Demons

I'm not as overly enthusiastic as some other honest reviewers (the perfect tens with one review (we all know them) will never count as honest reviewers) that gave Demons a decent score. I found the story to be a bit of a mess, a bit boring, not fully exploited. The twist in the end was predictable, at least to me, it could have been more elebaroted to make it a better movie. The positive point would be the acting for me. There are some quality actors that make a movie watchable, but that doesn't mean the movie was good. To me it's just an average movie that I will probably have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.

Right, where to begin here?...

"Demons" is a horribly slow paced movie with nothing even resembling an interesting storyline. Yeah, I kid you not. The storyline kept jumping back and forth in the past and present trying to build up a story but it just never took hold. And that meant that the movie was fast losing its ground and never really managed to get back on track. It was a steep uphill battle that the movie had no chance of overcoming.

It should be said that there was actually an interesting cast on the cast list to perform in the movie. And they acted fair enough, especially so when taking into consideration that they have literally nothing to work with here in terms of storyline and script.

I managed to endure a whole 45 minutes of utter boredom of this ordeal before I had to toss the towel in the ring from being hopelessly bored out of my mind. And I can honestly say that I am not ever going to return to finish watching the rest of the 2017 movie "Demons", it just have nothing to lure me in with and nothing to keep me interested in watching the screen.

If you enjoy horror movies, then there are far, far better choices readily available for you to watch. I can't think of a single reason why you should watch the movie, unless you know someone involved in the production of the movie, or something like that.

Greetings from the Ether,

We were given the honor to attend an early screening of Demons, a new horror film from Mississippi powerhouse Miles Doleac (American Horror Story, The Magnificent Seven). We would first like to thank the director for the invite and for him reaching out to the Gehenna Post. We hope this will be the first of many, many more early reviews.

Alas, let's begin!

Former priest Colin Hampstead turns to a career as an author after an attempted exorcism goes wrong. The victim of said possession is none other than the younger sister of the woman he later marries. Together, and many years after the tragic incident, they battle the demons that aim to put them down, coming to realizations and truths about themselves in the process.

Now, the first thing that must be noted and thoroughly considered, is the fact that this film is not a Hollywood blockbuster. It is not on tier with many Oscar-nominated films. For average moviegoers, the experience may not be what they would hope. Nonetheless, the ability to admire the work that these artists put their hearts and souls into, with the limited resources they had, is something that we should take into acknowledgment.

There are good performances here, most notably from John Schneider (Smallville), Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster), and Steven Brand (The Scorpion King). Unlike previous outings with Doleac as director, he chose (in a risk that truly paid off) to put other cast members to the forefront. The character of Colin (played by Miles Doleac) is well done, as all of the director's on screen performances have been to date, but he truly gave the floor to other stars in a way that hasn't been seen and this was perhaps one of the most respectable decisions made.

Doleac's previous directorial and starring outings, The Historian and The Hollow were both in the field of drama, one being a cinematic academia-based investigation, and the latter being a southern crime noir. Stepping into the realm of horror was brave, and though Doleac doesn't have the most experience in this genre, his skill as a director and screenwriter shine through. There are some solid scares and a few very intense moments throughout the film, while maintaining a structure that is at times changing pretty fast-paced, but at other times seamless. During the Q&A, we asked the director about the challenges he faced tackling the genre of horror, and he said something that we found to be very truthful, horror is "character-driven." The reveals and expanding plot development surrounding the possession and why it happened are exactly that. This, Doleac nailed on the head.

Keeping in mind the struggles that indie filmmakers face in today's industry, Doleac continues to impress with the resources he is given. In the Q&A after the film, the director revealed that the script was written relatively quickly, and despite the rushed nature of this animal's creation, there is some honest storytelling to be seen. If the director can write a screenplay like this in such a short time, one can only imagine his capabilities if given the proper resources and time.

Demons has flaws, and doesn't quite surpass what The Hollow achieved, but it is still worth watching, and more importantly, worth supporting. In a day and age where independent filmmakers struggle to gain recognition and have to work endlessly and tirelessly to produce a movie, it is more important now than ever to support indie films. As Doleac pointed out in the Q&A, the theater industry is dying and it is near impossible to work from the ground up, setting your own foundations in the process.

Many facets of the film didn't work but the ones that did made up for it. It will be interesting to see where Doleac goes from here and if he chooses to pursue horror again. We are excited to see his progression as a director, actor, and screenwriter. We encourage you, our readers, to watch this film and to support indie film- making. Demons is not The Exorcist or The Conjuring but we hope it is the first in an ever-improving filmography from Miles Doleac.

This film is the worst type of movie, where it is both trash and overly pretentious at the same time. It's trying to tell a deep story in an original way, but everything is so obvious and heavy handed. Half the dialogue is delivered as of the direction *dramatic pause* was written in the script and breaking up a simple story doesn't make it any less simple.

The spirituality stuff comes across as tired and dated, but again as if the filmmaker thinks they are being really deep with it, maybe it was supposed to be ironic, I doubt it though.

Overall there is far too much bad to recommend this movie, and there is little good to redeem it, there is an attractive naked lady at one point, but they also talk about her nudity way longer than she is actually nude for, so many points in the film are belaboured, it's ridiculous! You'd probably be better off avoiding this one.

...definitely NOT fake. DEFINITELY, ya hear? I mean... Hereditary whatnow? First Reformed? Pah, nonsense! Demons is where it's at, fam. /sarcasm

What minimal merit this holds isn't worth the calories you'll burn hitting "play". And just like in the case of a train wreck... Move along, now, nothing to see here.