Happy Hell Night
Happy Hell Night | |
---|---|
![]() Original poster | |
Directed by | Brian Owens |
Produced by | Pavlina Proevska |
Screenplay by |
Chrys Hudson
Michael Fitzpatrick |
Starring |
Nick Gregory Sam Rockwell Darren McGavin Jorja Fox |
Music by | Nenad Bach |
Cinematography | Sol Negrin |
Edited by | David Mitchell |
Production company |
Pavlina Ltd. |
Distributed by | Quest Entertainment |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
Country |
Canada Yugoslavia |
Language | English |
Happy Hell Night (also known as Frat Night) is a 1992 slasher film directed by Brian Owens and starring Darren McGavin and Nick Gregory. The film also features brief appearances by Sam Rockwell and Jorja Fox in their early careers.[1]
Plot
Belinda and her boyfriend Chas go camping in the woods one night. Their trip is mostly uneventful, but eventually, a bloody girl runs into their campsite. She identifies herself as Vira, and says that she and her boyfriend Colin were stalked by a masked man who eventually killed Colin. At first, they believe her, but when Chas finds Colin's body nearby, he begins to suspect that Vira killed him. He returns to find both Belinda and Vira dead. He flees into the woods.
The film then shows several friends go camping in the same forest. The group consists of Babe, Cindy, Freddie, Jake, Marnie, Ramsey, and Vaughn. Jake retells an urban legend about the area, which describes a story similar to the opening. Marnie inquires as to who the killer was, and Vaughn claims that the killer is himself, which draws laughs from the others.
Marnie and Freddie then start making out in the forest, but they find a bloody, collapsed girl named Jess, who claims that her boyfriend Ty was killed. Freddie begins to become suspicious, as Jess's description of Ty sounds similar to Vaughn, and anxious, due to his situation's extreme similarity to the legend. He walks out of the clearing he and Marnie found Jess in and finds the dead body of Vaughn in the forest. He returns to the clearing and finds Marnie and Jess dead. Freddie flees back to the campsite, and describes what happened. However, the others dismiss him, as Vaughn is alive and well. Freddie passes out.
Later, back in the woods, while Vaughn and Babe are making out, an unseen person kills Vaughn with an arrow. Babe runs into the woods. She then encounters two hikers, Clyde and Susa, and tells their story. Shortly after, Clyde finds Vaughn's body.
Meanwhile, Ramsey asks Jake where he heard the legend, and he tells her that he remembers Vaughn telling it to him. Suddenly, Clyde runs into the camp, telling a story matching Jake's legend and Freddie's story exactly; he claims he found Babe and Susa dead. Cindy discovers that Freddie is dead. Vaughn walks balk into camp alive, despite Clyde's claims that he is dead. Clyde, stressed out and his mental state being destroyed after Susa's death, attacks Vaughn, and Vaughn kills him in self-defense.
Cindy walks into the woods, sad after the deaths of her friends. Vaughn comforts her and starts kissing her, but he is then shot dead by an unknown assailant. Cindy flees into the forest and encounters Jake and Ramsey in a clearing. Jake steps away from Cindy and Ramsey for a second, and Cindy suddenly realizes that they are in the legend and that they will die. She and Ramsey flee the clearing and back to the group's campsite. Jake finds Vaughn's body, but when he gets back to the clearing and Cindy and Ramsey are nowhere to be seen, he is killed instead.
Vaughn arrives back at the campsite and admits that he is the killer. He says that he is part of the legend, and that he continuously tricks people into thinking he is killed before murdering them in succession. He battles Cindy and Ramsey. They are wounded, but Cindy manages to kill Vaughn with a hunting knife. Cindy and Ramsey then leave the campsite and start walking towards town. However, they soon encounter a boy who says that his girlfriend was killed. Cindy arms herself with a machete and investigates a noise, but finds the dead body of a girl. Cindy recognizes the girl as Belinda and realizes that the boy is Chas. She runs back to the clearing, only to find Ramsey and Chas dead. Cindy realizes that she is still trapped in the legend, and continues on, not willing to give up. The movie ends and Cindy's fate is left uncertain.
The film's poster is a mystery, as the film does not revolve around a fraternity but rather a group of teenagers in the woods. It is most likely that the poster was created by mistake, perhaps in a mix-up by a design company.
References
- ↑ "Happy Hell Night (1992) Review". Retro Slashers. Retrieved 2014-11-13.