Night of the Demon

Night of the Demon is a 1980 American horror film directed by James C. Wasson, written by Jim L. Ball and Mike Williams, and starring Michael Cutt, Joy Allen, Robert Collings, Jodi Lazarus, Richard Fields, Michael Lang, and Melanie Graham. The film centers on an anthropologist who, along with a group of his pupils, embarks on an expedition to prove the existence of Bigfoot in a rural region of Northern California, only to be stalked and systematically slaughtered by the creature. Completed in 1979, the film was first released on VHS in the United States in 1983. Due to its graphic violence, the film was deemed a "video nasty" by the British Board of Film Classification, and underwent heavy censorship in the United Kingdom. It later received a DVD release from Code Red in 2011, sourced from a tape master. In November 2021, Severin Films issued the film for the first time on Blu-ray, featuring a 2K scan from the original film elements, which were previously alleged to be lost. Plot Bill Nugent, an anthropology professor, is approached by Carla Thomas, a young woman whose father was murdered in the woods in Northern California. She suspects that his death was caused by a Bigfoot who, according to legend, resides in the woods in the region. Despite a number of disappearances and brutal murdersincluding the death of a young couple, the manual emasculation of a biker, and the butchering of two Girl Scoutspolice have deemed the theory of a Bigfoot being responsible a hoax. Carla requests to accompany Bill along with four of his studentsRoy, Pete, Gary, and Lindaon an expedition aiming to prove Bigfoot's existence. They embark by boat along a river, and first camp on the property of an elderly man, Lou Carlson, who has claimed to witness the Bigfoot. Lou allows them to stay but is evasive when they attempt to speak to him. When one of the students, Roy, bribes Lou with alcohol, Lou suggests they seek out Wanda, a recluse who resides deep in the woods, and supposedly holds more information about the Bigfoot. Meanwhile, a hunter camping nearby is attacked and impaled by the Bigfoot on a jagged branch.