Demoniaco

In Louisiana, police detective Mark Lewis (Frank Grillo) takes over a bloody crime scene. He finds survivor John (Dustin Milligan) who becomes his prime suspect. Police psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Klein (Maria Bello) interviews John on site. He and his pregnant girlfriend Michelle (Cody Horn) had joined a group of young ghost hunters, Bryan (Scott Mechlowicz), Jules (Megan Park), Donnie (Aaron Yoo), and Sam (Alex Goode). He had been haunted by visions of the house.

This has all been done before. The final twist is completely predictable. It's basically a found footage horror in a haunted house. There is nothing particularly new. The actors are a mixed bag although they are all pretty good. This is a straight-forward horror.

There's many, many, many clichéd horror films revolving around the common plot of a ghost hunting crew receiving more then they bargained for. "Demonic", a horror film taking the said cliché head on, becoming something more then what it was expected.

The acting of this movie was quite straight forward, not really giving anything shocking, or completely impacting. Honestly just was what it was, plain, and simple. The cinematography in this film was nice, but at points got a bit annoying. At some points in the movie, the camera shook, creating it a bit weird, in other words annoying to view the events of which were taking place. As for studio work; lighting, set, etc. It, as said before was what it was. It seemed a bit plain, being seen millions of times before, the same old set of an old haunted house. Even the little twist of set in this film; which won't be spoiled, it still felt clichéd, and seen many, many times before.

The story of this film was, also, quite basic. The story of a ghost hunting team heading into a haunted house to document the strange events, a plot we've audience seen millions of times before, making that part clichéd .. highly. The film, though switched it up a bit, moving, and twisting the plot around a bit, delivering some shock, but not as much as it was more then likely intended to. I also felt as if the characters were plain, but for what they were, involving they're movie rolls, they're characters weren't bad. As said many times now, though, it was quite average, yet worked for the sake of this film.

Finally, I feel as if the movie had some legit atmosphere, in this case, the movie had a creepy, dark feeling of which sent chills down my spine while watching this. Dark, old, unsettling atmosphere combined with some decent timed scares. It seemed unique, saying many times before, the movie having a highly clichéd setting, and plot. For what the movie executed, it had some well scares, as well as some great, creepy atmosphere of which set the mood simplistically.

In conclusion, "Demonic" was considerably an attempt. It had a solid, creepy setting to it. But it doesn't beat the fact that this film took on a highly clichéd plot, making this movie nothing more then average. The movie, also, tried taking on a "large" twist, only leading to be average; "Meh". However, the movie was entertaining, gripping. But once more. It's very, very average. Nothing new whatsoever. I'd recommend it to those looking for a movie for the heck of it; Looking for something unique? Look elsewhere. This movie dose NOT deliver unique elements.

... and they are all made of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same. The sad thing is that I like most of the lead actors. We've seen Frank Grillo in Captain America as a decent villain and many other films as well. Maria Bello still looks gorgeous, even at her age. Cody Horn is cute as hell. Even the other actors were decent, considering they were all playing cardboard characters (like the Asian tech-savy expendable character).

The script, though, as well as the entire direction and structure of the film was identical to some others haunted house features. The oh so predictable twist at the end, the loud bass noises, the electronics that fail in case of ghosts or show a ghost when you can't see it or don't show a ghost when you can, the self closing and locking doors, the stupid people that stay in the house when they are attacked by supernatural forces, the police that are always a step behind the events and so on and so on and so on.

Bottom line: if you feel like another haunted house film with young idiots trying to prove the existence of the supernatural only to whine when they find it, this is the film for you. If you are looking for anything original, skip it.

The film's premise is a straightforward concept that incorporates classic, overdone horror tropes with slices of Gen X flavor, in the form of found footage - as in documentary footage recovered from the scene. The dual concepts, although not original, are offered up in a clever parallel time line. It creates a sort of murder mystery aspect, broken up by standard paranormal horror moments next to found footage sequences. To a small degree the mixture sometimes feels disjointed, but the back and forth does break up any monotony that would otherwise be present.

The cast give quality performances, the line up consists of recognizable faces, and known names. There is a glare of underdevelopment to the characters, that if a bit of tweaking had been done, could have really became full-bodied portrayals. Still there is enough to make them relatable.

Special effects are the typical gimmicks one expects in these kind of films. Shock gags and sound bites meant to give a fright are over used and often fall flat. Still "Demonic" has its moments of genuine chills, and the gore elements are quality. Think "Insidious" -esque trickery, just a few more misses. The horror moments run the gambit of "see it coming" to "cool and creepy".

Overall the film is a mediocre but watchable horror flick with some quality actors, refreshing concepts, entertaining climax, and enough death to hit that ghoulish spot. It does have some redundancy issues, and a cloud of "know what's going to happen before it happens", but the movie gives enough to make it enjoyable.

Just watched this for free on the Horror Channel and I will say that, although it is not a bad movie, it is not worth paying for. Group of kids hold a seance in an abandoned house where mass murder took place some 20 odd years before and needless to say scary, unoriginal things start to happen. Only it's not scary and thankfully it has a modest running time. James Wan's name is attached to it but he didn't direct so don't be fooled.