A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

Night of the Demons (1988) -

If there were a way to take an average of '80s horror movies, the results might look like this one. Where to begin? It has a Breakfast Club-like assortment of teenagers, a malevolent force, folklore explaining its motivations, a claustrophobic setting, superfluous nudity, Linnea Quigley, etc. That does not mean it's an average movie, though. Due to the familiar setup, I thought I could guess who the demons would possess, but my scorecard was very low, which is a good thing. The love triangle involving the lead, Cathy (Podewell), is just as unpredictable, as is the demons' antics. From an amazing dance routine to some most unusual makeup application, they are thankfully not just mindless killing machines. The movie also earns its horror comedy label, mostly because the teenagers sound like actual teenagers.

Even though the movie has many surprises, I would not say the entire product pushes the ‘80s horror envelope that much. Also, while I'm all for lots of buildup, it seems like the movie is halfway over until any of the really good stuff happens. If you don't believe that envelope needs to be pushed, you want to get into the Halloween spirit and/or want to liven a up a Halloween party, it's still a worthy choice. That also applies if you need a reminder of how awesome Linnea Quigley is.

Talk To Me was entirely whelming. It has a few fun standout scenes, but that's about it. The way the kids act, especially at the parties, is what I'm most perplexed about. Is that how teenagers act for real? Maybe in Australia they do? Is that just another iteration of unrealistic movie teenagers? Who can say. It might have been better as a short film, say 20-30 minutes long. The concept did not benefit from the injured kid subplot, or at least the movie did not weave it in as well as it could have. The focus on generic horror movie solution spitballing, find the person who knows type deal. All that dragged it down as it went on.

I more or less agree with you. Though I think I'm a little more favorable to it.
The first time I saw this movie as an adult (I think I saw it once when I was a teenager) I thought it was absolute crap. I was kinda angry at the person who recommended it to me (MASSIVEminiature). But when I re-watched it, I saw a spirit to it, an ambition aimed in the right direction and a joie de vivre that I really appreciated and found infectious.
It's a plucky film.
And I think it has some off-kilterness to its 80sness that makes me happy.

I also thought it was pretty good. I initially felt it was pretty trashy with the opening 10 minutes and was debating switching it off, but the more it went on and the more (some of) the characters developed in unexpected ways, the more won over I was. Its flaws are still pretty noticeable, but I think its merits ultimately saved the day.

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

I was underwhelmed with Night of the Demons. I felt like it had some great moments, but those mainly served to highlight how blah I found most of the film.

Humane. Caitlin Cronenberg’s feature debut about a world where people volunteer to be euthanized to counteract the effects of global warming. Centered on a wealthy family having to decide who will make the ultimate sacrifice, this started out promising with some sociological and political satire. Heavy handed as it was I grew to miss it once the rest of the film revolved around characters wandering around a dark house. There’s some good actors doing what they can, especially Enrico Colantoni, who’s having the most fun with his role, but at the end of the day none of the film’s pieces work that well.

Longlegs. Immaculately shot with its use of negative space and wide frames, Longlegs mostly works as a procedural with horror elements on the fringe. I didn’t love this as much as I wanted to though as it’s cold and distant demeanor kept me at arm’s length from truly getting immersed.