''Night Visitor'' (produced under the title ''Never Cry Devil'') is a 1989 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Rupert Hitzig Rupert Hitzig (born August 15, 1938) is an American director, producer, actor and screenwriter. He graduated from Harvard University. Career With executive producer Berry Gordy he produced ''The Last Dragon'' (1985), directed by Michael Schult ...

, produced by

Alain Silver Alain Silver is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially film noir, the samurai film, and horror films. ...

, and starring

Richard Roundtree Richard Arnold Roundtree (July 9, 1942 – October 24, 2023) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film '' Shaft'' and four of its sequels, '' Shaft's Big Score!'' (1972), '' Shaft ...

Elliott Gould Elliott Gould (; né Goldstein; born August 29, 1938) is an American actor. Gould's breakthrough role was in the film ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The ...

Allen Garfield Allen Garfield (born Allen Goorwitz; November 22, 1939 – April 7, 2020) was an American film and television actor. Early life Garfield was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a Jewish family, the son of Alice (née Lavroff) and Philip Goorwitz. He ...

, and Derek Rydall.

Plot

High school student Billy Colton ( Derek Rydall) is spying on his attractive new neighbor (

Shannon Tweed Shannon Lee Tweed Simmons (born March 10, 1957) is a Canadian model and actress. One of the most successful actresses of mainstream erotica, she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller cinema. Tweed has appeared in more than 60 film ...

) when he witnesses her being murdered by a man in a robe, and he recognizes the man as his unpopular history teacher Zachary Willard (

). Because he has a history of pranks and conflict with Willard, the police do not believe him. Threatened by Willard and his deranged brother Stanley (

Michael J. Pollard Michael J. Pollard (born Michael John Pollack Jr.; May 30, 1939 – November 20, 2019) was an American character actor. With his distinctive bulbous nose, dimpled chin and smirk, he gained a cult following, usually portraying quirky, off-beat, ...

), who are cultists and serial murderers, Billy convinces retired investigator Ronald 'Ron' Devereaux (

) to help him find hard evidence.

Cast

as Captain Crane *

as Ronald "Ron" Devereaux *

as Stanley Willard *

as Zachary Willard * Derek Rydall as Billy Colton *

Henry Gibson James Bateman (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009), known professionally as Henry Gibson, was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the television sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, w ...

as Jake *

as Lisa Grace *

Bruce Kimmel Bruce Kimmel (born December 8, 1947), also known as Guy Haines, is an actor, writer, director, composer, and Grammy Award, Grammy-nominated CD producer (music), producer (for the revival of ''Hello, Dolly''). Acting TV Kimmel appeared in many ...

as Townsend *

Brooke Bundy Brooke Bundy (born August 8, 1944) is an American film and television actress. Early years As a teenager, Bundy was a model in New York before she went to Hollywood on vacation and remained there to become an actress. While in New York, she at ...

as Mrs. Colton * Kathleen Bailey as Dolan * Scott Fults as Sam Loomis * Teresa Vander Woude as Kelly Fremont * Michael Jason Rosen as Bernstein (credited as Michael Rosen) * Jovanni Brascia as Tony *

as Thornhill (credited as Alain Joel Silver) * Amy Waddell as Annie Hayworth * Ann Dane as Theresa * Nancy McLendon as Reporter *

Teri Weigel Teri Weigel (born 1961 or 1962) is an American former pornographic actress and ''Playboy'' Playmate. Early life Weigel was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and grew up in Deerfield Beach, Florida. She began modeling while in her teens, appearin ...

as Victim In Cellar * Kathryn Kimler as Second Victim

Reception

The movie was briefly released by MGM/UA on 200 screens (none of which were in New York or Los Angeles) and garnered mixed reviews, many of which expressed humorous appreciation for a basement confrontation between Gould's Devereaux and Pollard's Stanley, while others disparaged the sequence as "a badly choreographed fight between a chainsaw wielding Pollard and a shotgun toting Gould that probably read really well in the script, but looks terrible on film." A later reviewer was more favorably disposed: "Combine ''

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...

'' with late 80s Satanic conspiracy theories and this is the result. Not as bad as it sounds, ''Night Visitor'' is an unfairly obscure movie about Satanism in suburbia."

External links

* *

References

{{reflist 1989 films 1989 horror films 1980s psychological thriller films American psychological horror films United Artists films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language horror films English-language thriller films