A remake of an obscure 1988 horror flick, 2009’s Night of the Demons revolves around a Halloween party. Set in New Orleans, Angela (Shannon Elizabeth) throws a decadent bash at the Broussard Mansion, a dwelling with a dark history. Among the attendees, we meet Maddie (Monica Keena), her slutty pals Suzanne (Bobbi Sue Luther) and Lily (Diora Baird), and her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend Colin (Edward Furlong).

After the cops shut down the party, these folks and a few others end up locked in the mansion and some creepy occurrences follow. They discover some long-rotting corpses in the basement, and one of these appears to bite Angela. This starts to change her, and she spreads her contamination to Dex (Michael Copon) during a game of Spin the Bottle. Eventually various involved parties turn into demons and various forms of heck busts loose.

Only one genuine scare occurs here: the sight of Furlong. What’s happened to Eddie? The guy’s in his early thirties but looks a good decade or more older. He’s porked up and now resembles a chubby Peter Lorre. It’s shocking to see how awful he looks now.

And that concludes the shocking, scary aspects of Night, an utterly forgettable horror film. At its core, the movie possesses some potential. It aspires to be a wild romp, and with its story, it should’ve achieved those goals. After all, it sticks potential victims in one small area and forces them to deal with powerful demons.

So why does the end result seem so dull? Probably because the film does nothing to differentiate itself from its modern brethren. Rather than really scare us, Night prefers to mix cheap jolts with disgusting elements. Of course, I expect an “R”-rated horror movie to pack copious amounts of gore, but Night opts for pointless nastiness rather than logical bloodshed. We see goop and guts sprayed about for no particular reason; these don’t boast any positive effect and they just seem like gratuitous unpleasantness.

In terms of story, Night comes with long stretches of nuttin’ punctuated by quick, loud shots of attempted horror. The latter combine bad effects with jump cuts, jerky camerawork, and pounding rock music. That’s 21st century shorthand for “scary movie”, I guess, but it doesn’t work. The approach tends to cause more irritation than fright.

Well, we do get a quick shot of super-sexy Baird’s boobs, so the movie’s not a total loss. Otherwise… well, otherwise it is a complete waste of time. Maybe the original Night packed a nice punch, but the remake seems totally toothless.

Night of the Demons appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this single-sided, single-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The movie came with a pretty ugly transfer.

Sharpness was up and down, as the movie exhibited inconsistent levels of clarity. Overall, close-ups boasted decent definition but wider shots suffered from mild to moderate softness. Some light edge enhancement didn’t help, and artifacts made the image messy at times. Jagged edges and shimmering were issues as well; the movie often took on a blocky, ropy appearance. It seemed to lack source flaws, but given all the artifacts, it was tough to tell. In any case, I noticed intentional print defects in flashback footage, but no other signs of specks or marks could be viewed.

In terms of colors, the film tended toward garish tones. It presented heavy purples, greens and other hues. These were messier than expected. Blacks tended to appear somewhat loose and inky, and shadows were often too dark. That was an issue given the fact that so much of the film took place in low-light interiors. I found little to like in this unappealing presentation.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Demons seemed more satisfactory but still wasn’t great. Like many horror movies, it often went with creepy atmosphere. A few action/scare/dream sequences brought the track to life in a more active manner, and those added punch to the package. The audio used the speakers in a natural manner that created a good soundscape.

Audio quality was positive. Music showed nice range and clarity, while effects offered good accuracy and punch. The smattering of loud scenes showed solid definition, and they lacked distortion. Speech was also concise and natural. Nothing here dazzled, but it achieved its goals.

As we shift to extras, we start with an Audio Commentary from writer/director Adam Gierasch, writer Jace Anderson, and actors Monica Keena, Bobbi Sue Luther, and John F. Beach. All of them sit together for this running, screen-specific discussion of cast and performances, sets and locations, music, story/editing, makeup and effects, stunts and a few other production areas.

This becomes an occasionally obnoxious commentary – mostly due to some silliness from the two actresses – but it still manages to deliver decent information. We find a reasonable overview of various filmmaking topics, and while the goofiness occasionally grates, at least it keeps things peppy. At no point does the commentary soar, but it’s a moderately useful listen.

A featurette called Behind the Bloodbath: A Look Inside Night of the Demons runs 18 minutes, 20 seconds. It includes comments from Gierasch, Keena, Beach, Luther, producer Greg McKay, and actors Edward Furlong, Shannon Elizabeth, Michael Copon and Diora Baird. The show looks at story and the original film, Gierasch’s work on the film, cast and performances, makeup, sets and locations, and general thoughts about horror. This is a pretty superficial program, but it tosses out a few decent notes, so it’s not a waste of time.

Next we get a quick Comic-Con 2010 Introduction. In this 66-second clip, Gierasch and Anderson as they tell us how awesome Night is. We already own the DVD – what’s the point?

The disc opens with some ads. We find promos for Suck, Psychosis, Don’t Look Up and Parasomnia. We also get the trailer for Demons.

Although I like a lot of modern horror remakes, Night of the Demons doesn’t end up as one of the genre’s better entries. It takes a promising concept nowhere, as it just throws out tacky “scares” and annoying visuals. The DVD suffers from poor visuals but audio is fine and we get a couple of decent supplements. The ugly picture quality would make this one a hard sell even if I liked the film, but my disenchantment with it means it’s easy for me to recommend you steer clear of this one.