The Demon Lover

When I first encountered THE DEMON LOVER I despised it and posted a bomb movie review -- three stars, which from me is pretty grim news -- but have since come to know & respect the film more over a few more viewings and a little more time. Also a little more familiarity with the whole low budget indie American horror scene from the 1970s, of which THE DEMON LOVER is actually a pretty competent example. I might even say I've sort of developed an affinity to it, partly due to some of the behind the camera talent responsible for the film.

Namely Dennis and Robert Skotak, whom literally EVERYBODY has seen the work of by now. You'd have to be someone like my mom to not have seen TERMINATOR 2 or ALIENS or any of the dozens of high profile huge budget entertainments the Skotak's helped to visualize as production designers & creators of visual effects. They were nothing short of pioneers in the realm of science fiction horror action cinema and this is their first feature movie. They made the Demon costume with the glowing lights who looks like the bass player from Gwar, the gore effects, magic effects sequences and likely shot the gory still photos used in the film's police procedural subplot.

In 1978 they may have just been a couple of talented punks looking to channel their creativity, but soon after THE DEMON LOVER was released they got jobs working at Roger Corman's New World studios, came into contact with another Corman employee named James Cameron, and worked with him on ALIENS, TERMINATOR 2 and TITANIC. Pwned! And co-director Donald G. Jackson went on to an illustrious career as a B movie maverick, producing the riotous HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN amongst other amphibiously themed schlock delights. Great things come from the most unlikely places sometimes.

The one lesson I have learned over the years by studying low budget filmmaking is that you can't fault a movie for being made when it was & under the conditions it was made. That's not fair. However it came about they made the film and merely contrasting it unfavorably to other more well known or successful examples of the form doesn't get anyone anywhere. In it's own way THE DEMON LOVER is just as amusing & clever as other films of its like; CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, BLOOD SABBATH, and ENTER THE DEVIL come to mind.

It doesn't have the scope of THE DEVIL'S RAIN nor the thrills per minute ratio of RACE WITH THE DEVIL but instead tries to pay more attention to the occult angle without a large scale production getting in the way. Christmas Robbins is effective as the wannabe warlock who actually manages to evoke Mephistopholes even though nobody seems to believe him, and Tom Hutton does a better job as the polyester jacketed homicide cop assigned to a slew of murders than I recall from sitting through the film first time out. His baffled expressions are non-acting on the highest order.

The film's greatest claim to fame is the presence of horror icon Gunnar Hansen as "Professor Peckinpah" in the film's most outrageous appropriation of names for it's characters. There's also a Frazetta, a Romero, and I believe I heard the name Leone at one point. The delivery of the film is just as unsubtle as the appropriation of names and its charm lies not so much in the execution as it does in the reckless abandon in the creative act at work here. The film has clumsy little homages to Dirty Harry movies & spaghetti westerns, and even manages to work in a bizarre little splatter bloodbath ending that seems to have been inspired by TAXI DRIVER.

Sure, it's low budget kitsch really, a point I missed the first time through when expecting the film to be as straight up as it looked. There's a decided lack of artistry to the cinematography but an abundance of energy that makes up for it. If nothing else here's a chaotic little bit of mayhem for aspiring filmmakers to study to see how to make a passable little horror movie on the ultra cheap. These guys were determined to see the film as they were able to make it right then & there, and it actually does amount to an absorbing hour or so for fans of this kind of material. Perfect drive-in movie nonsense.

And for the record I've encountered three different forms of this movie so far. Unicorn Video has the standard fullscreen version running just 70 minutes but it turns out there's some graphic carnage removed from it's print and some of its dialog scenes have been shortened. Severin Films apparently copped a Unicorn tape for their DVD presentation, which is to be expected I guess, and my verdict is to avoid it & get the real thing. Then there's another North American tape titled COVEN that has some footage removed from the very beginning but more of the gore clipped out of Unicorn's print, and also comes it at just around 70 minutes fullscreen with a rougher picture quality than Unicorn. But the real gem is a British made pre-cert PAL format tape running 72 minutes in a widescreen 1:85:1 ratio with all of the mayhem intact. Worth tracking down.

5/10

Try as they might, no-budget filmmakers working on DV just can't seem to capture this level of sordid, inept fun! THE DEMON LOVER has it all: Bad acting, lousy writing, murky camera work, a ridiculous-looking rubber monster, a little skin (not much), a little blood (not much), characters named after comic-book professionals, and a surprisingly accurate look at what a lot of fringe-type folks were like in the late 1970s. Yep, tasteless and stupid as the movie is, and awful as the people in it act and look, you really could've met people like the cultists in THE DEMON LOVER at the time! They might not have been devil worshippers who ended up facing their lord and master in person, but they still existed (and they're still out there with their, uh, lifestyles). BTW, the final confrontation between the ex-cultists and their blowhard former master is priceless: Watch for the crossbow bolt! And don't miss the big karate demo in the middle; it's truly the stuff of '70s I'm-so-cool wanking. A cruddy drive-in flashback par excellence.

Satanist Laval Blessing (Christmas Robbins, looking like James Hetfield circa 1990, after he's eaten a whole load of pies) holds a party for his coven, but when he insists on them all getting naked to participate in an orgiastic ritual, they decide to leave. Miffed, Laval (and the one woman willing to strip for the occasion) summons a demon to take revenge on his disloyal followers.

This low-budget independent horror features atrocious acting, a terrible script, dreadful photography, and a hilariously bad demon (big horns, big fangs, and big red eyes), but it is thanks to its ineptness in all departments that it proves to be quite watchable. Films this bad are what fans of z-grade horror live for, and this one doesn't disappoint, delivering such delights as a totally pointless karate training session in which Laval gets kicked in the goolies, a poorly choreographed bar brawl, three girls having a play-fight with canned cream, and Frank Zappa being shot in the crotch with a crossbow.

Director Donald G. Jackson (Hell Comes To Frogtown) blissfully ignores the fact that no-one in his film can act (even Gunnar Hansen, in a brief cameo, ain't great), giving us numerous bloody but unconvincing death scenes guaranteed to have viewers in stitches. Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but for those with a particular mind-set, it'll prove a fun way to waste seventy or so minutes.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

Don't you hate it when you purposely lower your expectations in order to avoid disappointment, and come to find out, it's all been for nothing? As a desensitized lover of B-horror of the 70's, Master Of Evil actually sounded decent enough. Decent enough for the guy who enjoyed The Chooper, at least. Yes, Master Of Evil is cheesy, and yes it's low-budget, and yes, it would technically be in that "so bad it's good" category, but no, I did not enjoy Master Of Evil. I can overlook a lot, but non-stop boring is a lot to ask. These guys offer us nothing but conversations, arguments, some little satanist-mascot guy, and very little story to speak of. Concerning a group of Satanists who party often, in a castle owned by their leader, Laval Blessing, a smug, yet confident young fellow, with hair that's way too long, and way too curly for his own good. Blessing unsuccessfully tries to set up satanic orgies, but you got to, at least admire the guy's ambition. Eventually, Laval upsets everyone, making them split, with his deep satanic knowledge and whatnot. Later on, Blessing conjures up an incredibly fake-looking devil thing, which possesses a few unfortunates, and kills a few more. An epic, indeed. Oh yeah, our pal. Gunnar Hansen shows up, as if it matters. For something with a similar vibe, with (a little) more life, check out Werewolves On Wheels. Ultimately, Master Of Evil screams dead acting, incoherent dialog, characters with seemingly no purpose, a grainy, murky look to everything, a typically unfitting score, and of course, a ridiculously outlandish devil monster, with glowing red eyes (usually)... well, now that I put it like that, it sounds pretty damn good. Maybe I spoke too harshly earlier, Master Of Evil ain't bad, check it out! 5/10

A long-haired heavy metal dude Laval Blessing is a black magician.He lures some young virgins into his coven to perform some magical mumbo-jumbo.After his unwilling virgin and her boyfriend leave the coven Laval becomes angry.He unleashes bloodthirsty demon with gruesome revenge on its mind..."The Demon Lover" is gloriously cheap and insane horror flick with amateurish acting and cheesy rubber demon.Gunnar Hansen is fantastic in his small cameo role of Proffesor Peckinpah.The writing is bad,the direction is even worse,but I had a blast watching this entertaining turkey.There is a bit of graphic nudity and some splashy gore too!8 rubber demons out of 10.You all have to see "The Demon Lover Diary"-the infamous documentary about the making of this film.