Retro Film Review: Possessed by the Night (1994)

"De gustibus non disputandum est" ("People's tastes should not be discussed") is an old Latin proverb that is going to be seriously challenged whenever someone chooses interior decoration similar to the one chosen by the protagonist of Possessed by the Night, 1994 erotic thriller directed by Fred Olen Ray. For writer Howard Hansen (played by Ted Prior) a simple jar containing brain looks like an exotic artifact so he brings it home. Needless to say, the said jar is alive and able to lead Hansen and people around him to evil. But this is just a part of Hansen's problems, since his literary agent Murray (played by Frank Sivero) is a gambling addict in serious debt to mean gangland boss Scott Lindsay (played by Henry Silva). In order to pay his debts, he wants to steal the manuscript of Hansen's yet unfinished novel and his sexy secretary Carol McKay (played by Shannon Tweed) is sent to Hansen's household.

When queen of cheap 1990s "erotic thrillers" Shannon Tweeds stars in a film directed by trash cinema king Fred Olen Ray the viewers might be certain that the result of this combination won't have any redeeming values. Whole Cormanesque horror plot is nothing more than an excuse to have Shannon Tweed naked in front of cameras. The trouble with Possessed by the Night is in the plot being way bellow even such minimal standards necessary for this kind of movies. To make things even worse, this "plot" is combined with even more ridiculous subplot about loan shark wanting to go straight, introduced probably only in order to fill 90 minutes of running time. Result of all this is, as you might expect, a complete mess. It is sad to see how once great actors like Henry Silva or notable performers like Sandahl Bergman sink their reputations by appearing in this film. However, at certain points this film becomes so bad in an entertaining way, and Shannon Tweed does deliver her goods on the screen, so it could be said that Possessed by the Night fulfilled its purpose.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on July 10th 2001)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/5755-possessed-by-the-night?language=en-US
Critic: A