30 Years of "Night of the Demons": Celebrate by Watching Angela Dance to Bauhaus' &quo
October 31, 2018 | by Jocelyn Hoppa
In October of 1988, now classic cult Halloween film Night of the Demons was unleashed onto the world of horror enthusiasts. Philistines IMDB gives it a below-average score, which is blasphemy. Set to a mostly '80s synth-driven soundtrack, the movie follows 10 teenagers to party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night where an evil force awakens. It's funny with campy gore and decent scares. Oh, and it has one of the best scene-to-song matchups this side of Bela Lugosi's coffin.
Known as "Angela's Dance," this scene has scratched a supernatural stamp into my soul. Dressed up like Siouxsie Sioux, Angela (played by Amelia Kinkade, who choreographed her own mesmerizing, possessed moves here) becomes host to an evil spirit. In the midst of being overcome, the boombox (featuring stickers from Fear and T.S.O.L.) kicks on abruptly to blast out Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr."
The song is discordant and disturbing, screeching and clawing it's way to a zenith where "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" in chanted Latin. The symbiosis of this scene with this song with exorcisms in general achieves beautiful, creepy perfection. Dare I say, perhaps no rock song has worked to greater effect in a horror film. As one YouTube commenter so effectively put it: "'Its just one of those songs that makes you want to shove a tube of lipstick into your nipple."
This Halloween, let Angela invite you to the party ... IN HELL.
