There are horror films, and then there are horror films that get under your skin and stay there. Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1957) is definitely in the latter camp!
Now, to mark the 10th anniversary of Powerhouse Films, they are bringing it back, and it's landing with us at Limelight on 19th October 2026.
Adapted from M. R. James' chilling short story Casting the Runes by Charles Bennett, a regular collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock, Night of the Demon follows American psychologist Dr John Holden as he arrives in England to disprove a Satanic cult leader, only to find himself drawn into a world of paranormal darkness and haunted by something that should not exist.
The atmosphere is dark and oppressive: fog-choked forests, flickering lights and that intense feeling that you are never truly alone.
Director Jacques Tourneur, who had already made the brilliant Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie, was a master of implication and suggestion. He wanted the horror to remain largely unseen, allowing your imagination to do the work.
Interestingly enough, Tourneur didn't originally want the monster to actually be seen in the movie. He wanted only the sight of its footsteps, the sense of something approaching, and the fear of what might be waiting in the darkness. However, the producer eventually won the argument, and the demon we see in the finished film was created.
Tourneur was also fascinated by the subject of witchcraft. He contacted eight witches in London, including the oldest of them, an eighty-year-old woman at the time, who educated him on a whole host of information about witchcraft, including, rather wonderfully, the magical properties of cats!
These fascinating stories and many more can be found in the extras booklet that comes with this release, and you really can get lost reading through it.
Disc One carries a feature commentary from film historian Tony Earnshaw, whilst Disc Two is loaded with documentaries and video essays covering the making of the film and its history.
This is a film that has continued to haunt audiences for nearly seventy years, and it's fantastic to see it returning once again.
The film is out now and may well be spirited away very quickly; I would order in daylight hours, and please don't accept a business card!!