New The Demon (1979) DVD coming in October!

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On October 19, 2010 VCI Entertainment will issue Percival Rubens' The Demon (1979) on DVD.

Cameron Mitchell, star of Mario Bava s seminal giallo/slasher BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) and THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (1978), plays Colonel Bill Carson a private investigator with psychic powers who is hired by a couple whose daughter was carried off into the night by an inexplicable outline of unknown terror. The Mother (Moira Winslow), who herself left to die, pleads with Mitchell after the police have turned up nothing. Can the psychic investigator find the daughter and stop the demon from adding to his killing spree?

Digitally Remastered & Restored. Uncut widescreen version.

I'm stoked. Fun cheesy slasher remastered, restored, uncut AND widescreen! Time to retire the old Diamond DVD.

[Skull]

cool!!!

[claws]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xljaQFetSlc
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[Trevor]

Percival Rubens was a good friend of mine who sadly passed away in June 2009 and he wrote, produced and directed this, while another friend of mine did the photography. I think I should write a review of this for Andrew.

[claws]

I'm curious as of which version they are restoring. Apparently they made two versions of this film: One with nudity for the international market, and one without for South Africa. I can't see this film to be better without because the random nudity is quite hilarious.

[Trevor]

I'm curious as of which version they are restoring. Apparently they made two versions of this film: One with nudity for the international market, and one without for South Africa. I can't see this film to be better without because the random nudity is quite hilarious.

The 35mm print we have in the NFA is the uncut one, or so Percival told me: the DVD we have is cut.

[Mike Justice]

Did Percival Rubens happen to mention anything else about the film?  Was he particularly proud of it?  Was it made to cash-in on Hallween?

[Trevor]

Did Percival Rubens happen to mention anything else about the film?  Was he particularly proud of it?  Was it made to cash-in on Hallween?

Mike ~ welcome to the site. 

Percival was actually very proud of this film, as bad as it was. He told me that in 1978 he was, as he put it, down and out and went to see Halloween and determined there and then that he could go John Carpenter one better by making a South African horror film. Percival's earlier films like The Foster Gang and Mr Kingstreet's War are good: at one time, he was the only filmmaker making English language films in South Africa.

[Skull]

It's bad but in a good way... I really like the cat and mouse chase in the ending... the girl is running from the killer naked.

If I was going to make top 10 bad horror films that are fun to watch list... Pieces would be number 1 and The Demon would be number 10... :)

[Mike Justice]

One thing he definitely could be proud of is that The Demon has NEVER been out of print.  From the time I saw it as a little kid, until now, it's always been on video in some form or another.  It was actually the first horror movie I ever saw, so it's got that distinction for me.  I'm also friends with one of the girls in the movie who did a couple of films with Percival Rubens -- and she maintains that his sets were so dull, you had to do drugs the entire time to keep yourself entertained.

[hedgie]

Percival was actually very proud of this film, as bad as it was. He told me that in 1978 he was, as he put it, down and out and went to see Halloween and determined there and then that he could go John Carpenter one better by making a South African horror film. Percival's earlier films like The Foster Gang and Mr Kingstreet's War are good: at one time, he was the only filmmaker making English language films in South Africa.
[/quote]

This is really interesting to know where the inspiration for the film came from.  I like it much more than Halloween, but I watched it yesterday after reading this and got a different vibe from the story.  To me, the characters are much more interesting and likable than those in Halloween, especially Col. Carson.

Speaking of which, this is somewhat off topic, but a couple years ago I added some sampled dialog from The Demon onto some of my old music tracks and posted them on myspace.  I reposted them today, you can listen at myspace.com/electricleathermusic

Enjoy,

[Mike Justice]

Hey there.  I checked out your Myspace.  Cool tracks!  Yeah, I too find The Demon oddly compelling.  I think it's because, like I said, it was the first horror movie I saw, so I definitely have a nostalgia for it.  I also dig the grainy, crusty, 70's TV movie look, the library score (cues from which also turned up in the opening credits of the American version of TORSO), and the faux American mise en scene typical of many South African potboilers.

[claws]

Another thing I'm wondering about is if the makers were authorized to use the song Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang in the movie. You can hear some of it when the father pulls up with his car at the beginning. For a movie made so cheap I always had my doubts that they had the actual rights to that. I could be wrong though.

[Mike Justice]

I've thought about that too.  And the use of the song "Funkytown" in the Boobs Disco sequence.  The only theories I've got for that are: a) music rights were a lot cheaper and less complicated in those days; and b) the film was immediately sold off to something called Gold Key Entertainment the minute it was made.  It may even have been produced by them.  Gold Key was a TV and (sometime) theatrical subsidiary of a larger media company (I can't remember the name) and it's possible that they or one of their sister companies may have already owned "Funkytown" and "Rapper's Delight" and were able to offer them for cheap or free. 

[Skull]

I've thought about that too.  And the use of the song "Funkytown" in the Boobs Disco sequence.  The only theories I've got for that are: a) music rights were a lot cheaper and less complicated in those days; and b) the film was immediately sold off to something called Gold Key Entertainment the minute it was made.  It may even have been produced by them.  Gold Key was a TV and (sometime) theatrical subsidiary of a larger media company (I can't remember the name) and it's possible that they or one of their sister companies may have already owned "Funkytown" and "Rapper's Delight" and were able to offer them for cheap or free. 

I agree with A) music rights were a lot cheaper and less complicated in those days.

I think the whole video market has made music rights very complicated (and expensive). At least it was a factor for Heavy Metal (for years they couldnt put the movie in video because of the music rights) and beavis and butt-head also has problems with music rights.