Hey there, fellow horror geeks and monsterphiles! Prometheus back with round # 3 of FRIGHT FIGHT FRIDAY’S Evil Spirit bracket, Hull House Demon (Night of the Demons) VS THE CADAVER (The Evil Within)!!!
If you’re new to the series, every week we have 2 of our favorite horror movie baddies fight for your entertainment, but of course, the story of how it unfolds is half the fun! I have designed eight-man brackets and each bracket has its own theme! The winners of each bracket will face off in the finals for the coveted title of FRIGHT FIGHT FRIDAY’S “King of the Monsters!”
As a bonus, after that is all said and done and one monster remains, we will have a Hero bracket! The winner of the Hero bracket will have the chance to take down our “King of the Monsters” in a one-shot brawl for it all! To catch up on past fights click here, and type in FRIGHT FIGHT FRIDAY! Let’s get into it!
HULL HOUSE DEMON
From the film “Night of the Demons” the Hull House Demon is vicious, ruthless and loves to cause havoc. There are actually several demons in the film, but for the fight, we will focus on the main one.
Hull House was once a mortuary but was abandoned. It is said to be haunted by evil spirits and when some teenagers throw a party there, all Hell breaks loose.
The Hull House Demon is fictional, and not based in mythology like many of our contestants in this bracket are. This means I have only the film to go off and its overall impression of the demon. Make no mistake about it, this demon has shown to be extremely aggressive and is fully capable of holding its own.
THE CADAVER
The Cadaver from “The Evil Within” is a unique demon. Like the Hull House Demon, he exists only in his film world and is not based on any one demon in mythology. He gets to you first in your dreams, by placing a zipper on your back and climbing on in.
He twists your thoughts slowly and turns you into a killer. After that, you’ll start talking to your reflection, until it switches places with you. Forever...
In the film, it doesn't really show any signs of supernatural strength, although being a demon, I’m sure it’s there to a degree. He basically takes you over and lives as you, an obvious metaphor for, well, the evil within!
FIGHT
“No, I won’t do it.”
“You will. You will because you must.”
“I’ve done everything you’ve asked. There must be another way.”
“Yes, you’ve been quite the loyal subject but there’s only one way, Johnny, and that’s my way.”
He never meant to let it go this far. It all started with the dreams, those God-awful dreams in which some kind of creature would enter his body through his back, by way of a zipper. It would make him do awful things in these dreams, controlling him like a puppet.
No, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like the creature was driving him, like he was a vehicle, carrying someone (or something) around. The details were always vivid and painfully clear. He could feel the soft skin on his back part as the zipper opened, but was always powerless to do anything about it.
He could feel the creature climb in, make itself comfortable and then, he would feel the skin zip back up as the monster took control. Every. Single. Time.
As he sits now, in front of a mirror arguing with his own reflection he realizes; there’s no turning back. His only choice is to do as commanded and hope this thing is telling the truth.
“If I do this... if I kill her, the dreams will stop?”
“Yes,” answers his reflection. “The dreams will stop.”
The animals were bad enough. Still, when his reflection demanded he kill those cats, he did. He brought them down into the basement and he skinned them as he was told, but this is different. This is Lacey Thompson, his crush since 5th grade. Although, she’s still clueless to that fact. Hell, she probably doesn’t even know his name.
“Why her?”
“Simple. Because she’s important to you. Is she not?”
“I can’t. Not her. Pick someone else.”
“Fine. Come closer to me so I can whisper their name to you.”
He walks slowly toward the mirror, hoping to hear the name of a stranger. His heart beats with anticipation, like an actor sitting in the crowd, patiently waiting for the host to read the contents of that white envelope.
He leans in, and as he does, his reflection whispers one word. A smile that's more sinister than playful crosses the Other’s face.
“Lacey...”
His own arm reaches through the glass pane of the mirror and grabs him by the shirt. He struggles, but is easily over powered and pulled in. The Other steps out of the mirror, joining our world at last as Johnny bangs desperately on the glass from the other side. His mouth moves, but no sound can be heard.
That Night...
“You weren’t kidding,” she says over the loud music. “This place is fucking awesome!”
“I told you,” replies her friend. “What better place to throw a kick-ass party than an abandoned mansion?”
“You truly are a genius, Lacey.”
“Right? And the best part? We don’t even have to clean up the mess!”
“And if the cop’s come?”
“Easy. We run.” Her friend looks at her awkwardly. “Relax Amy,” says Lacey as they both laugh. “We’ll be fine. No one ever comes up here anyways.”
“Can’t say I blame them. This is a great place for a party, but it’s creepy as hell.” She looks around at the old, time-worn floor and walls, “I don’t care how big this place is. No thanks.”
“It’s called Hull house,” replies Lacey. “It used to be a mortuary or something. Rumor is it’s haunted, once a place gets that kind of rep, people stop coming around.”
“Seriously?”
The forgotten mansion is filled with loud, half-drunk teenagers having the time of their lives and the smell of marijuana is strong and sweet. Lacey can't help but to feel a little bit of pride. This really is a kick-ass party.
“Hey, Lacey, Amy, we’re going to go check out the basement in this place, smoke a joint...” The voice belongs to Chad, a star football player who is walking up to them with his partner in crime, Jay. Jay is the team’s kicker and all-around party animal degenerate. “You two coming?”
The two girls look at each other for a moment with a smile. “Sure,” answers Lacey. “I could use a break from the loud music.”
The four of them head down to the basement through an old door in the back hallway. Chad pulls out the joint, and lights it. He hits it, pulling long and slow, and then hands it to Lacey as he coughs. “Save some for us killer,” says Lacey as she inhales a lung full of smoke. She exhales without coughing and passes the joint to Amy. “That’s how it’s done.”
As the joint makes its way back around, Lacey notices a door in the back of the basement and by the time Chad goes to pass it back to her, she’s already half way to it. “I never noticed that door before.”
“Lacey? Where the hell are you going?” Amy follows hesitantly after her friend. “It’s your hit.”
Lacey turns her head back to her as she places her hand on the door to open it. “Where do you think it goes?” She opens the door, as Chad, Jay and Amy catch up to her.
“What the...?” Jay’s voice trails off as they gaze into the remnants of an old crematorium. Lacey falls to her knees in the door way, her hands holding her head as she screams.
“Lacey,” calls Amy.
She laughs, a slow giggle at first that transforms into a frantic, high pitched cackle.
“Lacey, are you OK?”
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Chad’s voice is higher than normal.
Lacey slowly stands up, her back facing her friends. The laughing stops, but is replaced by heavy, labored breathing. Jay walks over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you...?
Lacey spins around unnaturally fast. Her face now rotting and leathery, her teeth jagged, cracked and yellow. Her bloodshot eyes look into Jay’s as she reaches out and removes his jugular with her bare hands. Blood sprays from his neck as he falls to the ground, holding the wound.
“Holy fucken shit,” yells Chad as his friend’s body hits the floor, the life rapidly draining from it. Lacey turns her attention in their direction, her chest puffing in and out as she takes large gasps of air.
“Chad,” says Amy. “We’ve gotta go.”
“But...”
“Now!”
Lacey lunges at them, knocking Chad to the floor as Amy escapes through the door, shutting it behind her. The sound of her best friend tearing Chad apart limb by limb is enough to make her sick, but she knows that she has to hold onto the doorknob, forcing her to listen to it all. Every torn piece of flesh, every horrific scream.
Suddenly, there's a jerk on the door, then another. Amy pulls it closed tighter and it jerks again. “Amy, let me out of here, come on.”
“That’s not really you.”
“Yes, it is. Now quit messing around. I think I need a hospital.”
“That’s not you, Lacey’s dead.”
“Amy, that’s not funny. Let me out.”
“No.”
“Please...”
The door jerks again, more violently this time.
“No way.”
“Let me out...”
The door jerks harder this time, then harder even. It keeps jerking and she almost loses her grip but manages to hold on. “Leave me alone,” she cries as she holds the door with all her might. “Leave me the fuck alone!”
Suddenly, she hears a voice from behind her. “Amy?’
The door stops jerking as she turns her head to see who it is. “Johnny?”
“Are you OK? I was just looking for Lacey. Someone said that they saw you guys come down here.”
“I’m in here,” calls out Lacey. “Help, she won’t let me out!”
Amy glances back at Johnny, a pleading look in her eyes.
“What’s going on, Amy? Why is Lacey in there?”
“Johnny, please! Go get help, that isn’t Lacey in there.”
“But I just heard her.”
“It sounds like her, but trust me, it isn’t! She killed Chad and Jay. If this door opens, she’ll kill us too!”
Johnny walks closer to Amy, his face compassionate and soft. “Can I tell you something?” He leans in close to her, speaking softly “I’m going to kill you, anyway.”
“What?”
He reaches out, snapping her neck as he whispers, “Sshhh.” Her body slowly slides to the floor, releasing her grip on the door handle. “Everything’s OK, now,” he says as he steps over her lifeless corpse.
He enters the crematorium, expecting to see Lacey. Chad and Jay’s dead bodies are lying on the floor. The smell of fresh blood is pungent and thick. It sticks to his shoes as he walks, making a suction sound with every step. “Lacey?” He pulls a knife out from is pocket, holding it by his side in the dark.
She jumps from the shadows, tackling him to the floor. Heavy globs of saliva drip from her mouth as she screams, thrashing him against the ground. He rolls her off of him and plunges the knife into her chest. As he gets back to his feet, Lacey immediately sits up, unfazed by the attack. Grabbing the handle, she pulls the blade slowly from her chest, licking it clean of blood. The sharp edge slices the sides of her tongue, but she seems to enjoy it.
She screams as she charges Johnny. She returns the favor by stabbing the blade deep into his stomach. This causes him to go down to one knee, but only for a moment.
She removes the knife, then angrily stabs him repeatedly, over and over until he stops moving. Blood covers her entire body, so heavily it drips down her face and into her mouth. His body begins to twitch, then he sits up.
Lacey grabs him by the hair, slicing his throat slowly and then decapitating him entirely. She drags the body to the furnace, tosses it in and ignites the flames. As the body goes up in smoke and the Cadaver loses his vessel in our world, Lacey’s thoughts shift to what was going on upstairs. After all, she had a party to tend to...
Hull House Demon
This one was fun. The Cadaver is a pretty unique demon and the thought of something entering you though a zipper is freaking terrifying. Here’s the thing though, in The Evil Within, even when The Cadaver switches places with him ad enters our world, he’s never shown as being much stronger than an average guy. He exhibits no powers or abilities except the urge to kill.
Now he’s a demon, so I’m sure he has some strength and at least a bit of invulnerability but once you burn that vessel he’s controlling, game over I’m assuming.
Also, The Hull House demons all show signs of strength and heightened abilities. Based on the rationale, the fight goes to them. What do you think? Am I way off? Yell at me in the comments below! Don’t miss next week’s fight! THE KANDARIAN DEMON (The Evil Dead) VS AZAZEL (Fallen)! I’ve been waiting for this one! Until next time, keep on geekin’ on my friends!
Joshua “Prometheus” Scafidi
(If you enjoy my writing, check out my short story "The Mirror" on Kindle!)
