"Night Visitor" is a decent little combination of teen comedy and horror movie, no more and no less. It holds no real surprises. Still, it's amusing and it does have one good element, which I'll get to in a minute. The oddly chosen bunch of actors makes it interesting to see. Horror fans may be slightly disappointed with the way the gore and sex are downplayed.
Derek Rydall plays Billy Colton, a high school student prone to telling tall tales. So when he learns the identity of the Satan worshipping cretin murdering prostitutes, people are inclined to disbelieve him. The police can't do anything without solid evidence. So Billy is forced to link the killer to their crimes, but fortunately ends up being helped by former cop Ron Deveraux (Elliott Gould), an associate of Billy's dad.
The most fun one will have in watching this is the offbeat relationship between cranky history teacher Zachary Willard (Allen Garfield) and his simple minded, childish brother Stanley (Michael J. Pollard). One could make a movie based on these two guys alone. As for the rest, well, it's pretty routine stuff. Appealing younger performers such as Rydall and Teresa Van der Woude (as Rydalls' girlfriend) are ably supported by such veterans as Gould, Garfield, Pollard, Richard "Shaft" Roundtree as a police captain, Brooke Bundy as Rydalls' mom, and Henry Gibson as an expert on Satanism. The presence of Shannon Tweed, as the kind of next door neighbour many guys would like to have, does add to the enjoyment, as well as the role for 90s porn queen Teri Weigel as a victim.
Marking the directing debut for experienced writer / producer Rupert Hitzig ("Electra Glide in Blue", "Wolfen", "Jaws 3-D", this offers agreeable entertainment that at least wraps itself up pretty quickly and delivers some appreciable chuckles.
Seven out of 10.
Derek Rydall plays Billy Colton, a high school student prone to telling tall tales. So when he learns the identity of the Satan worshipping cretin murdering prostitutes, people are inclined to disbelieve him. The police can't do anything without solid evidence. So Billy is forced to link the killer to their crimes, but fortunately ends up being helped by former cop Ron Deveraux (Elliott Gould), an associate of Billy's dad.
The most fun one will have in watching this is the offbeat relationship between cranky history teacher Zachary Willard (Allen Garfield) and his simple minded, childish brother Stanley (Michael J. Pollard). One could make a movie based on these two guys alone. As for the rest, well, it's pretty routine stuff. Appealing younger performers such as Rydall and Teresa Van der Woude (as Rydalls' girlfriend) are ably supported by such veterans as Gould, Garfield, Pollard, Richard "Shaft" Roundtree as a police captain, Brooke Bundy as Rydalls' mom, and Henry Gibson as an expert on Satanism. The presence of Shannon Tweed, as the kind of next door neighbour many guys would like to have, does add to the enjoyment, as well as the role for 90s porn queen Teri Weigel as a victim.
Marking the directing debut for experienced writer / producer Rupert Hitzig ("Electra Glide in Blue", "Wolfen", "Jaws 3-D", this offers agreeable entertainment that at least wraps itself up pretty quickly and delivers some appreciable chuckles.
Seven out of 10.