For most people Devil’s Night is recognized as the night before Halloween. Starting in the 1940s, urban youth engaged in minor pranks which resulted in little, if any property damage. These pranks escalated and in the Detroit area, from the 1970s to the 1990s it was a night marked with serious vandalism and arson
For a group of 60+ people it who gathered at Studio 8700 on Nine Mile Rd. in Oak Park, Michigan Friday, September 29, 2017 it was a night of indie films and comedic relief as filmmaker/event promoter Terrence Cover treated them to a series of 10 selected short films with an introduction by a Rod Serling impersonator (Terence Cover).
Based on the Rod Serling series Night Gallery, which Rod Serling hosted from 1969 to 1973, Devil’s Night Night Gallery Season 2, A Film + Art Event kept with the original premise of this television series a painting was created to represent each selected short film. These paintings and sculptures were created by local artists.
In keeping with the original Night Gallery premise, the selected shorts were dark, focused on horrors of the supernatural. But these offerings had a comedic twist. Zombies to Frankenstein monsters, to a giant Burmese turkey filled the screen and often howls of laughter filled the hall, part of the art studio.
Present for the festivities were filmmakers from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. As the screen grew dark with the conclusion of the last film,, everyone gathered to talk with the filmmakers, artists and audience members.
According to Terrence Cover the event was a success