Jason Bene: The opening animated credits set the tone for the entire film, who came up with that idea?

Kevin Tenney: the writer (Joe Augustyn) actually had it in the script and I balked at it because when we went and checked with the FX place to check the cost, and we had such a tiny budget it was like I can get another day of shooting for what we’re talking about spending on these credits. Joe really felt strongly about it and you know the film is all about working together. We got a place and they did a test for us and they showed us rough sketches in black and white and I saw that and I was like okay I’m sold. It’s funny because the executive producer (Walter Josten) was on Joe’s side and completely wanted it, and when he saw the test he thought this doesn’t look very good and he was then against it. I saw it and said this looks amazing, so Joe and I both said to Walter your looking at a rough sketch, but now that I see what they have in mind I think it’s going to work and it did. I think it’s a beautiful opening, which I just remember seeing it now on the big screen again – holy cow this looks amazing.

Jason Bene: Linnea Quigley had already established herself as a “Scream Queen” with her roles in Silent Night, Deadly Night and Return of the Living Dead, was it important to put a recognizable face in the film?

Kevin Tenney: I didn’t know who she was because I had not seen either one of those films and I wasn’t a big fan of those kinds of films yet. When I made Witchboard and Night of the Demons I had mostly seen the big studio horror films like The Omen, The Exorcist, and Jaws. I had not seen Halloween and Friday the 13th, actually my first lower budget horror film was the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, and that was because after I made Witchboard I was afraid it wasn’t scary enough because I didn’t know that much about horror. The acting and the story is good but maybe I didn’t get enough scares. I rented the video and took it home and popped it in the VCR, and my girlfriend (now his wife) at the time were watching it and I was sitting on the floor studying it and she was on the couch behind me. About halfway through I said I think I’m okay because this was a big hit and it doesn’t look much scarier than my film, so, I think I’m fine. She goes, “You don’t think this is scary”, and I said no why. I said are you scared and she went “Holy crap, yes” and I said oh good, that means Witchboard would scare you too.

Jason Bene: The two defining moments are the “Lipstick Scene” and Linnea bending over in the convenience store. From all the fans, thanks alot for that. Growing up as a teenager, those scenes were the biggest deal.

Kevin Tenney: (Laughs) Probabaly one of the best entrances to a movie ever.

Jason Bene: Steve Johnson did a tremendous job with the make-up FX, how much input did you have in the design of the demons?

Kevin Tenney: At the time The Exorcist was the big demon film, so we didn’t really go with the horns and all that, it was more like just make it look all gross and possessed. He just came to me with his designs and they looked great. I did kind of lobby for horns because I thought they would be cool, but the producers were like no horns. We have them on the new “Demons” (Adam Gierasch’s remake), if everyone loves them then I was right and they were wrong, and if everyone hates them then I was never for them either.

Jason Bene: The remake was all set for a Halloween ’09 release, where does it stand right now?

Kevin Tenney: The last I’ve heard is February 2010, but being just one of the producers I’m told even less than if I were the Director.

Jason Bene: Did you ever think that 21 years after its release that you would be in a packed theater on Halloween night watching Night of the Demons?

Kevin Tenney: No, I thought after this film came out I would have no career and that nobody would ever hire me again, and I would be working construction somewhere. I really thought this film was going to end my career before it started, and the fact it became this huge cult thing just amazes me.

Jason Bene: Bigfoot was recenty released on DVD, when are we going to see the movie you directed before that, Braindead?

Kevin Tenney: Braindead is now going to be a Midnight Show at the 4-Star Theater in San Francisco every Saturday night indefinitely. We’re talking to a DVD distributor right now about bringing it to DVD soon.

Killer Film would like to thank Kevin Tenney for finding the time to do the interview, and also for giving us his his favorite scary films with his Halloween Watch List .