10 Weaknesses Of Great Horror Films
2. Demon Reveal - Night Of The Demon (1957)
From one polarising horror movie debate to another: how much, if at all, should have been shown of the creature in 1957's Night of the Demon?
What you don't see is often far scarier than what you do. Director Jacques Tourneur understood this perfectly, but the studio had other ideas. An unnecessarily heavy reveal of the story's demon was quickly assembled and plonked on the end of Tourneur's moody, intelligent supernatural thriller, without the approval or even the awareness of the director.
This was in response to the misguided assumption that the audience would not be satisfied with the film if it kept the demon's physical form concealed. This is complete rubbish. The image that the viewer concocts in their head is bound to be far more frightening than they could've ever pulled off on screen - certainly more so than this misjudged final product.
It isn't that the demon looks bad, in fact it has a certain charm to it. If the form had been kept partially concealed and obscured, the already superb climax of Night of the Demon would have been flawless. But then again, it's fair to argue that the film may well have slipped into obscurity without this big reveal in all its glory.
As with the aforementioned US cut of The Descent, this seems to be a classic case of insultingly underestimating an audience.