A demonic creature enters rotted corpse in a graveyard, assuming the identity as head of a violin company, needing the lifeforce of human victims to prolong it’s existence. Without the human lifeforce it needs, the corpse would quickly degenerate, returning to the grotesque state it was once before the demon took it over. As Longfellow(..portrayed by Don Leifert, an effective bit of casting, I thought), the demon stalks and strangles victims, maintaining human form as long as it can feed without interruption but when a concerned snooping neighbor, Gary Kender(Richard Nelson) finds him suspicious, this creature’s reign of terror could very well be jeopardized.

Without the monetary benefits of major Hollywood studios, director Dan Dohler does what he can with limited resources available. Using red animated cells, Dohler shows Longfellow’s glowing hands as they wrap around the throats of unfortunate victims, until his whole body eventually emanates. Dohler has latex make-up applied to Leifert’s face, while also dying his hair to show how the body regresses, until he finds another victim to feed energy from. There’s a room with an altar, and candles, coordinated off with a black curtain inside Longfellow’s basement where he slices apart photographs of victims he killed(..for some odd reason, he keeps his knife in a box). The film gets rather repetitious as Longfellow follows after victims, assaults them, and leaves their bodies falling in a heap to the ground. We see Longfellow’s means for maintaining an existence(..his long-suffering secretarial taskmaster, Dennis Frye, played by Dohler regular George Stover often performing his duties while Longfellow can go about his malevolent activities)and Gary’s sleuthing, seeking to find the one responsible for the murder of the little girl neighbor behind his own house. This is quite a family affair as Dohler casts friends and relatives in various roles, shooting scenes in his own house and neighborhood, every bit a labor of love(..actor/producer Stover has said that Fiend is Dohler’s favorite film of those he has directed).

With Marsha(Elaine White), Gary’s beloved wife, against her better judgment(..Gary’s always insists her lock the doors for personal safety, and Longfellow actually murdered a girl behind their house for petesake!), entering Longfellow’s house(..he calls for pain medication, hoping to draw her into his lair for her lifeforce), Dohler obviously sets up his big suspense sequence where the threat covered extensively in the newspapers regarding a series of killings in the area, hits right at home. One would have to question such a decision to enter such a rather unpleasant fellow’s home without talking it over with Gary(..who is away asking a kid about what he saw in regards to witnessing Longfellow’s murder of his employee). The ending is as bizarre as the opening, showing the demon in it’s original state(..where it came from and goes to is anybody’s guess)before entering the corpse. This wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be, mainly because Leifert’s Longfellow is such a reprehensible creep, he remains an effective heavy throughout.