Hell Night 1999 Horror Movie Review

Is there a cheesier, funnier (without meaning to be) actress than Linda Blair? A victim of early Hollywood success with The Exorcist, she hit puberty, tried being a teen queen and a scream queen, and then hung around on the basis of the success of her first major role, exploring the limits of her talent in a series of sub-B movies. This 1981 film, about bad shenanigans during Pledge Week at college, wasn’t exactly one of the high points. This surprisingly tedious venture features a group of fraternity and sorority pledges forced to spend the night in an abandoned—and, of course, haunted—mansion that once housed a killer. And would you be surprised to find out that it still does?  The cast includes Vincent Van Patten and Peter Barton, as though that’s an attraction. No scares, no skin—what’s the point? —Marshall Fine