Le Souffle maudit

Of all of the Evil Dead rip-offs I have seen, Demon Wind is perhaps the most blatant, its basic plot, setting, characters, sound effects and atmosphere all clearly fashioned after Sam Raimi's 1982 horror classic. Director Charles Philip Moore is no Raimi though, and the result is a haphazard mess packed with random, oddball WTF moments and cheap gore effects, albeit one that demands to be seen (by avid fans of trashy horror, at least) just to be believed.

For starters, the group of twenty somethings that are attacked by ancient demons in a remote run down cottage includes a high-kickin' karate magician—you don't get many of them in horror films; then there's the human remains packing a supernatural charge, and the trio of superhuman, supernatural ghost girls who turn one victim into a doll (!?!); and let's not forget about the bird's egg that cracks open to reveal maggots, the mysterious fog that repeatedly prevents the group from escaping, the assorted mouldy, wisecracking zombies, the topless female demon, and the satanic altar comprising of a human skeleton and animal skull with whiplash tongue that chomps on a girl's head!

Man oh man. This is a real treat.

I enjoyed this one. It has it all. and I aint lyin' neither. There is plenty of gore and there is ALWAYS something to laugh at. The film makers really should have gone for straight comedy.

I needed a good laugh. I've been getting a little burned-out at the job, having some girl trouble, and the whole week's just kinda sucked. This puppy just sorta jumped in my hand at the video store, so I bought the damn thing. I paid a wopping $2 for it and now it's forever stuck in my library of b-movies.

Here's the "plot". This guy (I can't even remember his name) has been having the sick, disturbing dreams and he thinks that if he calls up a bunch of his idiot friends and drags them to his dead grandparents' former home, then he will somehow find the meaning of life or some stupid thing like that. It turns out that the place is like a gate to hell, or something like that and a bunch of demons (who sound like a broken toy)show up and start killing everybody.

Yep, it's that stupid, but funny as hell to watch. Talk about some funny scenes. The two magician guys (who look an awful lot like a poor man's Sigfread and Roy) cracked me up. I loved their mullets and there is something a little homoerotic about the way they interact with one another. (am I the only one who noticed that?) Of course one of them is a kung-fu expert and he does kick a mean empty beer-can. I also liked the one over-bearing boyfriend who kept saying "that's why I keep her around." That was a howler. I found the old man at the gas station quite hilarious. His "warning" had me on the floor, wallowing in laughter (I'm sure if someone had walked in my room, they would have thought I was having some sort of convulsions.) Just his "there was BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!" makes me giggle when I think about it.

The gore effects are pretty decent. The zombies look like they just finished smearing a jar of vaseline on their faces and regurgitated that big bowl of oatmeal they had for breakfast. Oh yeah, did I mention that their voices all sound like the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse with a slight electronic edge?

Well, I hope at least one person out there enjoys this work of art as much as I did. It takes raw talent and skill to make a film this funny. I really hope to meet the director some day. I'd also like to meet the guy who says "that's why I keep her around". That guy really cracked me up and I cracked open a beer simultaneously with his death scene. It's a shame the magical/ambiguous duo didn't stick around too long. They were the coolest ones in the group.

Well, I'm done reviewing this beauty. I'd just like to give a SPECIAL THANKS to the writers for coming up with that line "that's why I keep her around", the director for steering this whole thing in the right direction, the guys with the mullets, their hair-stylists, and the old man who gets to say "there was BLOOD all over the floors, all over the walls, there was BLOOD EVERYWHERE". I'd also like to thank that one girl who got killed in "Slaughterhouse". She's almost as talented as the old man and I'd like to see her in more stuff like this. She can fake a scream and die with the best of 'em.

One more thing: Lou Diamond Phillips is listed in the credits, but If he was in it, I must have missed him. Hmmm, maybe he was ducking behind a tree or hiding in the fake fog.

My review was written in August 1990 after watching the movie on Paramount/Prism video cassette.

There's a screw loose in "Demon Wind", a nonsensical horror film that fits the description one damn thing strung after another. Direct-to-video title has a tilt back and forth 3-D style box and not much inside.

Writer-director Charles Philip Moore has trouble presenting a coherent storyline in this overlong gore opus in which young people gather at a haunted house, intored in a cryptic prolog filled with religious imagery.

Hallucinations proliferate as the kids are victimized by satanists and their creations amidst exploding gore. Hero Eric Larson literally goes through hell and is defeated by the demon only to wake up and find his teen friends alive and well after all, unless that is another hallucination. Any way you slice it, film makes no sense.

Absolutely awful movie. Plot holes are followed by plot holes. Followed by awful effects and even worse acting. I know it was probably meant to be as cheesy as it came out but for a 1990 movie its just horrendous and hasn't aged well

Now onto the best part: came across that movie just because its featured in High on Life game, that came out recently on the XBOX

The game is made by the Squanch team who are behind the Rick and Morty show.

What makes this movie remotely watchable is the commentary that was added in. Demon wind can be watched in one of the respawnable locations and one of them happens to be a cinema. It has 3 watchers already in it and who provide a 90 min long, non stop, commentary

Go and play the game and go and watch the movie🙂

"Demon Wind" shows some imagination in the early going...but by the last 20 minutes or so it has become an insult to anyone's intelligence. It has some OK (for the budget) special effects and some eerie moments (the best is easily the one involving a door that, at first sight, appears to be leading...nowhere), but just like the characters do battle with an army of demons (or are they zombies? They sure walk and moan like zombies), those good points do battle with the mostly laughable acting and an inconsistent, often moronic script...and they lose. (**)