Rent The Night of the Devils (1972)

La Notte dei Diavoli - The Night of the Devils review by NP

I’m going to roll out my regular observation that there were so many horror films released in the early ‘70s that I am still seeing some for the first time over fifty years later. What a time to be alive for a genre fan.

The story is loosely based on Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's novel ‘The Family of the Vourdalak.’ Almost ten years before this film’s release, the tale was adapted as part of Mario Bava’s excellent ‘Black Sabbath’ anthology. Here, though, the story is explored further, the characters become more familiar to us, and the scares are more plentiful.

And what scares they are! Aside from the wonderfully grisly special effects, many of which the camera cannot help but return to time and again (courtesy of artist Carlo Rambaldi who went on to work on ‘Alien’ and ‘ET’ among many others), there’s a thick sense of foreboding atmosphere that hasn’t been diminished by Raro Video’s (a label to keep an eye on) excellent clean-up job.

The story unfolds slowly, which may not appeal to some, but is highly rewarding and becomes truly unsettling on more than one occasion. If you like horror and you’re unfamiliar with this jewel, it is highly recommended. 9 out of 10.