Remembering Tom DeSimone — The Man Who Locked Linda Blair in Garth Manor Was 87
Official theatrical poster. © Compass International Pictures
Some houses you only have to survive until dawn. Garth Manor was one of them — and the man who locked its gates has taken his final bow.
Tom DeSimone, the cult director behind the 1981 slasher Hell Night, died on October 17 at the age of 87. His younger brother Bob confirmed that DeSimone, who had terminal cancer, died at a senior care facility in Palm Springs, having chosen medical assistance to end his life. He left behind one of the great oddball careers in cult cinema.
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Quick Specs
Born: July 1, 1939
Died: October 17, 2026 (aged 87)
Known for: Hell Night (1981)
Also directed: Chatterbox (1977), The Concrete Jungle (1982), Reform School Girls (1986)
Television: Freddy’s Nightmares, Swamp Thing
DeSimone studied directing at Emerson College and earned a master’s in film production at UCLA, then built his craft somewhere most mainstream obituaries tiptoe around: 1970s gay adult film, where he worked as Lancer Brooks and made The Collection (1970), remembered as one of the first gay adult features built around an actual plot and dialogue. The industry remembered it too — he was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame in 2005.
The mainstream cult run followed. Chatterbox (1977), starring Candice Rialson, announced a director with a genuinely strange sense of humor. Then came Hell Night: four pledges locked inside Garth Manor for a fraternity initiation, stalked by the surviving Garth brothers. It brought Linda Blair back to horror after Exorcist II: The Heretic, paired her with Vincent Van Patten, and — deep in the crew credits — gave a young production assistant named Frank Darabont one of his first film jobs. Forty-five years on, the film still holds its following; Scream Factory gave it the full Collector’s Edition treatment.
He followed it with the women-in-prison drama The Concrete Jungle (1982), starring Tracey E. Bregman and Jill St. John, then turned around and parodied the genre outright with Reform School Girls (1986), which he wrote and directed, starring Wendy O. Williams, Sybil Danning and Pat Ast. Television came next: four episodes of Freddy’s Nightmares in 1988–89, plus episodes of Swamp Thing and Dark Justice.
One career, three industries, zero apologies. DeSimone is survived by his brother Bob and sister-in-law Lisa, his nieces Amanda and Gianna, and his great-nephew Ori.
Pray for day, fiends — and thank you, Tom.
