Michael Fitzpatrick, Brian Owens and Ron Petersen\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Music: Nenad Bach\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Sol Negrin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 13, 1992 (US, video)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Darren McGavin, Charles Cragin, Nick Gregory, Franke Hughes, Laura Carney, Kate Delay, Janez Vrhovec, Jorja Fox, Tanja Pujin, Ted Clark, Jeffrey Miller, Robert Restaino, Scott Bell, Irfan Mensur, Sam Rockwell, Gala Videnovic, Lisa Rankin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0The slasher movie Happy Hell Night<\/strong> is NOT a sequel to 1981\u2019s Hell Night starring Linda Blair. I just wanted to put that out there for the benefit of horror fans still wondering what the hell a gork is. That question still remains unanswered as of this writing (March 2024).<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are, however, some similarities between the two horror films. Both involve a fraternity initiation that turns deadly when some dumb college kids go messing around where they shouldn\u2019t. This time, it\u2019s an insane asylum that houses a psychotic killer, an evil priest named Malius (Cragin, True Lies). He killed a bunch of fraternity pledges in his family\u2019s crypt as part of a Satanic ritual. He\u2019s been rotting in the asylum for the past 25 years, but that\u2019s about to change. He\u2019s about to be set free thanks to an initiation stunt that goes horribly wrong.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s more than a harmless prank actually. It\u2019s revenge. Phi Delta Kappa leader Eric Collins (Gregory, Another World) finds out his rebellious brother Sonny (Hughes, Band of Brothers) is banging his girlfriend Liz (Carney) when he spots them at a nearby motel together. Sonny is trying to gain entry into the fraternity so Eric sends him and another pledge to the facility to take a picture of Malius. They break in with surprising ease (aren\u2019t these places supposed to be guarded?) and make their way to his cell where they inadvertently help the killer escape. Can you guess where he might be heading?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Eric and his frat brothers have no idea what they\u2019re getting themselves into by involving Malius in their tomfoolery. Eric\u2019s dad Henry (McGavin, Kolchak: The Night Stalker), on the other hand, does know. He was there in \u201965 when the first killings happened. He knows something that he doesn\u2019t want anybody else to know, least of all his sons. There\u2019s also a local priest (Vrhovec) who knows all about Malius, what happened that night and why. When a panicked Liz goes to him for help, he urges her to get out of Dodge as fast as she can.<\/p>\n

\u00a0By the time Malius gets to the Phi Delta Kappa house (did you guess correctly?), the party is pretty much over. The few remaining revelers have retired to the bedrooms for a little casual sex. If you\u2019ve ever seen any slasher flick EVER, you know such activity comes at a high cost.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by one-film wonder Brian Owens, Happy Hell Night<\/strong> is one of hundreds of straight-to-video horror movies that mostly collected dust on shelves at video stores. It came out several years after the slasher craze died out. I didn\u2019t bother with it then for the same reason I didn\u2019t bother with most DTV releases then. In what I now realize is a narrow-minded view, I figured if a movie wasn\u2019t good enough for cinemas, it wasn\u2019t worth my time. I can\u2019t believe I really thought that way. I\u2019m the Movie Guy! I should be open to any and all cinematic experiences. I\u2019m glad I now have the time and means to rectify this error in judgment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I had time for one crappy horror movie from Tubi on Sunday morning. After weighing my choices, I went with Happy Hell Night<\/strong> based on the amount of violence and gore promised by IMDb. They weren\u2019t lying, this one is bloody! The killer\u2019s weapon of choice is an ice axe and he uses it like a pro. One victim, played by future CSI star Jorja Fox, gets it through the top of her head. Another gets it from behind, right through the eye. The killer drags one victim around after ramming it under his chin. That\u2019s not all. Malius makes quite the mess with his methods. We get two decapitations and the mutilated remains of another victim in a bathtub. Somebody is crucified upside down. A nurse gets her throat slit. It takes a little while for the gory stuff to happen, but it\u2019s worth the wait.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Happy Hell Night<\/strong> may be low budget, but the effects still look great, especially the gory ones. There\u2019s also a good scene where a statue of Jesus on the cross comes to life. Malius looks suitably evil. Unfortunately, he\u2019s saddled with one-liners that make him sound like a poor man\u2019s Freddy Krueger. It would have been better for him to remain silent while plying his trade. It\u2019s thick with atmosphere too. The asylum is a creepy old dark place with rats, decrepit cells and cobweb-covered corridors. The finale takes place in a crypt in a cemetery at night. Owens has the look of a good cheesy 80s horror flick down pat. I know, it\u2019s technically a 90s movie, but let\u2019s not quibble over details.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Would you be surprised to learn the acting in Happy Hell Night<\/strong> is terrible? No? Neither was I. What I am surprised about is Darren McGavin. On second thought, no I\u2019m not. He\u2019s not the first former star to sign on for one of these B-level horror movies. He\u2019s in good company with such noted thespians as Joan Crawford (Trog), Veronica Lake (Flesh Feast), Farley Granger (The Prowler) and Jackie Coogan (The Prey). He\u2019s billed as the film\u2019s star, but he\u2019s only in it for about five minutes total. That he manages to keep a straight face amidst all the dreck is a testament to his professionalism. The rest of the performances are strictly amateur night. Look for a pre-fame Sam Rockwell as the younger version of McGavin\u2019s character. On the upside, a couple of the girls (Fox and Pujin) look smokin\u2019 HOT! And there are plenty of naked boobs so there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Happy Hell Night<\/strong>, a Canadian-Yugoslav production filmed primarily in Toronto, is no horror classic. It\u2019s far from it actually. It\u2019s still kind of fun though. It has a decent kill count and ample gore. Owens is also generous with the sex and nudity. This is how a slasher film should be. The folks at Blumhouse would do well to study movies like Happy Hell Night<\/strong>. Given their recent output (Night Swim, The Exorcist: Believer), they need all the help they can get.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Hell Night (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Quest Entertainment\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 87 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, nudity, sexual content, language, partying and drinking)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian Owens\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Michael Fitzpatrick, Brian Owens and Ron Petersen\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Music: Nenad Bach\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Sol Negrin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 13, 1992 (US, video)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Darren McGavin, Charles Cragin, Nick Gregory, Franke Hughes, Laura […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Happy-Hell-Night-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}