Night of the Demon

Night of the Demon, a film directed by Jacques Tourneur, is based on M.R. James's short story "Casting the Runes". It is a film which serves as an excellent case study for the application of Carroll's elements of a horror film, laid out in The Philosophy of Horror, to an actual movie which is considered by many to be in the horror genre. Ironically, the fact that this movie does indeed fit Carroll's description of a horror film is what makes it seem like less of a horror film. The beginning scene of the movie shows the monstrous demon, which doesn't exist according to science, is dangerous, and is impure in appearance and morality, makes this movie art-horror of the "Carroll variety". However, I think the movie would have been much more of a horror movie had the demon not been shown, or at least have been avoided until the very end. Jacques Tourneur, the director, did not want to include a visualization of the demon in the movie, so I am not alone in this belief.

Night of the Demon does, to an extent, deliver the emotional effect of art-horror, characteristic of the horror genre according to Carroll. It has a monster which is at least a little frightening. However, the more powerful emotion I believe is that of art-dread, due to the high level of suspense in the film. There is evident in the film what Carroll deems cosmic awe because the demon is certainly otherworldy. The use of Stone Henge makes the monster inspire even more awe since he has clearly been a part of the cosmos for thousands of years, coming into earth's realm occasionally to wreak havoc.

The actual plot of the film contains both elements of the "complex discovery plot" and the "overreacher plot". The onset of the complex discovery plot occurs when Harrington is chased down and killed by the demon at the beginning of the film after begging Karswell to stop the monster from attacking. I believe that the discover occurs when Harrington's niece begins to put together that the runic symbols are the cause of the mysterious deaths and that said deaths are the work of evil magic. Throughout most of the rest of the film, she tries to convince Holden of the demon/evil magic's existence and how it endangers Holden. For a time, Holden even believes her and tries to convince the police, who have no intention to believe such "nonsense" These two events serve as the confirmation aspect of the plot. The confrontation really occurs in two parts. One, indirectly, when Holden works to sneak the runic, demon-summoning paper into Karswell's possession is confrontation even though Holden does not actually see or fight the monster. He is fighting for his life, with the alternate fate being death by demon. The second confrontation occurs when Karswell, having lost the runic symbols, meets the demon. The outcome of this confrontation is not pretty for Karswell. The Overreacher plot involves Karswell. This magician tried to use his dark magic to his benefit, but in the end, the magic overwhelmed him and resulted in his own death at the hands of the same monster he had been summoning to kill others.

For me, the most suspenseful scene in the movie occurs when Holden is running through the woods near Karswell's house. He sees the ominous cloud that viewers know from the first scene is the first sign of the horrific demon. This scene is suspenseful because there are two possible outcomes, with the worse outcome (Holden's death by the demon) seeming more likely than the better outcome (Holden's escape from the demon and the woods) which, in the end is what actually happens. However, this uncertainty creates massive suspense.

I believe the most significant social theme in the movie is to mind one's own business. Neither Holden nor Uncle Harrington would have had the drama of the risk of getting killed by a demon had they not meddled in the affairs of Karswell. In this sense, Karswell is seen less as an antagonist and more as a tragic figure who wanted only to be left alone. Karswell certainly tries to portray himself in this way in the film.

Finally, the film was made much more horrific and suspensful due to Tourneur's effective use of several cinematic techniques. His use of high pitched squeeking sounds whenever the demon was near created a sense of anxiety sorrounding the event. His use of "false alarm" pop outs, where some action occurs (a door opens, for example) during a scene of intense suspense and anxiety which at first appears to be some attack on the character experiencing the anxiety filled moment. Finally, his use of ambiguous placement of a hand on a banister in Karswell's house, which, in the next shot, is no longer visible, creates arguably the greatest sense of horror and dread in the entire film. We see the hand, which looks non-human, appear on the stairs, the hand's owner watching Holden snoop around. The next shot shows an empty staircase. The viewer knows a monstrous creature is around, but where it is hiding and what its intentions are are unknown.

Although showing the monster makes Night of the Demon less horrific (by non-Carroll standards) and perhaps just an ambiguous "monster" like the staircase-hand would have served as a more horrific and dreadful image, the film was overall a good example of the various aspects of the horror genre as put forth by Carroll in The Philosophy of Horror.