Just perfect...

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

What happens to good actors when they can't get good roles anymore? They end up in stuff like this.Elliot Gould was a leading man back in the 1970's. He was kind of a big deal. Some of the other actors were quite good, but could be picked up on the cheap, kind of like that state of the art Commadore 64 someone sells at a garage sale.The plot is that a teenage boy takes to spying on his neighbor, who is apparently a hooker. No one believes him when he says she was murdered his HS History teacher who had him expelled the day before.ANd what follows is the case of the worst detectives ever trying to catch the most inept criminal ever before they kill more hookers with no survival skills.I think Gould's performance irked me the most, because his character came off as kind of silly in what should have been a serious movie. Pollard's character was almost as bad, playing the mentally deficient brother of the Satanist History Teacher.

"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.

Basically the boy who cried satanist. High schooler Billy Colton (Derek Rydall) thinks his dreams have come true when "working girl" Lisa (Shannon Tweed) moves in next door. He gets more than an eyeful one night when he sees her murdered by a Satanic serial killer who just happens to be Billy's history teacher Zachary Willard (Allen Garfield). Of course no one will believe him since Billy and Willard have a history. So he enlists the help of girlfriend Kelly (Teresa Van der Woude) to try and convince his deceased dad's former cop partner (Elliot Gould) to help him prove it. This is pretty standard stuff and director Rupert Hitzig and screenwriter Randal Viscovich seem to be taking quite a bit from the earlier FRIGHT NIGHT (1985). If I had to recommend it for anything, it would be the loopy performance by Michael J. Pollard as Zachary's brother and co-killer. He really has some funny bits, which I'm sure were improvised, in that always amusing Pollard delivery style. Richard Roundtree is the unconvinced cop and Henry Gibson has one scene as a satanic expert. Surprisingly, Tweed stays clothed the entire time she is on screen (even during her sex scenes).

~Spoiler~ Night Visitor seems to be a horror film that disappeared over the years. The film is one part Fright Night and one part Devil's Rain. And since Fright Night is one of my faves, I dug this one. How can a movie about devil worshippers be anything like Fright Night you ask? Let's look at the similarities. 1. A mysterious neighbors moves in next door to our young hero. 2. Hero witnesses a murder from his bedroom window but no one will believe him. 3. Hero has to enlist the help of an aging expert who is not as gutsy as he would have you believe. 4. Hero's girlfriend is kidnapped in the last act. 5. Together with the old guy, hero has to enter the house and fight the villain and his henchman. Do you believe me yet? It has that same sense of fun that Fright Night had, but here it's definitely cheesed up. It's more of a comedy than you would think, but it was very entertaining. The cast is actually top notch. Derek Rydall plays the lead. You might recognize him from The Phantom of the Mall...or you might not. Co-stars include Elliot Gould, Richard Roundtree, and Shannon Tweed. But nobody holds a candle to the film's hammy villains: Allen Garfield and Michael J. Pollard. The two of them have a great rapport as the bumbling satanist brothers. They were a joy to watch. One thing that bothered me though, the box claims "from the director of Wolfen." Yes, the second-unit director. Can they do that? I guess they did.