The original British title “Night of the Demon” was apparently not juicy enough for the American audiences, hence the name change.
Great movie! An American psychologist (Dr. Holden) travels to London to refute the claims of the leader of a demon cult (Karswell) after an expose by Professor Harrington. By the time Holden gets to London, Harrington is dead in a bizarre accident. The basic plot of the movie is the question of whether Karswell can call forth evil demons to do his bidding as he claims or if the laws of “rationality” can explain and/or debunk the claims. This is a superstition versus reality plot. The suspense was handled well. Even though we saw a demon and the havoc that it can cause (the death of Harrington) early in the movie, it left the question of Karswell’s ability open to either scenario. Is the power to call forth evil for individual purposes possible to us mere mortals? The fear is that evil is not contained, as it were, to only Satan, but that certain individuals (who look, walk, and talk as we do—and incidentally invite all the neighborhood children to a big party) also have this power. The fear is that we cannot identify the enemy…and that he may be us. Frightening.
Faust? Faust, is that you? Betcinda, your last two sentences remind me of Mephisto and Faust.
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