I love seeing a movie I missed in the 80s. The look, the feel, the music, the fashions—it all catapults me back there for an hour and a half. So that makes even a horror movie a feel good experience. Night Visitor from 1989 is actually categorized as a horror comedy, but personally, I don’t consider it much of a comedy. It’s a bit quirky with a teen flick vibe, but it’s pretty much a straight up cheesy 80s suspense thriller.
Basically, Night Visitor is Fright Night with a satanic worshipper instead of a vampire. Like seriously. There’s a young teen living with just his mother (Kristen’s mother from Elm Street 3).
There’s a new neighbor (Shannon Tweed).
The teen spies something shocking through his bedroom window. Nobody believes him. The baddie is after him. The teen seeks help from a professional (Elliott Gould). The baddie eventually gets a hold of the teen’s girl. They must enter the baddie’s lair to save her. It’s Fright Night, I tell you.
Like any great 80s movie, Night Visitor starts with sleazy rock ‘n’ roll and streetwalkers. Seems someone is knocking off prostitutes. We get two abduction scenes showing the culprit is someone in the back of a limo wearing a black hooded robe.
Meanwhile, our cute leading teen, played by Derek Rydall of Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge and Popcorn, watches his hot new neighbor being murdered in her bedroom by someone in a black hooded robe and mask. Nope. It’s not Gene Simmons. The teen tries to stop the crime—and discovers the satanic killer is someone he knows! Of course no one believes him, including the main detective on the case—it’s Shaft!
Now the teen has to go to school with this freak everyday!
As the psychological torture of the poor teen begins, we get to see the torture happening down in the basement of this freak’s house—including a sacrifice scene that’s surprisingly dark for this relatively light teen horror flick.
Once the teen gets help from family friend Elliott Gould, it’s only a matter of time before the final confrontation, which includes a chainsaw, a rifle, and a hook on a wall. And like every great 80s movie, it ends with upbeat pop and the boy and girl walking off into the sunset. If you don’t own Night Visitor, there’s definitely a void in your awesome 80s horror collection. I always knew something just wasn’t right in my Dan cave….
