Night Visitor (1989)

Silly but fun

Night Visitor is in many ways a typical 80's horror film. It's silly, not to be taken seriously, focuses on a teenager, and is more funny than scary. It has a surprisingly good cast, all of whom are game, but the script is lame. The film however manages to maintain a sense of fun, and almost all of the laughs are intentional. In fact, many of the exchanges between Allen Garfield, who plays a history teacher who is also a satanic serial killer, and Michael J. Pollard, who plays his WEIRD brother, are plain side-splittingly hilarious. Garfield does a very good job in his very peculiar role, and adds a lot of credibility to a film that without him simply wouldn't have worked. Richard Roundtree, Shaft himself, has a thankless bit part as a police captain. Softcore star Shannon Tweed has an equally small part, and, unfortunately, bares no skin. I watched this film because the DVD cover claims that the movie stars the great Elliott Gould. Gould fans be warned however, he's only in the movie for about 10 flippin minutes!! Derek Rydall plays the film's real main character, who is so witless and DUMB that the viewer may have a hard time caring anything about him. Not only is Gould's part a bit part, it is also a SAD part. Gould is a great actor, underused, and underrated. His ad libbed scenes in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, especially the "interrogation scene," which was entirely unscripted (!!), is some of the best acting I've ever seen. How did Gould go from M*A*S*H*, to The Long Goodbye, to Capricorn One, to The Silent Partner (four of my favorite movies!), to Night Visitor? I don't know, but I feel sorry for the man. January 10, 2006

Goofy late 80's pseudo-satanic teen claptrap

Oops... I sort of gave away the entire review just then. While not all that bad, Night Visitor certainally isn't good, not by a longshot. In fact, it was bad enough to trick me into looking for the robotic silhouettes from "Mystery Science Theater 3000" in the corner whenever I wasn't dozing off. A handful of veteran actors, including Eliott Gould and Richard "Shaft" Roundtree, wander listlessly through a threadbare plot about a doughy California high school history teacher who lives alone with his slow-witted brother, kidnaps and tortures prostitutes and occasionally sacrifices them in his tiny homemade Satanic temple--pretty much normal behavior for most high school history teachers. The teen leads, while enthusiastic and fairly competant as actors, looked like refugees from a late 80's "Mentos" commercial and warrant no further recognition or discussion whatsoever. And now, the shameful confession: I *like* cheesy 80's junk, so would I watch this again? Sure, but only after a five-year rest, not one day less! November 27, 2005

"Satan, sweet Satan, give me breath during in death."

I try to find something positive to say about nearly everything I review, which can be a difficult task at times, but I will say this about the film Night Visitor (1989)...the DVD cover art is dramatic and eye catching...too bad it had almost nothing to do with the actual content of the movie. Directed by Rupert Hitzig, whose primary credits list him as producer on such films as Wolfen (1981), Jaws 3-D (1983), and The Last Dragon (1985), the movie features Derek Rydall (Popcorn), Allen Garfield (The Brink's Job, Beverly Hills Cop II), Elliott Gould (MASH, American History X), and Richard Roundtree (Shaft, Maniac Cop). Also appearing is Shannon Tweed (Hot Dog... The Movie), Teresa Van der Woude (Killer Workout), Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde, Dick Tracy), Henry Gibson (The Blues Brothers), and former playmate turned adult film star Teri Weigel (Cheerleader Camp, Predator 2, Droppin' Loads 2).

As the film begins its night, we're in the city, and the working girls are out in force...look, there's Teri Weigel wearing very little and provocatively sucking on a lollipop (has anyone ever noticed that movie hookers are much hotter than the one in real life? Watch the TV show "Cops" and you'll see what I mean). A big, black, late model car pulls up and she gets snatched off the streets...the next morning we see Billy Colton (Rydall) late for class again...oh Billy, Mr. Willard (Garfield), your uptight, creepy history teacher is not going to be pleased. You better have one of those famous excuses ready...and he does, but Billy's penchant for lying is well known, enough so that few, if any, believe him anymore. Seems Billy and his mom (apparently Billy's father passed away some time ago), who live in the `burbs, have a new neighbor...a hot blonde named Lisa (Tweed)...oh mama...around this time Billy re-discovers his interest in gazing at heavenly bodies through his telescope, and learns Lisa is a working girl, but of course, neither of his friends believe him. Hoping to get some proof, Billy sneaks over with a camera, climbs the roof and spies into a window...where he sees Lisa brutally murdered in ritualistic fashion, by someone he knows. The police show up and find the body, but of course no one believes Billy (because he's known as a lying sack), and now the murderer is coming after Billy...kind of...Billy seeks the help of an old, family friend named Devereaux (Gould), who was once on the police force, hoping to find the evidence he needs to prove his claims, which coincides with about the time Billy's girlfriend Kelly (Van der Woude) is abducted by the killers, possibly the next victim if Billy and Devereaux can't make the scene...

Considering this was Hitzig directorial debut, the film isn't that bad, but it does have it's faults, the main one for me being the character of Billy, who I just really didn't like...here's a smarmy, snotty kid who lies all the time, and then when he's actually telling the truth, no one believes him, and he gets all upset about it...what did you expect, nimrod? You're a lying sack with voyeuristic tendencies who sneaks on his neighbor's roof to take pictures of her while she's engaged in intimate activities. He then gets his girlfriend Kelly tangled up in things, which ends up putting her in danger, that is if one took the threat seriously (which I didn't), given the comically antagonistic characters. In Billy's defense, the police, especially Captain Crane (Roundtree), whose catchphrase seemed to be "Why don't you let me do my job?", were borderline criminally negligent as they had something like 18 unsolved homicides of streetwalkers, all linked to the same serial killer, and now here's a witness to which they just about blow off completely because they've heard he had a history of stretching the truth. Given that his new neighbor was a know working girl and murdered in same ritualistic fashion as the others, I would have thought that had been enough to take Billy somewhat seriously to at least get a search warrant for the home of the accused, to which they would have found ample evidence to support Billy's claims, but I guess I was wrong...and then there's the Satanists, made up of two brothers, one a complete idiot, the other a respectable member of the community who just happens to wear his Satanic accoutrements in public, namely his necklace with the gaudy pendant and ornate ring, along with hanging bones of animals from the trees in his yard (apparently Satan isn't all that picky about his disciples)...how these two managed to elude the police for as long as they did would have been a mystery had I not seen the police in action, or inaction, as was the case. And I loved Henry Gibson's brief appearance as the expert called in by the police to give them some insight on the killer. All be basically said was it could be just about anybody...thanks for your invaluable expertise, a-hole. As far as Gould's character of Devereaux, the retired police detective, I saw little point to him being in the story. Had his role been removed, the film would have managed well enough, which is tied to the other main fault of this film and that's the writing. A majority of the cast is fairly experienced, but all suffer from a poor script and an amateurish storyline. Seriously, I thought this was a comedy up until the final ten minutes, which featured an awkward confrontation between Billy, Devereaux, and the satanic duo (who apparently got their training in the dark arts from the book `Satanism for Dummies'). I will say Shannon Tweed did well, for her limited time on the screen...I was disappointed she didn't reveal more, but her heaving cleavage was nice to look at, and I'm sure there's other movies out there where one could see more. Ms. Weigel, however, did come through with the goods, showing us the wondrous advancements in plastic surgery, particularly in the field of augmentation. All in all this is a horror/thriller film for the indiscriminate, one with a lame chainsaw/shotgun show down (guess who wins?) followed by a completely silly, upbeat, musical montage ending.

The picture quality, presented in both anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and fullscreen, on this DVD looks very good, and the Dolby Digital Stereo Surround audio comes through cleanly. The only extra included is a theatrical trailer.

Cookieman108

If I learned anything from this film it's that if you're trying to get a shotgun away from someone, it's probably best not to pull on it with the business end pointed directly at you...
October 23, 2005

Movie is not that bad, but has nothing to do with Satanism.

I remember seeing this movie on Showtime back in 1997. I have mixed opinions about this movie. First off, the film itself is not that bad. The actors are good except for Derek Rydall and his girlfriend. This is the kind of movie that you watch when you really haven't got anything better to do.
My biggest complaint about this film is in its portrayal of Satanism. As anyone who has knowledge of the subject knows this is NOT what Satanists do. With that said, Allen Garfield's ritual chamber is nice (love the goat head bell) and I also noticed that his text during the ritual ("I invoke thee from thy resting place...") is taken from the fabled "Necronomicon" book.
As a Satanist, I found this movie laughable. Watch it, but don't take it seriously. If you want to waste time, see this movie. If you want some good, entertaining movies that deal with Satanism, see "Rosemary's Baby" or even "The Ninth Gate". October 17, 2001

This film will take you by total surpise.

"Night Visitor" is one of those strange little underrated CULT films that incorporates a tremendous amount of sickness with a limited amount of blood. This movie is packed with familiar character actors (Elliott Gould, Richard Roundtree, Shannon Tweed, Allen Garfield, Michael J. Pollard and Henry Gibson, just to name a few) and relies on strong storyline and performances instead of gore. Allen Garfield's portrayal of a Satanic Serial Killer is worthy of an Oscar. The sight of Michael J. Pollard attacking Elliott Gould with a chainsaw has to be seen to be believed. I highly recommend this film for anyone with a warped sense of humor. October 16, 1999

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