**This post contains spoilers**
Halloween night is here! Maddie (Monica Keena) is all smiles, and she’s ready to go to the big Halloween bash at The Broussard Family Mansion, hosted by Angela Feld (Shannon Elizabeth). Maddie arrives at the party with her friends, Suzanne (Bobbi Sue Luther) and Lily (Diora Baird). Loud music, drinks, an electric atmosphere, and the duo of Jason (John F. Beach) and Dex (Michael Copon) eventually joins the trio. Everything is seemingly perfect, right?
Sure, Maddie sees potential setbacks. She spots her ex-boyfriend, Colin (Edward Furlong), and the party is officially over, after the arrival of a group of police officers (Angela didn’t get a permit!). But Maddie has bigger problems to worry about, when Angela is unknowingly possessed by a demon. After a game of spin the bottle, Angela passes the demon to Dex, starting a chain reaction, that involves Dex, Lily, and Suzanne being sucked into the first round of possessions.
Facing slim hopes of making it to sunrise, Maddie is forced to fight to survive. Maddie slowly emerges as the leader. There’s two specific scenes, where Maddie aggressively speaks up as the voice of reason. Jason freaks out about a possessed Suzanne showing no signs of any damage after he stabs her with a fireplace poker. Also, let’s not forget about Maddie realizing how important it was to protect the spells written on the walls in the upstairs room.
And Maddie has to interrupt the bickering between Colin and Jason to show them a possible alternate exit in the basement. Colin starts whining about his problems, and Maddie sternly reminds him that Jason was just murdered by Angela, and he transformed into a demon. Colin witnessed a demon ripping Jason’s guts out, and he’s still only thinking about himself? Come on, man!
Maddie also plays the role of a babysitter for Jason and Colin. She’s a caring person, and you can see she still believes there’s some hope for Colin to turn his life around. Colin pleaded with Maddie to leave him alone, when he fell through the floor. Yeah, Colin turned into a demon, and she barely escaped, but Maddie still took a big risk to go down and check on him.
Eventually, the story reaches a point, where Maddie is the last woman standing. Everyone else is a demon, and Maddie realizes she can’t wait it out. No more running, or hiding. No, Maddie had to go for the last stand and fight.
One of my favorite moments in all of the Night Of The Demons films shows Maddie walking up to the camera in the dark during the finale. She scans what’s in front of her, cocks the shotgun, and she boldly says “come and get me, motherfuckers.” Truly a cool moment, daring the demons to attack her, because Maddie knew what she had to do.
Monica Keena brings a mix of a wholesome and ordinary presence to Maddie. You’d never believe this is someone, who’s capable of fighting off demons. Maddie has a perky personality, and she justifiably panics every now and then. But Maddie shows flashes of fire in certain scenes. One moment that sticks out for me happens during the scene, where Maddie slams the door in Angela’s face, because she was sick of her taunting and failed attempts to scare her. She gave it her all, but Maddie couldn’t save everyone, and you have to believe losing Colin to a demonic possession was a tough pill to swallow.
Still, Maddie fought off and outsmarted the demons to walk away as the sole survivor. For me, the best shot in the movie shows the aftermath of Maddie calmly landing on the ground after she faked an attempt to hang herself. It’s daylight outside. Maddie is standing there, exhausted, and she’s covered in blood, but she’s also smiling. Maddie, the gutsy and scrappy final girl, beat the odds to escape. No missing limbs, or serious injuries for the woman, who just wanted to hang out and have fun with her friends at a Halloween party.
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