HAPPY HELL NIGHT might have worked well in 1982 but as a film made in 1992 it's a movie that looks well past its sell-by date. The story is a simple one about a notorious murderer who busts out of an asylum (yet again) and goes on a killing spree among the local college students. It's as cheap and predictable as you'd expect, with the sole thing going for it the supernatural touches that the writer wisely adds to the production.

The look of the killer in this film is extremely creep and seemingly inspired by the classic Nosferatu look of old, perhaps with a little Kurt Barlow thrown into the mix. There are hints in the story that he's some kind of vampire too, which I like. And the film, once it gets going in the second half, is quite gory and watchable, even if most of it takes place in the dark. Darren McGavin is the old timer while the rest of the cast are unknown no-hopers (with a pre-stardom Sam Rockwell among them). A pity, then, that the first half is so uninteresting.

Deranged and depraved psycho priest Zachary Malius (a genuinely unnerving portrayal by creepy-looking chrome-dome Charles Cragin) escapes from a sanitarium. Malius goes to Winfield College and starts picking off the student body on hell night.

Director Brian Owens relates the familiar, but still enjoyable story at a steady pace, presents a reasonable amount of tension and spooky gloom-doom atmosphere, delivers a generous serving of nasty gore, and sprinkles in some tasty gratuitous female nudity for trashy good measure. The acceptable acting by the competent cast holds the movie together: Laura Carney makes for an appealing final girl as the spunky Liz, Ted Clark amuses as annoying snoop Ned Bara, and Franke Hughes projects the right snarly attitude as surly pledge Sonny. Alas, token big name Darren McGavin isn't given much to due as the secretive Henry Collins. On the other hand, it's a kick to see both Sam Rockwell and Jorja Fox in small roles in their dues-paying salad days. On the debit side, the killer's pithy "no" quips quickly become tiresome and the cliché "it ain't over yet!" sequel set-up ending is super annoying. No lost classic, but still worth a watch for hardcore slice'n'dice fans.

When a couple of frat boys break into an insane asylum as part of a Hell Night prank, they release an evil being who has been trapped there for the past 25 years. The demon then proceeds to kill everyone who crosses his path, using a wickedly pointed mountaineering pick as his weapon of choice.

Happy Hell Night is a low budget piece of trash that is, for the most part, pretty awful; the acting is uniformly lousy and the direction uninspired, but, fortunately, the film does deliver a fair amount of (mostly unconvincing) gore and a touch of nudity from a couple of babes, making it just about bearable.

Charles Cragin, as the killer, is fairly creepy to look at—pale and bald with completely black eyes—but his aura of menace is diluted whenever he is given lines to speak. After each kill, the character makes a lame quip with a voice which sounds like he's been gulping back helium—Freddy Krueger he ain't!

Finally, after almost everyone at a frat house party are slaughtered, two brothers (and the slapper they have both been humping) attempt to send the demon back to hell.

Happy Hell Night is silly, instantly forgettable, and only really worth a watch if bad horror movies are your passion.