MovieChat Forums > Night of the Demons 2 (1994) Discussion > Answers to Questions

Answers to Questions

posted 16 years ago by bts141
11 replies | jump to latest

Night of the Demons 2 was shot straight 35mm, cropped for theatres (Detroit was the widest city release), then transfered full screen to Digibeta for its VHS release. It would appear that's what Lionsgate used for the current DVD. I wish they had gone back to the matched negative for an HD transfer. David Lewis's photography is remarkable for the 20 day shoot. He shot NOTD 1 as well, and the eagle-eyed will note I borrowed a few shots from the first movie. They did not approach me, the producers or cast ( many of whom went on to higher profile work ) for participation in a commentary, which robbed the DVD of a selling factor to the core audience. Award winning make-up artist Steve Johnson would have contributed a lot of interesting stories too. I guess the bean counters crunched the numbers and did not think including such extras was worth the added expense.They were wrong, but what can you say.
I never intended the film to be anti-Christian, per se. I did want to show that first impressions can be misleading. Sister Gloria is carefully set up in the early scenes as the one to hate, but then I flip her in the climax. She proves through her courage, integrity, and steadfastness to be the best leader in a crisis, and her strength comes from all the things you hate about her. But there were a lot of Catholic jokes in the script and I added more.But primarily I wanted to celebrate and satirize the conventions of raging hormone teen horror of the 70's & 80's. ( As the LA WEEKLY howled: Has it finally come to this? Demons giving guys hand jobs? )I am glad those who have discovered the film get a kick out of it. For those that like my stuff, watch out for AZTEC REX some time on The Sci-Fi Channel. ( There will be blood...Really.)

bts
director NOTD2

[–] retro_design79 16 years ago

Wow! Thats some really cool infomation! I still have my first issue of Fangoria that previewed Night of the Demons 2 and had an interview with yourself in it, and having seen the original was blown away by your sequel!

Its a shame the original and part 2 didn't get that much exposure they are great movies! Fun, Scary and sexy! Everything a Horror movie should be!

I can't believe it was shot in 20 days! It looks great!

The end snake effect was added after the studio was impressed with what they had seen and thought it needed a punchier end isnt that true?

Can you tell us anything about that!

[–] bts141 16 years ago

Republic called us impressed after 2 weeks of shooting and said: what could you give us as an extra bigger climax on top of the Angela meltdowm for 2 days extra shooting , total extra expenditure inc. prosthetic and mechanical effects - 150K. We confered with Steve Johnson and this is what we came up with. As it happened flu struck the cast wholesale on the 16tyh day of our 18 day schedule. So we shut down then, waited till Steve was ready, then shot the final (no) 4 days. Ending with the snake explosion at the 20th hour of the day. A bad idea with pyro, but all went well.
I am deeply gratified that you GET the picture! Thanks.
bts

[–] retro_design79 16 years ago

Hi its a fantastic scene at the end, and really does add to the picture! I do have to say I own a few of your films and they are always good fun and entertaining a couple of my Favorites being The Go Kids (Frog Dreaming), Leprechaun 3 and of course N.O.T>D 2, Ive always been on the look out for your movie about the delinquent kids who all have been rounded up and put in an old drive in? I think thats the plot but the title escapes me?

Was there ever any plans of you being involved in Demons 3? It sure looks like a cheaper production compaired to the first two, and it was a shame the series went out on that note.

Really appreciate the time you have taken to answer some of these questions

David

[–] cmagu 16 years ago

Hey, Brian. Love NOTD 2. As well as Leprechaun 3 and 4.

I'm the kind of person who always wants to know how the cast got along, and what some behind the scenes stuff was, or if scenes were deleted. I'm weird, I know.

But if you could answer, that'd be awesome.

Thanks, Brian. You rule!

[–] VideooediV 16 years ago

I believe the film you are inquiring about is called Dead-End Drive In, this goes to RetroDesign.

DEADPIT.COM : The Original Horror Talk Radio Show.

[–] Jake-219 15 years ago

That's interesting, something's been bothering me for months now concerning imdb's listing for this movie, and I was just going to start a thread about it, when I run into this blurb by the director (to give the benefit of the doubt, anyway) which in effect confirms my situation. That is:

Why on earth is this listed as a direct-to-video release? I saw it at the theater when it came out (in Chicago), and the director talks of a "widest city release" in Detroit! Obviously this thing was NOT direct-to-video!

The problem is, how on earth can you go about getting something like that corrected on here? I spent months getting them to finally acknowledge Duke Ellington as the soundtrack composer for "Anatomy of a Murder"...and that information is right in the credits! But how could you give them proof that this thing was in theaters? (I'm sure the director could, somehow, but I certainly can't.)

After all, it's quite a detriment to be branded with a (V) after your title; I know I do a LOT of searches on here, and to cut things down one thing I'm always sure to do is "exclude direct-to-video films." I would think he'd want to get that corrected, lest casual searchers not even realize that this film exists!

[–] nessie117-1 15 years ago

Hello Brian, I don't know if you'll be checking this board anytime soon but I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your work as a director. It wasn't until recently that I noticed a bunch of my favorite films were your doing (Leprechaun 3: Easily the best in the series, Frog Dreaming, Dead-End Drive in, Turkey Shoot)

That's very interesting information regarding NOTD2, one of my favorite sequels. Too bad the dvd didn't get the best treatment, but it's great having it nonetheless.

"Live every week like it's Shark Week." - Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock.

[–] andell-2 15 years ago

Thanks a lot for this awesome movie ;D
Better than the original.

geeks with attitude!

[–] MichaelM24 15 years ago

Wow! Thanks for providing the information. I agree, I wish Lions Gate had done a better job with the DVD. If only Anchor Bay could have gotten a hold of it. :)

I first heard of and saw the first film just a few years ago at a friend's house, but only just now saw the sequel via NetFlix. And I really enjoyed it. I've never been one to condemn all sequels, but it was definitely one that I liked. It almost felt like an extension of the first film. I liked how some of the action took place away from Hull House, and I liked the use of religious imagery in the film, too.

Excellent job. :)

[–] czarnobog 14 years ago

"Sister Gloria is carefully set up in the early scenes as the one to hate, but then I flip her in the climax. She proves through her courage, integrity, and steadfastness to be the best leader in a crisis, and her strength comes from all the things you hate about her. But there were a lot of Catholic jokes in the script and I added more.But primarily I wanted to celebrate and satirize the conventions of raging hormone teen horror of the 70's & 80's. ( As the LA WEEKLY howled: Has it finally come to this? Demons giving guys hand jobs? )I am glad those who have discovered the film get a kick out of it."

I would have thought this was the work of the scriptwriters.

[–] mojoguzzi-879-68498 8 years ago

Yes. Not to take anything away from directors Kevin or Brian but the writer-producer Joe Augustyn created the series and his hand is heavily apparent in both of the first two films. He opted out of Number 3 and was screwed out of his right to do the remake (Kevin Tenney did both) and the difference is telling.