NIGHT OF THE DEMON
James the cursed
The “cold light of reason” wrestles with “the deep shadows that light can cast” in this classic adaptation of MR James’s tale of a demonic curse, “Casting The Runes”. Director Jacques Tourneur inflates James’s original short story into a distinctly Hitchcockian thriller – if only Cary Grant had taken the sturdy Dana Andrews’s place as the sceptic hero – while genius production designer Ken Adam makes even the corridors of the Savoy look like infinite battlegrounds of light and shade. It’s all deliciously atmospheric, filled with dread and tweed, its demon-haunted woods feeling like the very locus of the English uncanny.
Extras An absolute Satanic banquet! As well as the original full-length version, you get the UK theatrical cut and the US theatrical cut and reissue; a forensic examination of the various versions; commentary by Tony Earnshaw, author of a book on the film; 2007 documentary Speak Of The Devil; eight informed appreciations by such horror mavens as Sir Christopher Frayling and Kim Newman; archive interviews; “Casting The Runes” read by Michael Hordern; a 1947 radio adaptation; isolated music and effects track; silent Super 8 version; trailer; gallery. Plus: a double-sided poster and 80-page book! Nick Setchfield
A line in a seance scene – “It’s in the trees! It’s coming!” – was sampled by Kate Bush for her song “Hounds Of Love”.