Based on the story ‘Casting the Runes’ by M.R. James and directed by Jacques Tourneur, Night of the Demon tells the story of a man who finds himself cursed by a satanic cult.
Classification Issues
- Threat and horror
- The film contains scenes of supernatural threat, including sequences in which characters are attacked by demons.
- Violence
- One man falls to his death from a window and another is electrocuted by fallen power cables after crashing his car. A third character is attacked by a leopard.
Script advice
This 1957 UK horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur had an interesting journey through the BBFC, starting two years before the film was released.
In January 1955, the BBFC received a copy of a screenplay entitled The Bewitched, from Marcel Hellman Productions, requesting advice about the likely certificate for a film based on the script. The overall reaction from the examining team was that a film made from the script submitted would almost certainly have to receive an X rating (meaning no admission to persons aged under 16).
Whilst several scenes could sit below the X category – “golf matches etc.” – Examiners felt that the basic story would not be acceptable at any other category as the “story is essentially a powerful study in the uncanny and macabre, the terror that walks by night.” It is noted that the story “could not, in our view, fail to be terrifying to children, and such scenes of light relief as the script affords are purely incidental to the main horrific theme.” One aspect of the script that would not be suitable for classification, even with an X rating, was noted: “We could not allow any pictures of, or references to, the Black Mass.”
Over a year later, in September 1956, a new version of the script was sent in by Sabre Films for further advice. The ‘light relief’ and golf-playing were no longer present, and Examiners noted that “the horror is laid on as thick as possible in all ‘horrific’ sequences.”
A letter sent to Sabre Films following the script reading detailed the BBFC’s observations about possible classification issues for a film made of the script. Concern about references to black magic remain, and the BBFC strongly emphasised that restraint would be required if the film were to achieve an X rating: “A good deal will depend upon the sound, including screams, which can become excessive even for the ‘X’ category.”
Sabre sent in a further amended script in October 1956, now with a new title – The Haunted. The issues for the BBFC remained the same, and the BBFC reiterated the warning about minimising the impact of the ‘horrific’ sequences in order to achieve an X rating.
Cinema classification
The completed film was submitted for classification in June 1957, now under the title Night Of The Demon. Given the multiple script readings the film was familiar territory for the BBFC.
An X certificate was recommended, contingent on the distributor making certain changes: “Reduce Hobart’s cries when he escapes for the first time into the audience, and the close shots of his face when he is being spoken to and interrogated by the psychologists; and remove his words ‘We blaspheme and desecrate… in the joy of sin, will mankind that is lost find itself again’”.
When the film was resubmitted later that month, the BBFC was satisfied that it could now be classified X.
Video classification
The film was classified on video in 1996, under the title Curse of the Demon and with the previously cut material reinstated. An Examiner who viewed the film wrote that, “the film is, by today’s standards, restrained in both treatment and visual process… the thrill is in the imagination and will appeal both to nostalgic oldies and youngsters discovering horror for the first time.” It was classified 12.
Seen again in 2007, alongside a shorter version that was released in the US, the film was felt to be acceptable at PG under the Classification Guidelines in effect at the time and so it was duly reclassified at that level.
