Possessed by the Night

Plot

Exploitation king Fred Olen Ray was well entrenched in his "Erotic Thriller" phase (typified by films like Inner Sanctum) when he turned out this oddball mix of salacious schemes and demonic possession. When creatively blocked horror writer Howard (Ted Prior) buys an oversized jar containing a silly-looking pickled monster from a tiny shop in Chinatown, he quickly falls under the thing's supernatural influence. Not only can he churn out reams of manuscript pages like never before, he also becomes more sexually aggressive -- a change which troubles his reserved wife Peggy (statuesque Sandahl Bergman), particularly after the arrival of sexy blonde live-in secretary Carol (Shannon Tweed, whose presence had become ubiquitous in films of this kind). The plot thickens when we learn that Carol is also conspiring with her partner Murray (Frank Sivero), Howard's greedy agent, to steal his manuscript. Carol soon becomes the puppet of the thing in the jar as well, playing violent sexual games with the couple, terrorizing Peggy at every turn, and ultimately turning on Murray -- leading to a hyper-violent climax which has nearly every character blasting away at his/her co-conspirator with automatic weaponry. Despite the heftier financial backing of Columbia Home Video, this is still exploitation in the classic Ray tradition, filled with the usual bucketloads of nudity and kinky sex, and featuring cameos from such familiar B-movie faces as Ray Silva and Turhan Bey, as well as Kato Kaelin as a busboy in the restaurant scene with Bey. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Cast

Sandahl Bergman - Peggy Hansen; Turhan Bey - Calvin; Sigal Diamant - Receptionist; Chad McQueen - Gus; Amy Rochelle - Bikini Woman; Henry Silva - Scott Lindsey; Peter Spellos - Big Ed; Shannon Tweed - Carol McKay; Alan Amiel - Detective; Ted Prior - Howard Hansen; Fred Olen Ray - Waiter; Byron Mann - Fok Ping Wong; Frank Sivero - Murray Dunlap; Brad Linaweaver - Waiter; Kato Kaelin - Bus Boy

Credit

Fred Olen Ray - Director, Chuck Cirino - Composer (Music Score)

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