Hell Night is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Tom DeSimone, and starring Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Kevin Brophy, and Peter Barton. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing set in an old manor—the site of a familial mass murder—during which a deformed killer terrorizes and murders many of the college students. The plot blends elements of slasher films and Gothic haunted house films. Filmmaker Chuck Russell served as an executive producer, while his long-time collaborator Frank Darabont served as a production assistant.
Hell Night was written by Randy Feldman, then a recent college graduate who shopped the spec script to several film studios, among them Irwin Yablans's Compass International Pictures. Producer Bruce Cohn Curtis subsequently became involved with the project and secured the lead role for Blair, with whom he had collaborated on several films, among them Roller Boogie (1979), another Compass International release. It marked the first horror film role for Blair in several years, following her performances in The Exorcist (1973) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). Principal location photography of Hell Night took place in Redlands, California at the Kimberly Crest Mansion in late 1980, with interior photography subsequently occurring in Los Angeles. The film was shot by Swedish cinematographer Mac Ahlberg. The production's shooting schedule was considerably tight, and required the cast and crew to shoot throughout the holiday season.
The film opened theatrically in August 1981, and was the final film released by Compass International Pictures. It was a minor box office success, grossing $2.3 million against a $1.4 million budget. Critical reception was generally mixed, with some critiquing it for its similarity to other slasher films as well as for Blair's performance, while others praised it for its art direction and found the film frightening. In the years since its release, the film has gone on to develop a cult following. Some critics and film scholars have noted the film for its subtext regarding social class, as well as for its depiction of Blair's character as a resourceful and intelligent final girl.
Plot
During a college costume party, Peter prepares to initiate four new pledges into Alpha Sigma Rho. The four consist of Jeff, a boy from an opulent upbringing; Marti, an intelligent girl from a poor background; Denise, a promiscuous party girl from England; and Seth, a surfer from Southern California. As part of the initation, the group are forced to spend the night in Garth Manor, an abandoned mansion once owned by Raymond Garth, who murdered his wife and three deformed children Morris, Margaret, and Suzanne. Garth then hanged himself. While he had a fourth deformed child, Andrew, his body was never found nor the body of Morris. Folklore states that Morris and Andrew still lurk within the mansion.
Peter and the students lock the pledges on the grounds behind the estate's large iron gates. Jeff and Marti bond by discussing their contrasting social classes while Seth and Denise hook up. The group endures several scares that Peter, along with two students, May and Scott, have set up around the mansion to frighten them. May and Scott are murdered by an unseen assailant. Peter discovers Scott's body strung up on the roof and flees into the hedge maze, where a second assailant murders him with a scythe.
Meanwhile, Seth goes to use the restroom, only to return and discover Denise missing and May's severed head on the bed. Panicked, he alerts Marti and Jeff and scales the gates to escape and get the police. Jeff investigates a light in the maze that he discovers is Peter's flashlight near his body. Back at the house, a figure attacks them in the bedroom and Jeff uses a pitchfork to wound the assailant, who disappears. They remove the rug, discovering a trapdoor through which the assailant fled. The couple descends into the tunnels, where they discover Denise's corpse set at a table with the preserved remains of Garth's family members.
Seth arrives at the local police station, begging for help, but the police believe him to be playing a fraternity prank. Seth steals a shotgun from the station and carjacks a vehicle. Meanwhile, Jeff and Marti escape the deformed Garth brothers. Seth returns to the mansion, where he shoots and kills Morris Garth. Jeff and Marti meet him in the foyer but Andrew kills Seth before pursuing the couple back to the bedroom. Jeff urges Marti to escape out a window. Before he can follow suit, Andrew hurls him out the window, killing him.