Vampire horror is my favourite subgenre. I make it my business to inform people about underrepresented vampire films of the ‘80s and ‘90s. I reviewed Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Fright Night Part 2, and Vampires and Other Stereotypes on RUE MORGUE TV and wrote about Graveyard Shift, Outback Vampires, and now, I turn to 1991’s CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT. Directed by Tony Randel (who doesn’t need an introduction, but I will remind you anyway), director of Hellbound: Hellraiser II, it’s the second of three movies produced by Fangoria Films, and in my opinion, the best one. CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT tells the tale of a small town overrun by vampires and is your camp answer to ‘Salem’s Lot.
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT takes place in Allburg, U.S.A., “a peaceful and unassuming township nestled in quiet woods” – or so you think. One of their residents is a Christian on wheels who drives around in his Jesus van, spewing threats, I mean sermons, to deaf ears. (How Christian of him to run right into an unhoused man without stopping to make sure he’s okay.) In this town, two best friends, Cindy and Lucy, are about to be separated, as one of them is leaving soon to attend college. Cindy (Maya McLaughlin) gets dropped off at her best friend’s house by her mother, Karen, played by Horror Film Queen Karen Black. Lucy, played by one of my favourite ‘90s horror actresses, Ami Dolenz, lives with her devout grandmother. On their last night together, Cindy and Lucy ride their bicycles to an old, abandoned church to carry out a town tradition: Every resident who leaves Allburg must wash the dirt of their small town off by swimming a lap in the church’s flooded crypt. Sanitation be damned! As Lucy and Cindy tell stories and gab about boys on their leisurely swim, Lucy’s cross necklace falls off and lands on a body below, reanimating it. The creature emerges from the water with its arms wrapped around Cindy, and it feeds on her blood.
Fifty miles from Allburg in the town of River Junction, Mark (Peter DeLuise), a teacher, is reading a monster story to a young student. While the student’s Christian mother is chastising him, they are interrupted by Mark’s priest friend, Frank (Evan MacKenzie), who reveals that he’s fallen in love with a women and requires Mark’s help. Back at Frank’s house, Mark hears moaning coming from upstairs. When they ascend the stairs, Frank notices that the sun is about to set. Inside a bedroom is a tub filled with water with a body inside, and a bed with another body shrouded in a translucent film.
Frank and Mark watch the motion of shadows through the wooden slits on the windows as the sun goes down. (The SFX are magnificent in this scene.) Cindy, who’s in the bathtub, has her lungs outside her body, which continue to inhale and exhale. As she awakens, the bathtub drains, and she swallows her lungs back into her body. Karen begins to ooze on the bed, melting the film from her body as it drips down to the floor. The next step in this morning ritual involves Cindy eating leeches so that Karen can drink the blood from her daughter’s throat. I applaud this film for the unique manner in which these vampires cocoon during the day.
Frank instructs Mark to drive back to Allburg to check on Lucy. When he shows up at Lucy’s grandmother’s house, he learns Lucy has barricaded herself in her bedroom, and for good reason. Grandma Barrett ain’t what she used to be! As the duo carries the rest of the film, trying to survive their vampire-turned town, we are graced with more gore, SFX, lust, and of course, comedy, which is mostly delivered by Garrett Morris, who plays an unhoused drunk man.
The cocooning effect is shown again when the sun sets. Renowned makeup effects artists Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman worked their magic on this film with ingenuity and used reverse shots for when the translucent shroud envelops Karen’s body, which first appears as a white goop that emerges from her mouth.
I can’t help but wonder if Karen Black channelled her character in CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT for House of 1000 Corpses. They exhibit the same provoking shrieks. However, I will say she wears are a bit too obtrusive, reminiscent of Amanda Donohoe’s snake-like teeth in Lair of the White Worm. That shit just looks uncomfortable.
Embodying a childish campiness, CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT feels like an R-rated episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?. I mean, there’s a scene with vampires playing bingo, but the bloody kills and sexuality push it to a more mature level. Randel reworks Frank’s personal torment in Hellraiser II in a scene where Lucy finds a woman chained in an alley, shrouded in a sheet, moaning in a similar fashion. The master vampire is a combination of Radu from Subspecies and Castlefreak.
I wish Ami Dolenz did more horror conventions. I’m a huge fan of her work in Witchboard 2 and Pumpkinhead 2 as well as a beloved ‘80s fave: She’s Out of Control. Dolenz and Randel reunited two years after CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT for Ticks, another feat of incredible SFX by Nicotero and Kurtzman.
