THE DEMON (1981)
Article 4969 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-26-2016
Directed by Percival Rubens
Featuring Jennifer Holmes, Cameron Mitchell, Craig Gardner
Country: South Africa / Netherlands
What it is: Slasher film

A killer with a clawed glove who likes to strangle people with plastic bags is on the loose.

Usually when I see Cameron Mitchell’s name in the credits, I suspect two things. One is that the movie is not going to be very good. The other is that Mitchell will probably be the best thing about it. That’s how I feel about this one. The fact that he is a psychic who is hired to track down the killer made me suspect this was another of the many “serial killer versus psychic” movies I’ve encountered. Unfortunately (though I may be supplying a spoiler here), that particular plot thread ends so abruptly that I rather suspect that it only exists to pad out what is in most other respects only an imitation of HALLOWEEN. As far as I can tell, the most famous thing about this movie is that during the climactic chase scene, the heroine of the movie is topless. Those impressed by that detail are welcome to hunt up the movie; the rest of you need to be aware that most of the movie seems more concerned with the uninteresting love lives of a pair of schoolteachers. It generates little in the way of suspense. This was a singularly dull way for me to spend a Sunday afternoon.